J.W.Anderson proves there’s a lot worth coming to London for

10am on a drizzly Sunday may seem like a time for prizing open bleary eyes and nursing hangovers, but J.W.Anderson’s early morning shows never fail to make you sit up and pay attention.

After all, there’s always a lot to take in. Staged in a labyrinthine set within a military building near King’s Cross, his AW17 show featured rainbow crochet knits, stained-glass window appliqués and digitally-distorted landscape prints, along with “serpent-y” (in the designer’s words) disco fabric and giant robe-like capes. “It was this idea of getting lost in the womb of fashion,” Anderson said backstage, explaining the explosion of colour and texture we’d just experienced.

A key part of Anderson’s design language lies in his references, which are often drawn from the world of British art. This season he said he’d been looking at two English painters – David Hockney and Patrick Caulfield, who is known for his vibrant and graphic still lifes. You could see the influence of these artists in the collection’s bright colour palette, as well as the landscape prints and the stained-glass window motifs (which felt reminiscent of Caulfield’s pop-y scenes). Even the blue and green walls of the usually pristinely white set looked somewhat Caulfieldian in their hues.

“It was this idea of getting lost in the womb of fashion” – J.W.Anderson

The crochet was something Anderson decided to incorporate because of its utter Englishness, describing the technique as “the epitome of British craft”. But true to the designer’s love of the modern, there was an element of the ‘now’ to it too. “We realised it kind of looks like an iPhone,” he said, referring to the squares’ likeness to apps on a homescreen. These demonstrated the designer’s ability to take something ubiquitous and familiar – a traditional, homely craft – and reinterpret it, putting his own, decidedly current spin on it.

Backstage at his SS17 show, Anderson referred to his models as “little princes” and there was a sense of youth this season too – this time he described them as “boys on tour”. There was something maternal about it all, he said – and you could see what he meant in the way that his youthful cast was wrapped up in giant capes and cosy knits, sleeves trailing on the floor behind them.

What’s remarkable about Anderson is the way he balances high concept with commercialism, creating clothes which are both truly experimental and also evoke desire, not just interest. As the city’s menswear schedule begins to look a little thin (as designers choose to merge their men’s and women’s shows), this morning Anderson proved there’s still a lot worth coming to London for.