Thom Browne - Paris Fashion Week AW11

American designer Thom Browne threw down a sharply tailored gauntlet at the Paris men’s show’s last month, which London designers are going to find hard to beat at upcoming Men’s day at London Fashion Week. As a favourite of mine, I thought I’d give you a taste of what we’ll all be craving come autumn.

Browne, with his contemporary take on formal dandy style has once again proven he’s a cut above the rest with a nostalgic A/W collection, which includes all the expected seasonal traits and a powerful English country gentleman feel.

The show lived up to his previous runway collections; eccentric, dramatic and fanciful. The collection, entitled The Turkey Banquette was set around a large  banqueting table that the models paraded around adding to the sense of grandeur and entertainment Browne enjoys and pulls off so well.

As well as the anticipated Thom Browne trademarks of a grey palette, shrunken distorted tailoring and his red, white and blue stripes which Browne has perfected and reinvented over the seasons, the new collection also has a Dickensian dandy, Bourbon French feel. Browne pulls off this sense of luxury with a bright colour palette and a quirky humour, reminiscent of Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter in the 3D adaptation of Alice in Wonderland.

Browne blended burnt browns and burgundy’s with flashes of blue, green and sliver which complimented the plaids layered over plaids in various sizes, colours and textures. There was a huge emphasis on tailored layering with the full length top coat taking centre stage.  Being A/W there was a heavy reliance on knitwear and accessories; from giant mittens, scarves, bobble hats to the Thom Browne staple, the on display sock.

As much as the collection was a wild fantasy of Browne’s creativity, it’s very wearable and a hugely successful collection for the high street to mimic. London designers have a lot to answer for next week if they want to top Thom, but something tells me we’ll pull the A/W must haves out the trend setting hat.

Suited & Booted this Winter

My editorial - as published in the current issue of Fashion Insider, the Luxury issue AW10/11

Sam Outing advises we go suited and booted this winter

London has long been a popular stage for fringe fashion, churning out eccentric designers, abettors and wearers of clothes for centuries. From Viv West to Nicki Haslam, London's cool, somewhat slovenly, grunge attire has ignored the demands of work and climate. The recent popularity for top coats, trench coats, boots and ‘proper shoes’ however, is born from the necessities of the working day and biting weather. It’s in the cold, dark and often bleak recesses of winter particularly that the ‘city man’ comes to life creatively with his clothing. The city dweller now has the excuse to layer up, wrap up and generally adorn himself - in rich colours and luxury trims. The need to stay warm, but still look our well attired selves produces a challenge to be risen to. The answer is the art of layering and at the heart of this is the suit.

Since the nineties the suit was seen as a practical necessity, a symbol of the working week’s drudgery. Yet it is no longer the symbol of conformity and gloom: the suit once again, finally and thankfully, has become both the perfect all day attire, and most treasured wardrobe party piece. A mix of our new-found taste for conservatism, the post-dip nostalgia for money and our generation's thirst to forge our own ‘revolutionary’ identity has brought the suit into its own. It is now the choice of the sartorially minded.

The new flurry in fashion to ‘break’ the suit and create something altogether more alluring has produced some highly desirable changes in its make up. No longer mundane, drab or shapeless the new suit is a salute to timeless classic cuts and reinvented twills. It is now an item of extremes. It’s been shrunk, pinned and pinched, giving it a desirable, ill fitting school boy uniform, mixed with a snappy 60’s tuxedo feel. This preppy rebirth also incorporates thick, warm, and rich fabrics like corduroy, velvet, and tweeds as well as fine silks and wool twills. Add the wild mixes of colours and patterns, like bright plaids, checks and pinstripes and we have ourselves a modern classic. New suiting strays from matching top to bottom, instead favouring complimentary mixes of patterns, fabrics and colours. Many designers have gone beyond the call of suit duty, including Dior Homme, Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood, Tom Ford and D.S Dundee all following this modern mantra.

A short sharp silhouette of a double or single breasted jacket (only the top button done up for added emphasis of the pinched waste) and the embraced borderline fascist cuts, manifestos of designers like Thom Browne with his shortened cuffs and hems and narrow lapels, conjures a feel of sexy, confident, and even dandy supremacy. A tight smooth fitting suit, combined with a perfect set of gentlemen’s accessories; tie, tie clip, bright socks and gleaming brogues, all shown off by short cuffs and hems, is the best way to be decked out this winter.