Smart, tailored looks for men feature on runways at the London Collections
Smart, tailored looks for men filled the runwaysat the London Collections, proving that suits arethe new modern casual, writes Francesca Fearon
If there was a clear message from the runways of London Collections: Men last week, it was to discard your jeans and put on a suit - it does wonders for your stature, to say nothing of your image.
"A lot of younger guys want something to show their standing, their status, something bold and powerful, and so they want a suit," one Savile Row tailor said.
Men like the structure and shape a three piece gives them
Tailor Dominic Sebag-Montefiore at Edward Sexton described a client who wore low-slung jeans to his job designing sneakers but wanted a tweed suit to wear to the pub on the weekend.
The London Collections, which kick-started the autumn-winter 2014/15 menswear season, were a showcase for both the burgeoning and the established. Among the young and avant-garde were J.W. Anderson, who was recently snapped up by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton to design for Loewe, budding talent Kay Kwok, and Agi & Sam, last year's winners of the British Fashion Awards' emerging menswear designer prize.
"London has always been famous for crazy creativity at one end and exquisite tailoring at the other, but now we are marrying these two traditions to create well-made fashion pieces that appeal to men across the board," says Scottish designer Jonathan Saunders.
That explains why consumers are seeing designers such as Richard Nicoll and Christopher Kane produce more tailored pieces. Their customers are demanding clothes that bridge fashion and formal wear.