Glorifying nostalgia was the theme of the late JW Anderson, aptly staged in a mock converted Victorian swimming pool dating from the 1930s.
A show presented at a time when songs from almost half a century ago can become global hits, from Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' to Tracy Chapman's 'Fast Car', making a certain kind of memories sits well in this collection.
Even the hair of the models, many of them with gray wigs, as if they had just taken off their curlers. And even their feet, many of them encased in concept versions of Hush Puppies.
That does not mean that the clothing was traditional, quite the opposite. From proportion to construction, Anderson continues to break new ground.
Like her bright cable-knit tops and mini cocktails cut Centurion-style, in three-inch-thick strands of wool. Followed by thick retro mohair dresses with chess pieces finished with sweatshirt trim. Both are sure to spark new trends and be copied by mainstream brands. Another indication of Anderson's importance to British fashion.
Playing ironically on Marks & Spencers as underwear and camisole tops in ink blue and ecru, finished with pretty bows, sixties prude seen with a twist.
Jonathan telegraphed his intentions with his invitation: a sample of Donegal Tweed herringbone fabric, then dressed with several fantastically large coats whose shoulders were almost three times the size of the models wearing them, with sleeves reaching to their ankles. Referencing a time when people bought fabric, he explained, and used a John Lewis pattern to make their own coats.
Before the show, they upped the ante with whimsical sweater dresses finished with grosgrain ribbons and bunting; followed by a series of semi-transparent cocktails in chiffon topped by gauze tubes that entangled the eyes.
“The strange types of Britain. The grotesque and the pragmatic. That strange TV show 'The Last Summer Wine'. The idea of how to take something familiar and turn it into something new: a hat that was a wig, a coat with the lining completely torn. Celebrating a strange culture,” Anderson opined after the show.
All finished off with some gorgeous sculpted leather jackets and waterproof clothing, and presented under a huge shield with Mary's words when she was informed that she would be the mother of Christ. Fiat Secundum Verbum Tuumor let it be done according to your word.
Backed by a spacey soundtrack that fused Brian Eno, former conceptualist of the definitive nostalgic rock band, Roxy Music, with Essaie Pas and staged at a dizzying pace.
Altogether, Anderson has become the hottest show in town, seen in her smorgasbord, which ranged from perennial 'It Gals' like Alexa Chung and Halima Aden, to actress Ashley Young and the former England and Liverpool centre-forward FC Daniel Sturridge.
So also a little nostalgia for another era in football.
Copyright © 2024 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
