Lads Holiday for Christopher Shannon at London Collections: Men SS16


Just over a year after winning the BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund Christopher Shannon wowed me yet again with another exuberant collection, and what can I say? Liverpudlian designer Christopher Shannon goes from strength to strength season after season with ease. This season however, was inspired by British youth taking over the Summer by going on lads holidays to places like Marbella. Foam parties would go onto inspire the styling of models, by having their hair covered in foam as though they had just a memorable night raving in the foamy substance. This season saw another adaption of British sportswear by building on his fragmented, deconstructed and taped back together DIY attitude from Autumn/Winter 2015 only this season took it to the extreme, with barely-there sweatshirts and jackets made for a dare I say it yet another truthful, believable collection.


For Spring and Summer 2016, Christopher Shannon wasn't afraid to merge masculinity and femininity once again in his collections. But the thing with Chris Shannon is he doesn't allow it to become boring, because he is constantly finding new undiscovered ways of keeping it interesting and is always pushing ideas and the boundaries of menswear forward and on the go. What I adore about Christopher Shannon is he seems like a pretty shy and humble person who deserves nothing more than being in the position he's currently in with the respect and gratitude he's now receiving from the fashion world. In fact he's a prime example of "nice guys finish first" and if you work hard, you will eventually get all you deserve. The designer's latest collection heavily featured on translucent fabrics, extremely short-shorts and super trashy bikini tops casually hung around necks of the boys. Denim also made for an interesting move with massively baggy jeans and jean jackets. I loved the same shape tracksuit pants and I'm still in disbelief for as to how they managed to stay up? Maybe the had braces attached? That would've been cool I guess. For AW14 Shannon gave us the cigarette packet knits, although he's kept us waiting three seasons for the lighters to spark em' up, as he displayed a number of jumpers with lighter motifs that simply read "Shannon" or at times "Needy" and "Damaged" because why not? I love that. The overall reducing of graphics used, again added to the maturity of last season and as a person and designer himself. Another amazing moment for one of my favourite menswear designers at the moment. 

Christopher Shannon extended his CV by collaborating again with trusty outdoors footwear brand CAT. The last couple of seasons, Shannon re-developed the standard "Colorado" boots with a modern luxurious, laceless design with zips and nylon details but kept original branding out of respect for the brand. For Spring/Summer 2016, we had the complete opposite as Shannon worked extensively to re-design a sixteen year-old classic, the sports-utility sandal/trainer hybrid, revitalising them with a chunky sole, neutral colour ways and wonderful late 90's/early 00's trainer designs. Unfortunately we are still waiting for the current Christipher Shannon X CAT boots to be released, if they will go on sale is yet to be told. I just hope the ones from S/S2016 are made available. 



Images courtesy of Wonderland and Style.com

Well that is it for Christopher Shannon Spring Summer 2016 show, it seemed a great show with some great conceptual updated takes on classic sportswear and essential holiday pieces. I'm glad he returned to using his circular logo  from a few past seasons and I loved the sweatshirts tied around waists which again looked really lads holiday. Before I go I would just like to tell you how excited I am for Christopher Shannon being the next designer for River Island's Design Forum, which he shared on his Instagram earlier last week. 

The Wolf of High Street
xxx

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