LFWM: Chalayan AW17

London is synonymous with cutting edge and all things new, but some designers who propose true innovation have been around for a while. Hussein Chalayan is virtue to this, and since 2003 has been using various medias to present some of fashion week's most directional collections and and installations. His ideas evolve around perception and realities of modern life, with particular interest in cultural identity, migration and anthropology.

For his autumn winter 2017 collection Chalayan took us to Ancient Greece, and according to the show notes a “new value system endorsed by corporate forces," thus the old meets new, contextualised by innovative outerwear in oversize proportions, but always in clean lines.

Noteworthy was the effortless way a shirt fell open at the front or the way a trouser was tied at the waist.

Knitwear was functional and could be seen as Chalayan's staple wardrobe, part utilitarian, part trans-seasonal. Chalayan is an urbanite at heart, and there were plenty of propositions to mix it up and be commercial at retail. The dropped shoulder was a key look throughout, as were the wool trousers, generously cut in three quarter length.

Photo credit: Chalayan AW17, source: London Fashion Week Mens website