Xander Zhou was loud – I think he wanted to prove a point. Hot, heavy and throbbing, Zhou’s SS15 demonstration, labelled Hyperdrive, was a rather luring foray into the male psyche. As utility-glam as can be, the circa. The 2014 male peacock was out, and relied upon all that shines and sparkles, with busily embellished jackets, shirts and shorts, as well as anything that provoked a reaction. With adolescent apathy and disregard there was at once carelessly oversized pieces and next binding structures that accentuated the male form, following this seasons mishmash mode.
However, there was a fair bit of artistic motivation behind the collection, with striking asymmetric polo shirts carrying conceptual cool and some particularly charismatic optical illusion prints adopting much from sixties Op Art. Next on the list of bricolage ideas dabbled in included Nylon hole detailing and PVC accents on a number of pieces, while form of collars was evidently a major consideration. Innovation, experimentation and, did I already say innovation, are the words that you will hear continuously to no end during LC:M and had Zhou distilled many of impressive ideas into a visual reasoning with less “directional” hang-ups, it may of made for a stronger offering. That’s not to say that he won’t come back with more good stuff, on the contrary, many should in fact keep their eyes on this one.
by Liam Feltham
Images courtesy of Ella Dror PR.