Band of Outsiders
Angelo Van Mol showed off a nostalgiatinged collection that took its cues from the 1971 moon landing and a fictional band of teenagers who were watching it unfold on TV.
The brand shot a short, poetic film showing the teens adjusting the TV aerial on the roof of their house, pecking at a manual typewriter and grooving to tunes such as “A Whiter Shade of Pale” as they watched the black-and-white broadcast of Alan Shepard touching down.
Van Mol, who also showed women’s for the first time, said he wanted to hark back to times “that weren’t so constrained, times when people could finally express who they wanted to be.”
The collection itself was a winning marriage of street and tailoring. During a walk-through of the presentation, the elegant Van Mol was dressed in a sweater, check jacket and a necktie — an accessory that’s nearly extinct among the hipsters of east London, where the presentation took place.
“I have a Savile Row background, and I like structure,” said Van Mol. “And the tie gives me a kick.” For women, he whipped up a burnt orange pinwale corduroy suit with flared trousers and an A-line miniskirt and matching jacket in shaved pony with a check pattern.
For men, he opted for a mix of work, street and tailored clothing, all with strong shapes. There was a boiled-wool peacoat with a striped, knitted collar, a Japanese denim workwear jacket and matching cropped jeans with a biker-style fit. A cool black puffer jacket and a silky shirt were printed with blurred images from the moon landings.
The Seventies also seeped into tracksuits through a collaboration with the Italian label Sergio Tacchini, and into footwear, too. Models wore Kickers, which added even more youthful charm to the collection. —