Retro inspiration with a contemporary edge
“I’M from Doncaster, so the idea of Los Angeles and New York always held a certain appeal for me, it was like a sort of promised land,” said Stuart Vevers, who unveiled his third collection for New York house Coach at the London Collections Men’s autumn/winter 2016 shows yesterday. Fittingly, the potent allure of all things Americana was his starting point in a collection which he said was a “mash-up between early Bruce Springsteen and early hip hop, the unifying factor being they both were part of a subculture of rebellion”.
The clothes – love-worn leather jackets treated to look aged, tufted, shaggy fur coats, shearling jackets in caramel and olive tones, reams of plaid that evoked the Midwest and heavy duty outerwear – evoked a certain rustic feel.
A similar strand of nostalgia sparked the interest of Patrick Grant at E. Tautz. The designer looked to his upbringing in 1980s Edinburgh and the local roller disco in Tollcross where “the cool kids wore Gabicci jumpers”. Perhaps the spins and whirls of the rink inspired the loose fluidity of the collection, which saw trenchcoats in flowing cashmere and Donegal tweed, soft-fit pleated trousers, track tops and gauzy longsleeved T-shirts with deep slashes down the front, all in muted dove grey and anthracite shades and made at E. Tautz’s factory in Northampton. Grant’s rendering of men’s style is an altogether more soft-focus approach, which despite the retro inspiration looked bang up-to-the-minute.
Speaking of fresh approaches, revered Savile Row house Hardy Amies marked its autumn/winter 16 collection by welcoming a new head of design, Darren Barrowcliff, who previously worked under former creative director Mehmet Ali, whose stellar work at the brand ushered in a new era for the house. Happily, Barrowcliff looks set to continue that lineage with a pared-back collection.
That translated into a precise edit of refined, elegant clothing: coats in grey twill and fawn-coloured cashmere, salt and pepper toned cargo trousers worn with formal jackets and sharp dinner jackets in cocoa and black, worn with trainers for a contemporary edge.