The two labels that showed as part of the Fashion East Men’s presentation on Saturday — Art School and Rottingdean Bazaar — telegraphed radically different moods, and probed the outer limits of men’s wear.
The duo behind Art School, Eden Loweth and Tom Barratt, created a raw, captivating performance of actors in the midst of a rehearsal, taking inspiration from the Ballet Russes, the Bauhaus movement, and “am-dram and school plays,” Barratt said.
The cast was made up of the designers’ friends, many of whom identify as “non binary” on the gender scale, Loweth said, adding that he and Barratt had taken inspiration from their style. As the models rehearsed, they wore pieces such as a delicate, corseted tulle dress, slinky silk combat pants, or a jacket and flared jeans embellished with Swarovski crystals. The performance, conceived together with frequent fashion collaborators the Theo Adams Company, built up to a stripped-down Bugsy Malone dance number performed by the cast. While this gender fluid collection was far from traditional men’s wear, it made for an arresting, absorbing spectacle.
Rottingdean Bazaar’s presentation took a more sober, conceptual turn. Designers James Theseus Buck and Luke Brooks, showing for a second season at Fashion East, continued to affix all manner of objects onto their designs. Sport socks were needle punched on to plaid shirts or wool blankets (one worn as a dress), while nylon tights formed patterns on cardigans and wool sweaters. Adding to the collection’s subversive mood were displays of clothing labels encased in plastic, detailing strange fabric care instructions. Among them: “Liquidize a Scarf and Reconstruct It,” and “Use a White T-Shirt as a Plate and Eat a Meal.” Food for thought, indeed.