Man Power

Having previously fallen on the last day of London Fashion Week, The British Fashion Council has announced that the platform for mens fashion, ‘LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN’ will now have an entire dedicated weekend running from the 15-17th of June. The organisers describe it as a showcase that will ‘emphasise both the creative and commercial importance of Britain’s brands and emerging talent as well as the rich cultural landscape that contributes to the inspiration and success of this sector.’

So what has influenced such a venture, and what populates this cultural landscape that the British Fashion Council is so keen to represent?

There has been massive growth in the menswear industry in the last year alone - cited at an impressive 9% by the Evening Standard. Speculating on the causes of such an impressive surge in menswear sales, it could be suggested that the idea of disposable fashion is being gradually rejected by the professional man and replaced by a call for classic investment pieces which will demonstrate better value for money - assuming an expensive jacket could be worn everyday, and an inexpensive shirt may never be taken out of the wardrobe.

Parallel to this is the possibility that higher quality clothing may be associated with a sense of professional security; presumably men in competitive offices may be able to gain some stature by out-suiting his co-workers and exuding an image of success. A sharper modern male dress sense may also be a resurgence of general interest in being proud of one’s appearance in the face of a gloomy economic climate rather than a fashion innovation led by LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN.

Whatever the reasons for the boom, the industry is paying attention. Rejecting the presumption that men are uninterested in shopping, more retailers are constructing masculine spaces (usually featuring an abundance of leather and wood) referencing a gentlemens’ club aesthetic. These include House of Fraser’s revamped menswear department in its Oxford St branch featuring a bespoke suiting service, and the ‘barber spa’ developed by Bloomingdales to compliment its own menswear revamp across the pond. The stereotypical male hatred of shopping could be blamed on a neglect of personalised customer service in menswear departments previously, compared perhaps to a lingerie department, in which every woman can expect a one to one fitting.

What was once considered traditionally male tailoring has been featuring on women’s catwalks for so long that it has until recently overshadowed the mens equivalent. The Autumn/Winter collection exhibited by Prada at the January Milan Mens Fashion Week (one of two annual week long events dedicated to mens fashion in Milan) centred on the theme of ‘man power’ and featured the likes of Adrien Brody and Gary Oldman on the catwalk. Even the capitalisation of LONDON COLLECTIONS: MEN screams a kind of male assertion. So is male pride making a comeback? The phrase is misleading – it suggests that pride itself is a male attribute, not that men can be proud of their gender without being labelled a chauvinist. It lacks the positive connotations of empowerment which feminism embodied so well. Maybe we are on the verge of a new masculinism, reflected first by a heightened demand for quality mens fashion.

Now that the London mens event will no longer be eclipsed by the first day of Milan’s fashion week, the turnout will be much improved from that in recent years. Gordon Richardson, Design Director at Topman, asserts “newly established London menswear collections, over three glorious days now has the space to breathe, flourish and generate the buzz that will put its talented rising men’s fashion stars firmly on the international fashion map.” The event will feature designers such as Christopher Bailey, Tim Blanks and Tom Ford as well as fresher faces including London’s own Tinie Tempah; functional but classic tailoring inspired by the labels at this showcase should be filtering through to our high streets soon afterwards, setting up 2012 as the year that the boys take back the reigns in innovative fashion.