Over the weekend, London Fashion Week kicked off with presentations for the Fall/Winter 2020 season. Below, we’re sharing details from shows by MM6 Maison Margiela, Erdem, and Roland Mouret.
MM6 Maison Margiela’s latest collection broke free of trends and tropes and created a new expression for an amalgamated culture. The Parisian house showing in London was inspired by New York, delving deep into eras of club culture. With the brand’s “circularity” concept in mind, the house applied draping exercises and tailoring construction to an array of pieces and accessories. A geometric Japanese origami bag, leather cardholders, and a knitted hat are all seen in a circular shape or featuring circle patterns. For shoes, we see a boot wrapped with a strand of chain-link metal; for eyewear, textured Mylon bar frames are seen from a collection made with Mykita. For Fall/Winter 2020, the brand also welcomes a collaboration with The North Face—an evolution of their Expedition System line. Color-blocking basics from the outerwear brand are paired with houndstooth, ribbed lurex, and Fair Isle knitting. And for those who have previously written about the brand, they’re perhaps reading their own reviews anew. Pulled from fashion magazines and shredded for a zebra print collage are write-ups from magazines of the past—reminding us that while everything is cyclical, or circular, it can be always be reflective, reimagined, and made new.
Courtesy of MM6 Maison Margiela.
Erdem’s Fall/Winter 2020 collection “The Age of Silver” stems from inspiration found at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. For the label’s latest line, it worked with Robert Muir—the curator of an exhibition of Cecil Beaton’s early photography, entitled “Bright Young Things” (originally to be called “The Age of Silver”). In the exhibition, portraits from this time focus social status and the dynamic differences within them. With his imagination and a Kodak A3 camera in hand, Beaton escaped the class he was born into and focused on the seductive images of transformation in front of him. In these times of experimentation, there were royalty mixed with bohemia and avant-garde creators mingled with powerful players. Certainly a poetic time, the beauty, youthfulness, and inventiveness is seen translated in the Erdem collection. Long, sheer dresses that hug the neck, wrists, and ankles are seen with flashes of silver florals; tall headdresses are made entirely of ostrich feathers; and matching pantsuits in pastels with florals are paired with tops featuring billowing neck scarves and animal print topcoats.
Roland Mouret is firmly placing values over trends, outlined first at the top of his Fall/Winter 2020 collection notes. He breaks his values down to a list of three—first is social change, and supporting it through sustainability with the use of pre-collection pieces; the second is collaboration; and the third is creating pieces that embody longevity and evolution. With his latest looks, inspired by the early 1980s in London, we notice an evolution immediately—first by a collection of new suits with pieces that work separately and paired together. Longer jackets are paired with pants to the shin; pinstripe cape-like tops are tied at the waist, paired with matching trousers. Complementing each look are shoes from Dear Frances and upcycled metal accessories by Bottletop. Mouret was also inspired by the late stylist and friend Judy Blame, as he recycled broken pieces from artist James Webster’s latest “Martyrs” exhibition and reused Marla Aaron’s “pierce-less” ear clips. Elegant elements are juxtaposed with practical, Brit-punk flare—all for a timeless, “try me on again” vibe that is rooted in Mouret’s three values.
Courtesy of MM6 Maison Margiela.
