KNOWN for his love of conceptual design, Hussein Chalayan, the Cypriot-born Turkish fashion designer returns to LFWM following Chalayan’s 25 anniversary earlier this year, in February 2019.
The SS20 menswear collection is inspired by America and Japan, focus points for a “study of dance and movement among various ethnic groups which have been colonised by Western forces”. Draped clothing mimicking moving bodies was used to highlight the theme, the post-colonial body, but Chalayan ensures pieces remain practical as well as conceptually stimulating. Exquisite tailoring in colours of navy, sand, pale blue, burnt orange and yellow was accompanied by prints. One depicted different ethnicities grouping together to “please” white colonisers.
Models walked out from the Chalayan store in Mayfair into an outdoor space to showcase SS20. Carrying handheld stereos, the spectators were met with an unconventional audio experience of electronic music and a series of chants – referring back to this year’s theme.
Post-colonial body is a questioning of how physical presence and demeanour has been moulded by colonisation.
by Alicia Pountney