Creative director James Long is taking the Iceberg show on the road, with London being his first stop outside Italy and future plans for New York and Tokyo. His London show, which popped and fizzed with colors inspired by energy drinks, cartoon strips and seaside clubbers in Nineties Rimini, unfolded on the eve of London Fashion Week Men’s, which starts Saturday and runs through Monday.
Long set London men’s on the right path with his high-energy brand of Italian street luxe for a new generation. He parked Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown and the Pink Panther — all the faces that originally made Iceberg’s name in the Eighties — on knits, hoodies and turtlenecks in punchy shades of cobalt blue, bubble gum and fluorescent mint green.
Languid tracksuits, tops, boxy shirts and trousers came in a mix of techno fabrics, triple-printed denim and 3-D knits, and were covered in iterations of the brand’s logo, while zip-front sweaters flashed with checkerboard motor racing patterns. Long showed part of his women’s spring 2019 pre-collection, too: It was similar, but with more flesh on show and a slick of sequins on leather jackets, tank tops and hoodies.
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It’s clear that Long, who took over as sole creative director in 2016, is having fun with the brand, which is rooted in the central Adriatic coast, Italy’s party capital and the backdrop to many a Federico Fellini film. He said he wanted this collection to have a “Rimini in the Nineties hangover vibe” and also to honor the work of the company’s cofounder, Giuliana Marchini Gerani, “who had the idea of making casual Italian athletic wear — but not streetwear.”
After the show, Long took models on a march through central London, past Somerset House, Trafalgar Square and into Piccadilly in a spirited campaign aimed at “reeducating everyone about what Iceberg is all about.” His excitement is infectious — it won’t be a difficult task.