Topman Design AW15

Initial reaction:

70s studs. LC:M was off to a strong start this afternoon with Topman’s gang of motocross boys in skinny, flared boilersuits emblazoned with star patches, name badges and scraps of tartan. It was like the boy version of Charlie’s Angels, or a really hot band with Mick Jagger bed hair, on tour in massive fuck-off shearling coats, bum-skimming flared trousers and go-faster stripes.

Retro rebels:

Building on SS15’s 70s-via-90s vibe, the collection was a heady, amped-up mix of texture-heavy retro hits served up with metallic lightning bolt trainers, set to a 70s-centric soundtrack. “We are a democratic brand so we have to stand for a lot of different things,” Topman's design director Gordon Richardson said after the show. “In a way that’s challenging but also very exciting, because that means your collection is quite disparate and then you have to try and fuse all those elements together and make it fun. We looked back at 70s icons, we brought back some of that 70s music, and the silhouettes and fabrications came into play.”

Fashion post normcore:

“This isn’t by any means pastiche,” Richardson said. “It's just looking at moments in fashion that had that huge resilience and then thinking ‘well, how does that work now?’ Because we don’t want Normcore forever, we want things that are exciting and this is a generation out there that want exciting clothing. What we try to do is make straightforward things exciting.”

The soundtrack to Topman AW15: