CSM BA 09

Apologies for the lack of posting this week but we've both been busy beavering away at our non-blogging lives. I managed to get out of work on time on Tuesday evening to make the graduate show of Central Saint Martins to marvel at the class of 2009's designs up close. As is seemingly expected of them, the latest crop of talent from CSM put on a BA show which demonstrated a pleasing range of talent and I was more than a little bit pleased by the menswear design talent on show and I hope this came across on my twitter updates. Forty students trooped out with their BA collections with eleven of these dedicated to menswear, the future certainly looks bright for some of these...

Neil Young opened the show which was a surprise because I thought the Canadian singer songwriter was in the middle of his record breaking tour so how he found the time to create this collection I'll never know (apologies but that little joke just had to be made, lolz). With menswear graduates generally relegated to playing bit parts in the Press shows it was great to see it take centre stage here and kick start the show. Young's cyborg-style set the bar quite high with it mix of lightweight fabrics and strong tailoring and as I sat back in my seat I knew that this was going to be a good show.

Kye's collection made much of the audience chuckle and even the models had fun whilst donning the playful designs. The collections was themed around physical features of the body with fun details. It played on proportion whilst drawing on a body-building aesthetic that transpired through the garment's details, pockets became pecs and depicted intestines.

Caroline Jarvis' pastel palette collection continued the jovial mood on the catwalk as one of the models reached inside of his bird box bum bag and picked out a biscuit which was duly passed down the runway in a game of pass the confectionary. The collection included a number of subtle details that the more I look at it the more I notice, for example one jumper had a spine woven in to the back.

I have to confess that my concentration wained a little during Mathew Grant's collection because it was so very hot in York Hall. As I looked through the images over on catwalking I was surprised by how much I missed during the show, I just don't fair too well in the heat!

Peir Wu created one of the most wearable collections and I can see his designs doing exceedingly well commercially...I would happily snap up pieces from this collection right away, the cobalt blue long shirt in particular.

Peter Bailey's collection all started with the idea of doing a resort collection for men. As the sun has begun to shine most of us our thinking about our next holiday and this graduate gave us his vision of what he'd like us to be wearing. The Club Tropicana prints were accentuated by a soundtrack of Kelly Marie...this was one cheesy Summer but then, cheesy Summers are the best sort. He wanted to do something with a free spirit, going on holiday and being glamorous and I think most of us what get on board with that.

Latex beyond fetish wear

Latex is normally associated with good ol' fashioned fetish wear but with the help of latex experts Atsuko Kudo, Tim Soar, refined it into something that was actually wearable outside of a darkened room for his A/W 09 collection. This was certainly a talking point during the show and it has played on my mind ever since because the show demonstrated latex in a completely new light to me and I wanted to answer my what, who and why questions...thankfully Dazed have done this for me with an interview with Soar which is well worth a read.

We wanted a slightly dark/fetish feel for AW 09. And latex seemed the obvious choice.
Jodie (my stylist) had worked with Atsuko before, so she was top of the list. If you want top quality latex garments you go to Atsuko, it is as simple as that. Tim Soar

For me Soar's clothing is all about the detailing and at times these intricate and clever additions can often be overlooked on the runway but my keen eye spotted the buckles and zips added to the back of suit jackets and the elasticated belts used throughout the show...that said, I just cannot wait to get my paws on the collection to inspect the pieces up close. The collaborative pieces in this collection included some of my favourites, the parachute/quilted garments which were with Chris Raeburn and Atsuko Kudo's latex tailoring which provided the final few looks were real highlights for me. Atsuko is the leading designer and maker of high fashion latex clothing and she has made some beautiful latex tailoring for this collection. I love it when designers create something which creates an element of head scratching and interest whilst still creating something quite wearable and Tim Soar certainly demonstrated this. The Dazed interview hints that we might just see more of the latex creations as George from These New Puritans was enquiring as to whether Tim could work on some stage wear for the band. Of course latex will always be niche but it is nice to see it used, approached and worked with in a different light.

Dressing Right and Looking Good

The covers of Charles Hix's Dressing Right and Looking Good

I must admit that despite being a massive consumer of men's style and fashion magazines I do not own any dedicated books on the subject. I've been tempted to purchase the odd one after a recommendation but up until when I walk out of a bookstore I tend to have spent my money on a Photography book. I might just have stumbled across a couple of books by Richard Hix which are too intriguing to pass up and will hopefully soon be gracing my book shelf.

In 1978 a new kind of book was published which taught men how to be beautiful men. With the help of Bruce Weber's photography Richard Hix (a former grooming columnist for GQ and Playboy) spelled out the attractive rules for the modern man. Looking Good helped open the floodgates for what was to follow and what we now take for granted. Hix's work set the stage for the male body worship/insecurity axis that the entire advertising world has since turned on. The two hundred page book contains thoroughly professional sections on shaving, moisturizing, beard configurations...even genital odour...not to mention pages of wet and semi-naked black-and-white photos by Bruce Weber - Weber certainly knew how to capture a certain essence of masculinity.

A principle from Dressing Right...image courtesy of wecouldgrowuptogether

The first offering was an unprecedented smash, riding the best-seller lists and going into multiple printings. Its commercial success launched a small dynasty for Hix, who followed with Dressing Right (a commercial disappointment), Working Out (a blatant short-shorts parade and an even bigger hit than Looking Good), Male Model, and Man Alive! We Could Grow Up Together managed to pick up a copy of Hix's Dressing Right and fortunately posted these wonderfully inspiring images.

Another spread from Dressing Right...image courtesy of wecouldgrowuptogether

If you, like me, want to add some Charles Hix titles to your you can still find inexpensive copies over on Amazon and even on eBay (but please don't out bid me).