'Menswear 2020: Don’t Be Afraid To Look Stupid' / Tim Grant
Tim is a Melbourne fashion writer currently completing their Master in Publishing and Communications. They enjoy long walks on the beach, staying home with a good book, and getting caught in the rain.
Depending on where you read, this whole lockdown thing may be going on for a long time. Absolutely necessary from a public health point of view, but demoralising for the extroverts among us.
One thing I’ve been doing during the long empty Sunday afternoons is going through the hundreds of screenshots on my phone from the most recent Fashion Weeks. This weekend I decided to start planning what my Winter look is going to be – optimistically assuming I will be out of the house by August.
It’s often hard, as measly Australians, to immediately incorporate the lessons of Fashion Weeks into our repertoire. Because this global health crisis has effectively eliminated the need for getting fully dressed, taking inspiration from Fall 2020 could be considered thoughtful pre-planning rather than a heat-stroke risk.
The biggest, most applicable lesson I’m taking from January and February runways is – as per the title of this article – the ambivalent joy of looking a bit silly.
It’s that lesson I want to lay out for you all to follow when the government finally lets us out again. So, 2 months late, here’s my favourite moments from Fall 2020! I’ve even prepared a range of options if, say, dressing like the concept of camping isn’t your thing.
The Great Outdoors, Coming to a Depop Near You
No one looked sillier than the models on the Craig Green runway in Paris. Working around the concept of a “packaged person”, Green’s newest offering resembled what I like to call “tent couture”.
Among my favourite styles were the body-length ponchos with enormous embroidered flowers. The jackets, pants, and even hats were so heavily covered in pockets, straps, and rolled-up panels of polyester that it ceased to be practical.
There were suits emanating from life vests and shirts fit for storing mangoes at a supermarket. The collection blissfully closed with four outfits that resembled the ‘faulty’ bin at Kathmandu. The theme of the day was shiny, squeaky, and vibrantly coloured.
It looked very silly. It looked stiflingly hot. It reminded me of the movie Parasite, oddly. In spite of the lack of wearability, Green’s collection has inspired me to grab the next jacket I see that looks like an unravelling life-raft.
For those of you looking for a less flammable approach, Glenn Martens over at Y/Project made the delightful choice to throw caution to the wind and suit jackets through a sewing machine.
The highlights at Y/Project, for myself, were: a sweatshirt being cannibalised by a fleece jacket; trousers adorned with a pair of sweatpants sewn into their front lap; and an astronaut-style puffer jacket which appeared to bleed wool blankets.
The vibe was crumpled, incongruously buttoned layers that swirled around the bodies of the models. If you want to recreate any of the looks without literally bankrupting yourself, steal your grandfather’s old fishing gear and commit a few fashion accidents. The more ruffles made out of rough-hemmed suit lining, the better.
And for only the most authentic, soulful urban scarecrows, I have just one name – AV Vattev. This Fall collection can be best described as “if Yves Tumor was head designer at American Apparel”.
To get the prototypical AV Vattev cold-weather look, you will need:
A big patchy jacket with a stiff, military neckline;
Gently crumpled leather pants;
A few fistfuls of fake fur and shearling bursting from the waist.
A bucket hat brimming with straw-like fur and colourful splotches of facepaint would be wonderful. If that’s too high-maintenance for you, a thick balaclava will suffice.
Melbourne Winter this year will be about gasping loudly and spreading your arms to take in the fresh air. But after that, it will be about unusual textures, thick layers, and the smell of pine trees. If you take anything from this recap, let it be this: for the love of god, start dressing like a possessed scarecrow from a horror movie.
Exhausting Parisian Professors Are Back
Some of you may want to look silly in a subtler, more pretentious way. I have a few reference points in mind. Dries Van Notten’s Fall collection had something for the visual art students and the 19th century Parisian libertines alike.
Decadent, billowing pants – velvet or silk – were paired with flannel shirts and psychedelically printed jackets. The best looks were (problematically) topped with fur stoles. The erotically-charged, 70s-adjacent outfits looked elegantly thrown together, as though chosen at random from a pile strewn over an antique chaise lounge.
If you can’t afford to add mink to your accessories collection, the next best tip to take from Van Notten this Autumn is tucking your double-breasted blazer sleeves into a set of elbow high wool gloves. It’s a risk, sure, but it’ll keep you toasty warm.
If you like a simpler, less smoked damaged aesthetic, Rochas is your ticket. Their 2020 Fall line just screamed “I’ve read Rimbaud”, relishing the fact that barely anyone knew what that meant.
Torsos were covered by scarves; knees were knocked by Chesterfield coats; and pipes were undoubtedly smoked by the lucky models assigned the thick velvet blazers.
The look to steal, though, is the navy duffle coat covered in sharp gold studs. It was perfectly paired with a droopy silk shirt, high-waisted pants, and gumboots (!). I strongly recommend you all claim it as your post-quarantine look of choice. Otherwise, the most annoying man in your philosophy tute is gonna beat you to it.
Sex Sells This Season, Though It May Cost an Arm and a Leg
If you aren’t afraid of frostbite, you’re ready for the gospels of Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Rick Owens.
De Saint Sernin put out yet another range of chest-baring separates, perfect for a chilly night at a rooftop bar. Ignore any raised eyebrows, and confidently don your asymmetrical camisoles spun out of sheer silk, or leather.
Being a de Saint Sernin collection, it’s obviously pants-optional. If leather underwear sparks your fancy, wrap it in a gauzy trench coat or spider-web mini-dress for maximum effect. A tasteful set of silk boxers with a matching jacket would also be a smaller step in the right direction.
Rick Owens, likewise, put his most unabashed foot forward this Fall with a series of one-legged wool onesies. There was plenty of the classic Rick Owens plunging neckline, too.
The focal points of his collection was the sternum and the entire right leg, hypothermia be damned. Of the textured jumpsuits, the most compelling seemed to be fused with crinkly mini-dresses mutating out of the thick wool.
Traces of Ziggy Stardust were sprinkled over the runway as well; bright blues, drastic shoulder pads, and trippy pinstripes were a source of fun variety. If you’re only going to half-commit to the sleazy slanket look, stock up on some 80s art-rock to make it up to me.
If you aren’t ready to rock this look at all, I think the almost-transparent PVC coats are a great way to simultaneously trap heat and show off a skimpy outfit. If you can get a set of the Blazing Saddles gumboots to go with them, all the better.
Listen, Before I Go–
–There’s one last runway I want to review. If none of the above archetypes is your thing (is human tent an archetype? IDK), Botter’s menswear line offers a succinct roadmap for all the silly bloke stylings for Winter 2020.
Upcycled birthday party balloons! Bubble-wrap tank-tops! Spaceman pyjamas! They had it all. The designers at large at Botter care about reusing non-biodegradable fabric, and injecting a little giddiness into casualwear.
I have my qualms about recycling plastic. Still, I can’t deny that this collection, out of all the ones I saw this Summer, was the most infectiously gleeful. Like, there were helmets made out of plastic airbags! Come on.
Rushemy Botter and Lisi Herrbrugh have an approach to design that you can laugh at AND with. This collection is fun, silly, and loud – all without aping a particular era, a type of person, or a specific inanimate object.
I’m going to spend the next few months desperately jealous of anyone who got a pair of those pants covered in price tag fasteners. Ooh, and the plush sweatshirt that says “THERE’S NO CRYING IN FASHION” – need and want.
If the first 4 months of 2020 proved anything, it’s that Australians should be prepared for at minimum, the weirdest, and at most, the worst. Let’s respond in kind.