To paraphrase London's pattern-clash-loving designer Louise Gray (or really her mum, who advised: "Everything matches if you like it"), the global genderquake in fashion and youth culture is proving that all fashion is unisex if you like it. Androgyny has long been a touchstone for those pushing an ‘edgy’ aesthetic, but in 2018 the fashion designers picking up this thread are doing it more authentically than ever.
Take ART SCHOOL, the creative partnership of Central Saint Martins graduates Eden Loweth and Tom Barratt. Responding to the needs and desires of their friends and muses – who inhabit their bodies across the spectrum of gender (or, indeed, outside of it) – the duo create slick tailoring and evening gowns for a wide variety of body types and gender presentations, always casting non-professional models (mostly their friends) of differing shapes, sizes, ages, ethnicities and identities. This season their catwalk featured model and activist Munroe Bergdorf, DJ and London fashion legend Princess Julia, artist Josephine Jones, and designer-turned-model Tom Barratt (wearing a black miniskirt, feathered heels, and strips of pink tape printed with ‘Fashion East’, the name of the talent incubator behind the MAN group show).
Aside from the unisex (or gender-free, or indeed ‘multi-gendered’) fashion on show during London Fashion Week Men’s (LFWM), there is also a lot of womenswear. With the traditional fashion seasons falling apart due to the emergence of see-now, buy-now collections, alternate weather seasons around the globe, and the financial burden of holding multiple shows, many designers now choose to show their women’s and men’s collections in one. ICEBERG, the Italian fashion house headed by London designer James Long, presented a ‘co-ed’ Spring Summer ‘19 show this LFWM, with a range of sports and rave-inflected tailoring and casual wear for men, women, and, of course, anyone who wants to wear it.
From the grungy 'normcore' styles of Balenciaga menswear consultant Martine Rose, who presented her own label collection on a closed street in north London, to the ruffled chiffon men’s looks of South Korean brand Blindness (showing here for the first time); the celebrated work of Fashion East alum Charles Jeffrey, whose brand and Dalston club night LOVERBOY have a neo-punk, gender nonconforming, avant-garde aesthetic; the spiritual sportswear at Cottweiler, future-focused style at A-Cold-Wall*, dainty feathered cardis at Stefan Cooke, and the Americana at Liam Hodges (inspired by the Las Vegas of Donna Tartt’s novel The Goldfinch), there is a plethora of fresh fashions for you, whatever your body type and gender presentation. Click through to see the very best of LFWM Spring Summer '19.
Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY
Backed by a live choir and staged amid a "sci-fi Xanadu" set by designer Gary Card – with huge, glowing tumorous tinfoil orbs, some of which had birthed dancers, plugged in with thick black tubes from the back of their heads – London wunderkind Charles Jeffrey presented garments for a "post-gender Shangri-La".
Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY
This season, club-kid Charles discovered running (which, he says, has given him lots of energy) and the collection riffed on sportswear styles, along with a consideration of the often exclusionary notion of the 'ideal' body. With a nod to the avant-garde silhouettes of '90s Comme Des Garçons, a number of looks had padded sections, tumorous growths, to challenge that judgement.
Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY
A cut-out, multi-tartan kilt from a Scottish designer at the forefront of fashion. Delicious.
Martine Rose
Martine is now so loved by fashion critics that she manages to drag them far from the official British Fashion Council show space on the Strand, up to her local area in north London. The Balenciaga menswear consultant previously held her own-label show in a Seven Sisters indoor market-mall, and this time she shut down a whole street to showcase her Spring Summer '19 wares. We love this fuzzy SPEED jumper.
Daniel W. Fletcher
I'm not entirely sure about the politics of men wearing silky shirts printed with the mutilated torsos of women, but there's no denying the evocative lure of the original paintings by Daniel's longtime collaborator, the artist Caitlin Keogh, from which the prints are taken.
Read in the context they were intended – as a comment on the "constraints of business for today’s women and those who choose to enter this competitive and at times misogynistic financial arena" – I can certainly recommend them as office wear for people who do not benefit from the violence of male privilege.
