Initial reaction:

An army of Neil Barrett soldiers marching in moss green and greys. “I wanted to go back to when I was forming my DNA, back to 2005-2006, when I did all these military hybrid collections,” Barrett said after the show. “I was always mixing youth culture with an element of menswear, so I’ve brought some of these forward and then made them more contemporary, more as I would want to wear them now.”

The softer side of Neil:

For all the military references and general rigour of Barrett's clean lines, this felt like a loosening up of the designer's handwriting, in lighter, softer constructions leaning towards natural, traditional materials rather than the tech-y fabrics and neoprene that has become a major part of the designer's universe. Case in point: the abundance of knitwear and fluffy textures, where traditional Fair Isle sweaters were given a modernist treatment with jagged lines that morphed into Kaboom graphics on sweatshirts.

The soundtrack:

If Barrett was mixing the past and the present this season, the show’s soundtrack was an extension of that – 80s goth heroes Bauhaus were joined by the Dazed 100’s two top ranking musicians, Arca and Kelela, with some James Blake and some suitably obscure trance from MayroN thrown in for good measure. 

The soundtrack to Neil Barrett AW15: