The 5 Best Collections From London Fashion Week: Men's Fall/Winter 2018

London Fashion Week: Men’s has come and gone after a whirlwind extended weekend. It’s difficult to talk about the various changes without striking something of a negative tone, so — to get those out of the way early — it’s worth noting that, for the first time in a few seasons, the amount of days were reduced to three instead of four and the schedule as a whole was perhaps more notable for who was missing more than who took part.

The likes of J.W. Anderson blended their menswear with womenswear, meaning he’ll now be showing in February while, instead of a show, Martine Rose simply hosted sales appointments. Even designers such as E. Tautz and Casely-Hayford opted for lookbooks released over the weekend instead of physical presentations of any kind. But, nonetheless, there was plenty to be seen over the three days and we’ve whittled the selection down to the five best shows in town.

Paria Farzaneh

crowns & owls

Paria Farzaneh’s presentation showed that going off the beaten path has its benefits. Hosted in a Persian restaurant in West London, the designer aimed to take Iran to London, telling us in an interview about the presentation that “the whole collection is the 12 recurring characters that have come through my life since I was two years old when I visited Iran.”

For this Farzaneh looked towards traditional Iranian clothing from the ‘70s, combining it with British aesthetics, creating a collection that was narrowly focused while still including everything from suits to football tops and even a collaboration with Converse. The designer even managed to include her own father in the presentation, making for the only presentation of the season where the models played FIFA 18 while the designer’s dad sat nearby.

Nicholas Daley

Ben Awin/HYPEBEAST

Nicholas Daley is a recent recipient of NEWGEN and this show was a prime example of how he’s making the most of the support he’s receiving.

While technically a presentation can be whatever the designer desires, there’s typically a formula: a host of models stand still for a set amount of time in a well-designed set. Daley threw that out of the window with his presentation, bringing Jazz musicians and James Massiah to play a set. The result was a performance that brought more life to the heritage-influenced clothing than any static presentation could’ve done.

Charles Jeffrey LOVERBOY

Marcus Tondo/Indigital.tv

Charles Jeffrey is known for bringing a sense of theatricality to his shows and this season didn’t disappoint. The sparse and eerie settings were soon filled with the screams of macabre actors who danced and hissed at attendees before the show began, eventually turning their emulated derision to the clothes — included such sage critique as hollering “look at this shit!” whilst spitting red wine within inches of the audience.

And, show aspect aside, there was plenty of wearable pieces dropped in amongst the more avant-garde elements that Jeffrey is known for. For instance, there’s no reason anyone couldn’t wear both coats featured in the images above — showing that there’s more than enough relatable design in Jeffrey’s collections.

Craig Green

REGIS COLIN BERTHELIER/NOWFASHION

Craig Green has become one of London’s biggest draws and mainstays. It’s long been rumoured that he’s either going to join one of the big houses or leave for Paris but so far he’s done neither and appears to be very happy staying in London.

This season’s show also took necessary steps forward, however. The London-based designer has retailers to satisfy, so the key is always to keep repeat styles while still adding enough newness to capture the eyes of people searching for the next thing — something this collection did with aplomb.

Rottingdean Bazaar

Marcus Tondo/Indigital.tv

Rottingdean Bazaar isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of HYPEBEAST. But we’re always interested in expanding our horizons with this fledgeling brand marking itself out as one of our new favorites. Based in Brighton, Luke Brooks and James Theseus Buck’s label is only helped by its being based away from the UK’s capital, bringing a sense of that eccentricity to the collection.

The show was a varied one, featuring every shape and size as well as some well-known names, such as Liam Hodges and Princess Julia. Much like Charles Jeffrey, the wearable clothes are visible if you have the eye to pick them apart from the overall looks.

In addition to rating the shows, we were also on the streets capturing the best street style looks from LFW:M.