THE past couple of months put the fashion industry on pause and then pressed reset. The way launches of new products and seasonal shows were usually put on was thrown out of the window, and innovation on how to excite the global audience at home with the new has been in full swing.
JW Anderson SS21
JW Anderson SS21
For JW Anderson’s menswear spring-summer 2021 collection, the British brand have taken an alternative approach to the now-normal look-books. Instead of models, traditional mannequins were dressed in the new collection with paper sketched faces of an array of boys – some with stern poses others drawn with their tongues sticking out drawn by Pol Anglada.
This tongue-and-cheek attitude of going back to every designer’s roots where everything starts on the mannequin rather than on a model is seen throughout the JW Anderson collection with pom-poms sewn onto seams of tops, extra large pockets on coats and fun floor length sleeves on a psychedelic patterned t-shirt.
JW Anderson SS21
JW Anderson SS21
Slouched poses reflect the lockdown routine that we were in for many months where suits were swapped for sweatpants and shirts were kept on hangers and exchanged for baggy jumpers as we worked from kitchen tables rather than desks.
A bright orange floor length cardigan and tunic dresses were intertwined in this collection which overall feels like a collection of staples linking back to our time inside as we watched the seasons change from our social distanced lives.
JW Anderson SS21
JW Anderson SS21
The entire collection felt as if the designer had gone right back from the start, and pressed the reset button himself. There is a hint of old-school British culture in this collection with the traditional parkas, print reminiscent of your grandmother’s wallpaper and Anderson’s known patchwork technique threaded throughout.
With everything still being so unsure, this collection by the Northern Irish designer took us back to the staples of fashion yet still adding some of his humour in to give a light-hearted touch to a time where fashion is stuck in a limbo.
by Imogen ClarkÂ