A fashion week? What fashion week? On social media, London Fashion Week Spring / Summer 2022, which took place online from June 12-14, was sorely overshadowed by Ferrari’s high mass, which in a gleaming spectacle launched a first premium ready-to-wear collection. Certainly, in London, the program was stripped of big names capable of attracting the limelight. But taking a look at it could make it possible to see young designers making rather rich proposals, with the common feature of a reflection on identity.
For Jordan Bowen and Luca Marchetto, the JordanLuca duo who make their collections in Italy but have spent confinements across the Channel, the season “Is focused entirely on the United Kingdom in all its complexity. We wanted to imagine a commemoration of Great Britain, its counter-cultures and its movements: its postage stamp and its skinheads, its flag and its riots, its rage, and above all, its pride ”. The result is an energetic parade filmed at a Kent car junkyard. Between tired Renault, Dacia, Ford and Volvo, tattooed, shaved or hairy boys circulate, dressed in an amusing patchwork dominated by white: punk biker jacket, Mod’s-style knit polo shirt, sequined top, boxer shorts, neokilt and swimsuit. belted body. Right down to the regal-looking drag coat that borrows from the bright red of London phone booths.
For Dubliner Robyn Lynch, who launched her brand three years ago, identity necessarily refers to her country. “In 2020 I had enjoyed working with salvaged parts from the Rapha cyclist brand and wanted to try it again. This time I immediately thought of the American outerwear brand Columbia. which is part of my identity, of my history. In high school, between 15 and 17 years old, my friends and I all wore Columbia jackets in the cool of Ireland, it was almost our uniform ”, says the designer.
To find teenage photos, she asked her friends to leave free access to old images posted on Facebook: “They were all in private. I said to them, “Let me see them again and don’t apply any filters to them!” ” From old unused Columbia stocks, and as if to reconnect with its roaring twenties, it offers streetwear for the great outdoors, in limited edition: technical jackets with logo undone and attached to twisted knit; deconstructed ski pants that become a jacket with pockets and a bob. All filmed in caves and rocks to walk.
The promising Priya Ahluwalia, who has benefited from favorable word of mouth for several months, continues to work on her Indo-Nigerian roots. “This collection was inspired by Afro and Caribbean hair, and the 1970s when hair played a symbolic role in the emancipation of blacks in the United States and the United Kingdom. I wanted to honor this period “, relates the one who won the BFC men’s fashion award on June 14 /GQ, endowed with a purse of 150,000 pounds (174,000 euros).
His video, short and neat, highlights the beauty of the hairstyles of black or mixed-race models whose braiding games are also reflected in the prints. Very graphic and bathed in warm colors, her collection has the merit of being easy to wear, with comfortable sweatshirts, short-sleeved shirts, denim jackets, scarves and Mulberry bags, leather goods with whom she signs a collaboration.
Finally, Bethany Williams continues for next summer to collaborate with The Magpie Project, an organization to which she donates 20% of her profits and which helps women and children who are homeless or at risk of losing their home. This season, it is the maternal bond that inspired her. From five stories, read by the women helped by the association to their children before sleeping, she draws variegated stitches in recovered wool, fringed jackets and coats, where crochet, embroidery and knitting are going well. A way of emphasizing, by its human style, that identity is not limited to a precarious status to which society can assign you. But also has to do with education, and the narratives that we transmit.
