Viva Britannia
Why London’s menswear showcase is proof our fashion industry is in rude health
London is unquestionably the world’s most fashionable city. It is also the spiritual home of fine tailoring, so it was a strange state of affairs that, until two years ago, we didn’t have our own dedicated men’s fashion week. Now we have London Collections: Men, a twice-yearly sartorial celebration that coaxes out the city’s peacocking males, all desperate to be spotted by the army of street-style photographers and the general circus that surrounds these hysterical displays of male attire.
But don’t be fooled: it’s also big business. The rise of London Collections coincided with an explosion in the men’s clothing market, which is forecast to grow 25.7 per cent in the five years to 2019, outperforming all other clothing sectors.
London Collections isn’t just about showing off “designer” gear, it covers every aspect of menswear, from traditional Savile Row to edgy east London, the best men’s high-street to our enviable position in e-commerce. Every style and price point is catered for. No longer is London just the place for bright ideas dreamt up by struggling designers – it’s about making money. This is the city in which the 21st century mega-brands are born – usually funded by foreign money – names that will develop into the style powerhouses of the future. They have the energy, vision and ideas to export the world over.
Fashion is a strange beast: it’s not about fixing something when it is broken, but continually altering it so it never breaks. This is where London is right now. The capital has started a new chapter in its menswear history, welcoming new ideas, brands and designers.
Liam Hodges and Nicomede Talavera, both debutantes to this fashion ball, showed remarkable promise, the former with a show loosely inspired by a group of anti-military Scouts, while veteran cobbler John Lobb entered the fray for the first time this year, reminding us why the brand is the ultimate purveyor of male shoe porn.
Even in the midst of the usually cut-throat world of fashion, there’s a pleasing collectivity – a sense of camaraderie among brands and designers. This may all sound a little utopian but as last week’s London Collections proved; the capital has carved out something very special in the world of menswear, something of which we should be proud.