After the biggest Paris and Milan menswear fashion weeks we’ve had in years earlier this month, and viral Haute Couture collections last week, it’s hard to believe we’re only half way through the AW23 runways, showcases and collections. Yes, the excitement of womenswear is still to come with NYFW just around the corner. But before we get on to that, here are a handful of independent designers who presented collections this season who, if you don’t already know, you should really get to know: from the rebellious aesthetics of Song For The Mute and one of Milan’s most exciting emerging menswear talents Magliano, to the ever playful and sexy slashed tailoring of LGN and the Harry Styles-approved garms of Arturo Obegero.
Chloé Nardin
Manga is an abiding source of inspiration for a number of designers – London-based Chloé Nardin among them. In fact, her latest collection, Guts, draws its title from a protagonist in Berserk, Kentaro Miura’s brooding medieval knight’s tale. Rather than the manga series’ saturated, adrenaline-suffused graphics, however, her intrigue was piqued by the rapport between Guts (the tale’s brawny, perhaps somewhat brainless protagonist) and Griffith (his softer, more cerebrally astute counterpart). What her contemplation of their relationship results in is less of a reflection of it, and more a subtle interpretation of its nuances – it echoes the fact that Chloé has previously described her work as a riff on men’s streetwear, created with the intention of negotiating its hypermasculine codes. Beige track-sets are constructed with subtly sculptural storm flags and slashed-and-buttoned side seams. Elsewhere there are roomy poplin pyjama-style shirts and shirts and shorts spangled with stars and illustrations of cutesy bears. Velvet pullovers with narrow slits at the chest come with delicately fringed sleeves, and boxy denim tunics fall with an empire line, somewhere between a sweatshirt and a babydoll dress. MS
Soji Solarin
While the fashion industry’s focus so far this year may have been trained on Paris and Milan, over in Berlin, a new generation of attention-worthy talent is proving its chops. Among them is Soji Solarin, the Nigerian-born designer who now calls the German capital home. For their latest collection, titled SPAWN, they explored the mythical, life-giving qualities of water – and, in particular, the mythical beings that dwell in it. Tales of mermaids lifted from oral narrations from indigenous African and Latin American cultures inform the liquid flutter of shirting cut from printed silk, spliced with crochet netting, as well as faintly cyber knitted minidresses, which come in contrast hues and with a pour-over fit. A full-length quilted cape brings a spirit of monastic flair into the mix, while a zip-up track jacket-cum-cinched blazer and a tailored pair of bike shorts demonstrate the sharpness of Soji’s creative intuitions, innovatively fusing sportswear and formalwear to offer a directional proposal. MS
Song For The Mute
If you’ve been feeling angsty of late – like you want to scream a royal “FUCK YOU!” to our merciless overlords, and set out to start a revolt – then you have a friend in Lyna Ty, the creative director of Sydney-based label Song For The Mute. After last season’s exploration of the precarity that colours the times we live in, filtered through 90s sci-fi film, 23.2 takes a rather more tangible tack, riffing on humdrum dress conventions. Rather than give in to normie blandness, though, you immediately get the sense that this is a collection that has been designed as a defiant response against it. ‘Classic’ men’s overcoats in hefty tweeds and tailoring wools are counterposed by pieces like slouchy earth tones sportswear separates – an extension of the brand’s collaboration with Adidas – faintly hippyish floral silk plissé peignoirs, and tactical vests in neon-dyed shearling. On the womenswear front, the sternness of oversized tailoring is tempered by fluid teal silk cloqué slip dresses and halterneck jumpsuits in poppy polka dot knits, though the most noteworthy pieces are the coats bricolaged from swatches of wools, tweeds, corduroys and the like – the sartorial equivalent to ripping up the old rule book and sticking it back together as you like. MS
Magliano
While a Mecca for connoisseurs of slick suiting, Milan doesn’t necessarily have a prominent reputation for emerging menswear talents. One name changing that, however, is Magliano. Ok, so technically the brand’s studio is in nearby Bologna, but it’s in the Italian fashion capital that it has built its reputation as one of the city’s names-to-know. With its exquisitely bedraggled, queer-inflected riffs on classic menswear garments, there’s a poetically bohemian spirit to jackets and tapered trousers with patched-on pockets in what look like wide-gauge bouclés, zip-up fleeces with collars yanked down to sensuously bare the décolleté, and gabardine gilets worn over baggy oatmeal mohair sweaters. The shoulders of a peak-lapelled jacket are insouciantly dropped, softening the silhouette with a loucheness that tips over into sleaze in pieces like wide-fit wool flasher trousers, constructed with waistbands that droop at the front to reveal a peak of whatever you want to show off beneath. One to keep an eye on, that’s for sure! MS
LGN Louis Gabriel Nouchi
It’s true there’s nothing sexier than a man holding a book and this is the notion that has fuelled Louis Gabriel Nouchi’s namesake brand since its founding in 2017. Less Hugh Grant in Notting Hill, though, the men of LGN typically have a brooding darkness to them. For AW23, the avid bibliophile leafed through Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, with the iconic scenes of Christian Bale in the 2000 film adaptation recreated to full slasher serial killer effect on the likes of Emily in Paris’ Lucas Bravo and White Lotus’ Stefano Gianino, the former with blood splattered across his face. LGN’s usual waistband and neckline slits were seen on tees and straight-cut trousers – in black, white, red and a playful, transparent skin-like hue. The lavish lifestyle of the novel’s main character, Patrick Bateman, came across in silky metallic joggers, dressing gowns and open-front blouses, as well as sharp tailoring – often with broad shoulders, cinched at the waist and skinny fit trouser legs that created a towering silhouette. The suiting was purposefully disheveled alongside one-shoulder sheer tops and untucked slashed shirts like the model had just come out of a brawl, while black and crimson latex gloves and thigh-high leather boots were ready for whatever clean up was needed in the aftermath. It must also be said that Louis’ collection was one of the most inclusive of a notably homogeneous menswear season, showing on a range of bodies and sizes. After all, anyone can wear sexy, slashed and sleek clothing – just like anyone can be a serial killer. TG
Arturo Obegero
Last year brought a major moment for Spanish designer Arturo Obegero, whose sleeveless, sequined jumpsuits took over the internet as soon as they were worn by Harry Styles, both on stage and in the “As It Was” music video. In his latest offering for AW23, there’s an ode to the latter in the form of the Mr. Styles Suit, a red and black candy-striped sequin set comprising a stringy strap flared-bottom jumpsuit and a matching cropped jacket. The overall theme of the collection, however, was “Homme Fatal” – men as seducers, tempting their subjects towards danger. Notably, there was the Fatal Suit, a fitted two-piece with a laced-back blazer that blossomed at the neckline into petal-like lapels over the upper arms. Elsewhere there was tweed oversized shirting, reversible bomber jackets with nipped-in waists, faux-fur dresses, patchworked Etoile jackets with matching belted trousers, and shorts made from old satin theatre curtains. Each was toned in white, black and a devilishly sultry red hue reminiscent of flamenco dancers and matadors. Sequin suspender detailing adorned trompe l’oeil trousers whilst a trench coat easily stripped down into a jacket, wrap skirt and a vest. These were clothes – inspired by “Latin lover” movie star Rudolph Valentino, flapper era actress Louise Brooks and Helmut Newton’s sultry noir photography – that brought an empowering version of cinematic feminine energy, historically often crafted under the male gaze, to menswear. Clothes for those confident few ready to wear their sensuality of their sleeve, and use it to their advantage. TG