From behind a fluttering white fan, Joe Casely-Hayford kept his counsel backstage as his ebullient son Charlie explained their decision to debut a new womenswear capsule concept within this menswear collection. “We’ve been asked about doing it for years,” said Charlie: “Now felt right. We want to dress a woman who is a partner to the Casely-Hayford man—but she is very much independent and different to him too.”
The biggest trend in menswear at LCM right now is womenswear; on women, for women—not just as a conceptual feint for men. Astrid Andersen debuted her long-gestated womenswear project last night, and then today Agi & Sam presented a stronger-than-often womenswear narrative before Nasir Mazhar brought out a this-season version of his very specific take on female power. Fashion is going coed, anarchy has been loosed, and who knows how those who cover the collections will reformat their gender-defined drop-down menus if the revolution continues?
This new Casely-Hayford (womenswear) entry opened the show. Richly colored jacquards developed with the 276-year-old silk weaving mill Vanners were used in lush tailored notch-lapeled coats both single breasted and double, as well as jackets, shirting, a mac, and cutely cut pants. But this was not just expressively patterned menswear cut for women—a raw hemmed opaque patterned silk dress with knit-detail shoulders and a knit top with silk shoulder panel and slit at the sternum were outside the previous frame of reference for this label’s tailoring. The clothes will be available to order as made-to-measure or as bespoke in fabrics of the client’s choice. That fan still fluttered as Charlie said: “Each season will develop new areas in womenswear that can be fully bespoke. And I think in a market where ready-to-wear is oversaturated, our customer wants something that is completely unique and individual to them.”
As heralded, the menswear was affiliated to the womenswear but neither superior nor subordinate. Father and son had been riffing on two music genres of their respective generations—rock and grime—and entangling their respective codes. The jewelry, paisley, tie-dye fringing, and ikat-esque pattern were inspired by the finding-themselves geographical-journeying 20th-century rockers—the Beatles in India or Led Zep’s Kashmir. The seemingly chaotic bleach splatters on neatly stitched stripes plus sportswear shapes hinted at the digital mushrooming of international grime culture and its chosen vernacular attire.
