London Collections: Men opening day

The sixth edition of London Collections: Men officially opened on Friday with a presentation by LC:M's chairman Dylan Jones at The Hospital Club in London's Covent Garden.

Guests included Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy, Ed Vaizey, industry figure heads, press, buyers, committee members and official LCM ambassadors including David Gandy, Dermot O’ Leary, Douglas Booth, Nick Grimshaw, Oliver Cheshire, Robert Konjic and Tinie Tempah.

Commenting on extending LCM with a fourth day, Jones stated: "with so much interest from the UK and international menswear industry it was becoming impossible to fit any more onto what was already a very impressive, yet very packed schedule. This season we have returning global brands Alexander McQueen, Belstaff, Burburry Prorsum, Margaret Howell, Moschino, Paul Smith, Tom Ford and Topman not to mention new additions including Aquascutum Men's, Barbour, Coach, Kilgour and Todd Lynn to name but a few."

U Clothing: The first of the digital schedule presentations was a short film by luxury streetwear brand U Clothing, who teamed up with Man About Town Fashion Director Elgar Johnson and young filmmaker Joshua Osborne, in a celebration of youth culture. Showing models in their every day environments, the film captured the essence of what it is to be young today.

Topman opened London Fashion Week with the first catwalk presentation, showing a 60s and 70s collection inspired by the hippie trail which showed plenty of sheepskin, faux fur, fringing and mod hair. If an oversize woolly gilet or afghan dyed overcoat were more press worthy than than something that would do well at retail, there were plenty of items to covet, like wool double breasted jackets, a red star sweater and trucker jackets.

Coach showed its first menswear presentation in London under its new creative director Stuart Vevers. Inspired by the cult film "My Own Private Idaho," the collection saw plenty of shearling, and focused on outerwear, shoes and bags. There were varsity and field jackets, camouflage M65s, accessorised with Metal feather charms, leather dog tags, and T-shirts.

Image: LC:M launch, Coach AW15, Topman AW15