LFW Day 6

Final day of LFW today, and it all came to a close with the menswear. I'm not very knowledgeable, or even that interested in menswear but I thought I would give it a chance as I headed over to Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Ones to Watch show this afternoon. The fact that the show was around 45 mins late didn't help anyone's mood, but, once the show did get underway there was a definite air of anticipation. These designers are, after all, being hailed as the next big thing. The first three collections were, for me, uninspiring. Dull and drab colours for the most part (apart from the first one by C/Bruerberg below which tried to brighten things up with some odd rasta-style neon coloured threads), very conventional, very man about town. Mr Lipop's cool shades, fur-trimmed hoods and gorgeous white coat and shearling-style jacket somewhat redeemed the show as a whole, but it seemed as if Fashion Scout had definitely been saving the best till last......

Just when I had started to think that menswear would never be my thing, Asger Juel Larsen stepped up and saved the day. As soon as the first model stepped out wearing a top hat adorned with crosses, I felt that this was going to be something different. Larsen's collection felt gothic, Victorian and eerie all at once. And the outfits kept becoming more and more spectacular. The culmination of the collection was a top hat with body-length fringes dropping down from it and another hat from which a darkened version of the American flag hung down, like a veil. My impression of the collection was very much a military, deathly portrayal of a dystopian society and the American flag was very reminiscent of those old American Uncle Sam posters, but those ones which have the face of Uncle Sam as a skeleton. Due to the fact that my camera battery died halfway through this collection I went on the net in search of more pictures of these pieces and, what do you know, the collection was actually called Uncle Sam so it seems like Larsen's imagery and symbolism was spot on. These were not the sort of pieces you could just throw together and walk out onto the street in, but I love how Larsen thought more about metaphors through his clothing and how there was an element of the theatrical in what he did. This designer is definitely One To Watch.

This image and the next three below are all from http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/asger-juel-larsen-fw-2011#!/photos/102386/9

Image from http://blowpresents.wordpress.com/2011/02/

Another one of my favourites from Larsen. Feathers have been used here and there for A/W 2011, but I love the concept of using them as a headpiece on a guy. Very Black Swan-esque. 

And this piece deserves another mention. So emblematic and enigmatic on so many levels. You can interpret this a hundred ways and Larsen really seemed to want to challenge our cognitive and interpretative abilities with this collection which was very refreshing.