Glorifying nostalgia was the theme at the latest JW Anderson, staged very suitably in a converted mock Victorian swimming pool dating back to the 1930s.
A show presented in a moment when songs of a near half-century ago can become global hits – from Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ to Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’ – making a certain sort of reminiscing feel right in this collection.
All the way to the models’ hair – many wearing graying wigs, as if they had all just taken out their curlers. And all the way to their feet – many encased in conceptual versions of Hush Puppies.
That’s not to suggest that the clothes were traditional – anything but. From proportion to construction, Anderson keeps on breaking new ground.
Like his brilliant cable-knit tops and mini cocktails cut Centurion style, in three-inch thick strands of wool. Followed by thick retro mohair chess piece dresses finished with sweatshirt trim. Both sure to ignite fresh trends and be copied by high street brands. Another indication of Anderson’s importance for UK fashion.
Playing ironically on Marks & Spencers like underwear and camisole tops in inky blue and ecru, finished with comely wee bows, sixties prudery seen with a twist.
Jonathan telegraphed his intentions with his invite – a fabric sample of herringbone Donegal Tweed, then seen in several fantastically large coats whose shoulders were almost three times the size of the models wearing them, with sleeves reaching all the way to the ankles. Referencing a time when people bought cloth themselves, he explained, and used a pattern from John Lewis to make their own coats.
Before the show upped the ante with great sweater dresses finished with grosgrain ribbons and bunting; followed by a slew of semi-sheer cocktails in chiffon finished by chiffon tubes that entangled the looks.
“The odd types of Britain. The grotesque and the pragmatic. That strange TV program ‘Last of the Summer Wine’. The idea of how you take something familiar and break it into something new – a hat that was a wig, a coat with lining completely ripped. Celebrating odd culture,” opined Anderson post-show.
All completed with some great sculpted leather jackets and raingear, and presented underneath a huge crest with the words of Mary when she was informed that she would be the mother of Christ, Fiat Secundum Verbum Tuum, or Let It Be Done According To Thy Word.
Backed up by a spacey soundtrack that blended Brian Eno, ex-conceptualist of the definite rock nostalgia band, Roxy Music – with Essaie Pas and staged at a fast pace.
All together, Anderson has become the hottest show in town, seen in his heterogenous, that ranged from eternal ‘It Gals’ like Alexa Chung and Halima Aden, to actress Ashley Young and former England and Liverpool FC center forward Daniel Sturridge.
So, also a little nostalgia for another era in football.
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