JW Anderson Menswear 2020 Review

JW Anderson Menswear has long carved out a singular reputation in the fashion world for pushing the boundaries when it comes to fashion norms and gender stereotypes.  The same was no less true for their latest menswear collection for 2020 shown at the Lafayette Anticipations gallery in Le Marais, Paris.  New modern silhouettes flirted with statement gender non-conformity on the catwalk to deliver a message that fashion doesn’t have to choose and neither do you.  If it works, work it.

Sleeveless dinner jackets paired with billowing loose trousers came second in the wow stakes only to the ‘winged’ panels on the jacket that completed JW Anderson’s striking new tuxedo silhouette.  The clash of colours seen on many other men’s catwalks this season also made an impressive bow here with eye-adjusting bold horizontal ‘interference’ stripes to make a brave man out of the wearer.  The sleeveless winged motif carried through the collection, showing up on the beautiful double-breasted rain macs casually tied at the waist, the wildly colourful matching shorts and top ensembles, and the dramatic two-tone suits in grey and cream.

Elsewhere there were pieces that JW Anderson deliberately presented with an eye to provocation – and, no doubt, column inches.  Comfortable shin-length two-tone knitted dresses bisected by a diagonal line of floating tassels might not have been such an eye-opener on a female model from an older and much more conservative designer.  But on male models it had much more significant and louder connotations in today’s world of inclusivity and the blurring of boundaries – particularly when each one was accompanied by a large matching knitted ‘crown’ adorning each of the model’s brows.

Comfort and ease remained the underlying theme of the show but it was the new concepts and ideas on what ‘men’s fashion’ represents and the re-definition of what we had, perhaps, become a bit complacent with that made the collection and, in turn, JW Anderson’s Spring/Summer 2020 look so exciting.  Another British designer to celebrate who is not afraid to pull fashion in new and fascinating directions while others remain steadfastly within their comfort zones.

For more on JW Anderson Menswear click here.

Click here for more men’s 2020 show reviews.