ICEBERG
James Long's long-awaited return to London finally came this season when he presented his Spring Summer '19 collection for the Italian label ICEBERG. Inspired by the passionate love of sports in the brand's hometown of San Giovanni in Marignano, as well as its history as a global clubbing capital.
ICEBERG
Clear plastic glow-stick boots, a pleated print skirt and cosy knitwear for all the lady ravers in the house!
ICEBERG
Kiko Kostadinov
Kiko's show was very zen, with a soundtrack of trickling water and the occasional chime mixing with the gentle clinking of metal jewellery. This cinched rain mac will remind us to be mindful and accepting of the extended 'April showers' that characterise the British summertime.
Nicholas Daley
This look perfectly embodies the inspiration behind Nicholas' collection – the reggae club his parents ran in the late '70s and early '80s, in Scotland. That's two kilts so far, for anyone counting.
Bianca Saunders
A fresh new talent, co-signed by one of London's best fashion boutiques, Machine-A in Soho, Bianca Saunders' work explores themes of black masculinity. I love this ruched, anything-but-plain white tee for summer, but get down to Machine-A quick to buy the brilliant drawstring styles from her Autumn Winter '18 collection.
COTTWEILER
The COTTWEILER show, held at the Rambert dance company studio in Waterloo, transformed the performance space into a wellness haven, surrounded by draped fabrics and with a glowing well at its middle. Models resembled travellers seeking spiritual enlightenment in Asia, flaunting the unmistakable bruises of cupping treatments, wearing lotus flower-print leisure wear, and carrying huge backpacks.
ART SCHOOL
One of the fabulous evening gowns showcased on the beautiful, free-gendered ART SCHOOL catwalk.
ART SCHOOL
Liam Hodges
We love a literary reference at Refinery29, and Liam's take on the Las Vegas of Donna Tartt's novel The Goldfinch really hits the sweet spot – and our sweet tooth, with this neo-Neapolitan ice cream confection of a summer jacket.
Liam Hodges
Fashion goths: file this alongside Ashley Williams' MISERY print hoodies for summer days spent in the dark. Or to send a subtle message on those days when you would rather not be in the office.
Stefan Cooke
An ostrich feather waistline is almost too fabulous for words, and who doesn't need a new summer cardigan?
Stefan Cooke
This 'chainmail' vest is a perfect example of how Stefan alchemises everyday materials into modern, elegant fashion – it is made from thousands of little buttons linked together by hand.
BERTHOLD
BERTHOLD makes a bubblegum pink bid for Summer '19 colour drenching.
Matthew Miller
Who doesn't want an entirely silver foiled suit? As Refinery29's Kara Kia put it in our June staff fashion picks, when you buy a two-piece, you're "really getting three pieces in one – a blazer, trousers and a matching suit."
John Lawrence Sullivan
Countryside eccentrics have long inspired British fashion, and this look is a very chic interpretation indeed.
Blindness
Inspired by the anguish and obsession of first love, we've fallen hard for the chiffon-punk style of this South Korean brand, who showed in London for the first time this weekend.
A-Cold-Wall*
Attended by designer Samuel Ross' mentor Virgil Abloh – Kanye's former creative director, who recently took the reins at Louis Vuitton – the A-Cold-Wall* show was one of the most anticipated on the LFWM schedule. And it did not disappoint. The show opened with grey mud-covered minions ripping the paper walls from a cubed structure, which revealed a pouch that birthed a naked human covered in blood. The conceptual, contemporary clothes that followed were a window on the future of fashion.
STAFF ONLY
A white ruff inspired by the protective garments worn by beekeepers, with little jewelled bees attached, is the only accessory I want to wear next summer...
Edward Crutchley
... except for this interestingly origami-d crop top cape combination.
Xander Zhou
Why not have a whole summer wardrobe of capes?
Rottingdean Bazaar
For your Christmas party, there is nothing more chic than this fancy dress cracker. Presented on the Fashion East catwalk by lovable fashion scamps James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks of Rottingdean Bazaar, the costume is handmade – just not by them. Wary of filling the world with yet more *stuff*, the designers sought out handmade costumes stocked at fancy dress shops across the UK, and hired them for the show. You too can hire all the looks from the show, from the shops listed on the signs held by each model. The most radical approach to sustainable fashion is not to buy anything at all.
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