For his first men’s runway show in London, Hussein Chalayan explored the conceptual — the tension between “containment and things coming away” — and the quotidian: What does occasion dressing mean for men today?
At his Mayfair boutique, he paraded a collection that infused tailored clothing with a streetwear spirit.
Jackets and coats were boxy with rounded, cocooning shoulders. Some were fused with capes and had slashed — or artfully crinkled — sleeves, while others were worn over cropped trousers with little cut-and-drape details at the back. Knits were long and sheer, drifting over models’ torsos like smoke.
While the cropped, slashed trousers may have had a sporty feel, others were more formal, and adorned with flowing sashes at the waist or skinny white strings up and down the legs.
Does Chalayan have all the answers in this era of sweeping change in men’s wear, where the traditional tailored suit has been swept away by slouchy, sporty silhouettes? He doesn’t. But he’s asking all the right questions.