London Collection Men: SS16 Top Trends

Now that London Collections: Men has come to an end, let us look back and reflect on some of the top trends for SS16.

Nudity

There was plenty of male flesh on show during London Collections, but it was the exposed nipple, an ongoing dilemma of acceptable nudity on social media, that broke new terrority for British designers. As seen at Christopher Shannon, Nazir Mazhar, and Craig Green, there were knitted tank tops and jumpers with cut away spheres, sportswear with undone bikini tops as necklaces, and sheer long sleeve tops, a staple at J.W. Anderson. There was a further baring of flesh at Sibling, where knitted jockstraps were worn under couture-stitched football gear, with models bums on show, although this look was unique.

Block Stripes

The nautical theme got an update, with stripes shown big, bold, contrasting and blocked. Oversized stripes of colour were seen across the board at the London shows, but the most wearable versions offered white contrasted with either blue or black. As seen on jumpers; diagonal stipres at Alexander McQueen, horizonal layers at Lou Dalton. Tailoring got the treatment too, with contrast pinstripe suiting with horizonal pockets at Agi & Sam and softly tailored jackets at Oliver Spencer.

Art Meets Fashion

The masters, both old and modern, have cropped up in nearly every SS16 collection, from paint splash graphics à la Jackson Pollock at Charles Jeffrey, to the colour palette at Topman Design hinting at the surrealist style of Salvador Dalí. Elsewhere there was Piet Mondrian’s “Composition with Blue” seen at Liam Hodges, J.W. Anderson made a reference to “Goya Series” by John Baldessari, “William Marshall Cazalet” by John Singer Sargent at Casely-Hayford, and Yves Klein’s "Relief Sponge" popped up at Alex Mullins.

New Trouser Silhouette

The new trouser silhouette is generously cut to say the least and we can safely say the wide-leg pant is back for spring summer 2016. While there were plenty of examples of super-baggy styles at the likes of Topman Design, Craig Green and E Tautz, a loosened-up shape was also seen in suiting and shorts, as shown by Margaret Howell and Tiger of Sweden. A utility version of the wide-leg trouser was seen at Universal Works.

Jungle is the new Camouflage

While London fashion week would be nothing without a good dose of print on show, there were none that collectively stood out as a trend, with the exception of Jungle, which seems to have taken over from camouflage. Camo has been around since Autumn Winter 2012 and lasted until last summer, so it was high time for an update. Jungle-inspired prints were noticed at YMC, who showed palm prints, to safari animal skin patterns at Burberry Prorsum and Coach, with bright tropical florals at Richard James.