Recent CSM grad Kiko Kostadinov makes his LC:M debut

We’ve seen a couple of fresh – very fresh – designers make their fashion week debuts at London Collections: Men this season. On Friday, Per Götesson presented his SS17 collection as part of the MAN show, the day after doing so at the Royal College of Art fashion show, and on Saturday, Luke Stevens did the same at Fashion East’s Men’s presentation.

This morning, Bulgarian-born menswear designer and recent Central Saint Martins graduate Kiko Kostadinov also followed suit, showcasing his new line at a solo presentation sponsored by NEWGEN. For him, the presentation came just months after completing CSM’s MA Fashion programme earlier this year. At the school’s MA fashion show at London Fashion Week in March, he sent a cast of balaclaved models down the runway, dressed in a collection that riffed on contemporary workwear, with a focus on cut.

Today, in a room littered with industrial looking neon lights, Kostadinov elaborated on this theme with a collection he described afterwards as a “clean uniform”. Rendered in utilitarian shades of white and black, blue, brown and beige, this uniform came in his now-trademark silhouette (slightly oversized upstairs, cropped and slightly flared downstairs), styled, like his MA collection, with Hoka cushioned running shoes.

This collection also saw the addition of accessories: scarves and hats modelled on those worn by cleaning ladies. After the show, however, he admitted the end result looked more like artists’ berets, and were a bit more romantic – particularly with the hair poking out from beneath them. It also saw a return to the deconstructed hoodies he created in collaboration with Stüssy for his BA collection – but instead of decorating them with elaborate fraying, he did so with a military, tarpaulin-like fabric.

It was a strong first presentation and, as with Götesson and Stevens, a reminder of London fashion’s inextricable association with young talent.