London Collections: Men (LCM) kicked off international fashion month on Jan. 8, featuring the autumn-winter 2016 collections of over 70 British and international designers. The four-day bi-annual showcase, which ran until January 11, has become a favourite among menswear enthusiasts smitten with its distinctive combination of streetwear-inspired experimentalism juxtaposed Savile Row tailoring.
While British culture may be stereotyped as traditional outside the Isles, LCM is anything but. Crisp wool suits and plaid are all but forgotten at the four-year-old event. In place of convention, a new generation of radical British menswear designers have taken centre stage including most notably JW Anderson, Craig Green and duo Agi & Sam.
These contemporary creatives are more than just trendsetters — they are thought of as leaders. Through applications of technology, social media and a liberal sense of fearlessness, they are helping redefine the very parameters of menswear and its role in the fashion industry at-large. Case in point, JW Anderson, menswear designer of the year from 2014’s British Fashion Awards, streamed his gender-bending collection of cropped jackets, bustiers and satin pyjamas live via gay dating app Grindr on LCM’s opening day.
"We’re reaching seven million people [the number of Grindr users] at one time," Anderson tells The Guardian. "Fashion is at the speed it should be; media drives that so we have to keep pace."
Beyond its famous progeny, LCM has grown to be reflective of the city of London itself — a place that is historically, culturally and geographically central in the world. From the African-meets-70s-inspired designs of Wales Bonner to Jeremy Scott’s shameless American pop cultural consumerism at Moschino, the event is an swirling eddy of British and international talent that beautifully mirrors every day life in the Capital.
Check out the biggest trends and moments from London Collections: Men below.
