London Collections: Men - Day 1 Highlights

This week has marked a historic moment in men's fashion as London hosts it's very first menswear only fashion weekend, celebrating the best design talent in our city. London has been the first city to make steps towards a new future of men's fashion, giving menswear it's own standalone fashion event as womenswear has had for years. To celebrate this occasion, all this week My Style Ramblings is hosting a menswear takeover, so expect highlights from the best shows and collections, street style stars, style icons and men's lookbooks. This week it's all about the guys.

To kick things off, here is a rundown of my favourite shows from Day 1 of London Collections: Men. First up is Lou Dalton. In the words of the lady herself, the collection is 'sports sartorial', and her take on sportswear feels original and quintessentially Lou Dalton, from the clean lines to retro references and cool colour palette. The mix of elegant sportswear pieces and classic tailoring makes this my favourite Lou Dalton collection to date and will be eagerly anticipating this hitting down in stores.

Martine Rose showed a plethora of denim and neoprene, and played with oversized silhouettes creating interesting looks that bordered on fetishistic. Although this may have been down to the semi-sheer face masks worn by the models... Placement prints gave the classic white shirt a twist, and light wash denim came in oversized flares and jumpsuits, while neoprene sweats and jackets were boxy and updated with punchy bright colours.

90s skateboarding culture was brought back with an amazing collection from Topman Design. Following on from their all-black Autumn / Winter offering, this collection is the polar opposite - bright colours and graphic graffiti prints were accessorised with beanie hats and skateboards. There was some use of tailoring, in sporty airtex fabrics or grey suiting cut into jumpsuits creating a casual and modern twist. Slogan tees and sweats in bright colours with matching shorts continued the retro Americana theme but was made relevant to a London audience.

Xander Zhou showed an outstanding collection that played with textures and structure to create classic yet current pieces. Models clad in silk suiting were visions in white and dungarees and leather vests provided the more directional aspects to the collection. Zhou is firmly on my radar from this point on.

Image Source: LONDON COLLECTIONS