London Fashion Week Men’s has been a whirlwind of gorgeousness. Contemporary queerness took centre stage on day one with Art School flying the Fashion East nest for their first solo show and Charles Jeffrey’s LOVERBOY transforming the disused Wapping Hydraulic Power Station into a queer circus of performance and skipping models. Hair for Art School was deliberately dishevelled, while make-up was bold and bright. Over at Loverboy, hair stylists served up short, 1920s, neat ringlets, while make-up was draggy af, leading the bleached brows brigade. From there Astrid Andersen continued the neat hair trend, but with a more contemporary feel and natural make-up. Fashion East presented Irish designer Robyn Lynch who left their beauty department casual, letting the stone-cold stares, cheekbones and jawlines of models stand alone; Mowalola followed with bright and beautiful shimmering colours, and show-stealing abstract make-up looks. Closing for Fashion East was Stefan Cooke’s final collection with the group, which featured natural make-up looks with a focus on centre-parted, wavy mid-length hair. Kiko Kostandinov did hair to the point of not needing make-up, bringing long back hair over the face, garnished with strands of jewels. Xander Zhou went beyond make-up, creating looks out of prosthetics, which were grizzly, creepy and gooey all at once. A-COLD-WALL* showed this morning with models painted matte shades of grey or beads of sweat dripping off them.
All in all, bleached brows, a sense of play and experimental headwear permeated the season; look out particularly for Art School’s headpieces made from upcycled lost objects from queer safe spaces around London.
It’s been busy, it’s been a lot, but we loved it and here are our favourites.