Every seasonal cycle Hussein Chalayan presents a trilogy of collections linked by theme. Inevitably, the biggest thrill comes at their climax. To experience it—and to witness the extra-mind-boggling coup de théâtre that Chalayan has invariably conceived for the runway this time round—you need to get to Paris in March or the end of September to early October. Yet the full arc of his process starts in the London studio in which Chalayan’s stories take shape, first with Pre (or Resort) and then men’s.
This season’s Once Upon A Time started softly, and whispered of Germany. Chalayan said that Europe’s powerhouse nation had thrust itself into his mind as it opened its borders to mass-migration last year. Some of the details were literal (for Chalayan); military pockets were obscured by fold because “they way they deal with their past is very healthy.” A knit jacquard, called the Nowhere Print, was made up of the umlaut-heavy signage you see when driving without speed limit on the Autobahn. Destinations though, these were not: This was a collection of directions to deliciously syllable-packed words taken from fairy tales, such as kohlpechrabenschwarz (as black as coal). The cloak, that most fairy tale of garments, was pared down and deconstructed. Some dresses bore fringed weights, another reference Chalayan alluded was to the grip of history.
There were more intriguing, imaginary Teutonic tics on the mood board too—but these failed to make this lookbook, so are probably being held in reserve for the runway reveal in Paris. Designer signatures included a painstakingly sculpted column dress in burnt red, and counterintuitively seamless bias-cut dresses. Chalayan’s clothes are heavy with thought, but deliver lightly on the eye.
