J.W. Anderson F/W 14.15 London

[elle_gb]

I like how liberate his collection was, the clothes are definitely for risk taker. It's usual but very creative at the same time, I like how consistent of his collection though.

 

[Hot Cowture]

Some of the shoes look like ugly made croissants and some look so heavy-handed. I can't, for the love of the Fashion God, understand how this can be hyped that much. Many silhouettes are awkward, flattering to no one, and the color palette just take the poorly constructed clothes to Homeless-Ville.

For example, that opening look is tragic. What woman would like to wear a top that suggests her boobs are falling down to her stomach? Or that closing look. "Oh hey, the atelier just stitched together my pants so I can look cool".

Risk-taking clothes is one thing, but pretentiously made clothes is a whole different story. And this the perfect example of the latter.

 

[Deleted member 119799]

A designer has to dress classy or quirky to make his collection more believable ?

Have you ever seen the way Nicolas Ghesquiere dress himself ?

doesn't have to no, but if the stuff you design is completely out of touch with reality then it'd really help.

when you go through the looks on style.com and end with the picture of him in boring (uniqlo?) jeans it reads like a punchline to a big fashion joke.

maybe it'd be better if he just didn't show his face at the end because it just ruins it a bit for me.

anyway, the sort of work nicholas & jw make is very very different to me. his work for balenciaga spoke for itself and had a reality to it.

if rei kawakubo dressed like my mum i'd question her point of view as well.

i still like this collection a lot though!

 

[Sunnyinlondon]

Only came to see what his collection was about because last week during a lecture with the great Colin McDowell, one of my students wouldn't let go of the j.w.anderson subject. I have to say it does look like crap, but then again that is what tutors are pushing students into at fashion colleges in the UK. They keep telling them to be innovative, while forsaking beauty and function. To me it looks like a graduate collection. Ugly, crappy clothes. I love some of the comments though. They are well deserved.

 

[Crying Diamonds]

i think it's quite wonderful, i like how he's able to really wind people up.

but i don't get the hate, isn't it refreshing after nyfw to see someone actually trying to push fashion design forward. whether you like it or not.
at least he isn't relying on prints and embellishments to make his clothes look exciting like most of his contemporaries are doing.

i just wish he didn't dress so boring himself so it'd make his designs more believable and less of an abstract design experiment.

But one [of my many] aggravations about this brand is that, as Sunnyinlondon said, this does look like a graduate collection, and it always does, and even worse, graduate collections by completely unknown people convey better ideas, better choices, better construction and generally just better designs, still pushing fashion forward and actually remembering that a human being is actually supposed to be able to wear this clothing at an imaginable moment in their life.

 

[StoneSkipper]

^That's exactly what's wrong with his work as a whole! The whole point of fashion is to make clothes that people either will wear, or want to wear - even when you're doing avant-garde and pushing boundaries. Even when you're doing super-structural designs with cutting-edge technological innovation and it's completely unimaginable in real everyday life, the goal is to make people wish they could wear that in everyday life. J.W.'s clothes too concentrated on being new and innovative to make people wear it, yet never fantastical or desirable enough to make people want to wear this. So his clothes fall into this vacuum where people will never wear it and will never want to wear it - which makes him completely fail his goal as a fashion designer AND a fashion brand. What is left of his work, then? It's completely empty and devoid of any meaning.

 

[Scott]

i think my issue with JW is that while his intentions are commendable and respectable,i do feel like he lacks the skill to execute that more conceptual territory mastered by the likes of chalayan and the criminally underrated shelley fox at the time. like i said,the intent is wonderful but the precision leaves a lot to be desired. if he can find that vein,i think his work will begin to grow on people.

 

[Deleted member 119799]

But one [of my many] aggravations about this brand is that, as Sunnyinlondon said, this does look like a graduate collection, and it always does, and even worse, graduate collections by completely unknown people convey better ideas, better choices, better construction and generally just better designs, still pushing fashion forward and actually remembering that a human being is actually supposed to be able to wear this clothing at an imaginable moment in their life.

i like that everything always looks a bit off in the construction and a bit banal in the design.

everything looks like a 5 mins long draping experiment by a first year fashion student, and i really like that. i admire the freedom he is willing to take and not to conform to what people expect clothes on a runway to look like.
a lot of young designers to me are really trying to please the buyers and their customers, while jw is more into pleasing himself.

i do hope that all of what i see in his work is deliberate though.

the only thing i do dislike is the stuff he actually sells, like the logoed sweaters. it's all way too normal for me, but maybe that should be blamed on the buyers not wanting to take any risks and not on him.

 

[Phuel]

i think my issue with JW is that while his intentions are commendable and respectable,i do feel like he lacks the skill to execute that more conceptual territory mastered by the likes of chalayan and the criminally underrated shelley fox at the time. like i said,the intent is wonderful but the precision leaves a lot to be desired. if he can find that vein,i think his work will begin to grow on people.

Are his intentions really commendable or respectable though...? It all comes across more about being noticed and carving a brand in his case, so that those logo-emblazened pieces do sell.

Although I do think this collection looks the most complete of his-- and less gimmicky and desperately contrived than previous ones. There's nothing progressive, innovative or refreshing here-- which is horrible for someone who supposedly wants to be all those things. This route has been done so much more thoughtfully, skillfully and inspiringly-- and desirable, by the Japanese and the Belgians. It's all quite derivative of Belgium-designs-inspired-by-the-Japanese route-- even a caricature of high fashion (something Sasha Cohen's Bruno would have parodied), as Marc10 mentioned.

I find all this "it's new/ high fashion" excuse for thoughtlessness, and an overall lack of skills to dress costumers, so very tiresome and lazy. Someone like Mary Katrantzou's, whose latest offering is so much more innovative, progressive, sustainable, and desirable than all this, despite the simplicity of her lines, is more refreshing to me. I see so many posts about how "boring" a collection is, and I wonder: Are all these posters going out and buying up all these supposed edgy designs? Is JW designing for these posters?

The positive aspect at least, is, he's not designing pieces that resemble sagging skin anymore-- and I even find some dresses quite nice, at least cozy-looking. I suspect this may be a raw-ish preview of what's to be expected when he premieres at Loewe; I imagine his efforts for Loewe will be more streamlined-- a prettified, lady-like and more accessible version of all this origami-esque pretension, but with the prerequisite bags included, of course. Who knows, he may even surprise some with the Loewe offerings.

In any case, I'd much prefer to scroll through his women's collections rather than his men's, which always comes across so desperately gimmicky, and attention-wh*ring for my taste: Do men who already wear women's designer clothes really need his designs to validate their chosen style? Even if they did, would they be spending their money on his designs...?

 

[Scott]

i'll be honest,when i went through the images i didn't get this instant rush from the clothes in that it moved me or inspired me emotionally like so many in the past have who have been either truly radical or unconventionally poetic. although the work is lacking,i won't say so much that it's necessarily contrived because i have seen creative things from JW in the past…prior to this more conceptual kick…..i just feel this is very much new territory for him and hasn't really been a seamless transition like say ann-sofie back's foray with her concept collection 'atelje'. maybe it just says his range is very limited at this point. i'd like to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and see how he continues. the only reason i say i appreciate the intention is because most of us who desire a return to creativity again,at least he's trying something...

 

[IZ uS]

^^
I agree. I do find I anticipate seeing his work; regardless. He is trying and I like looking at his work without thinking about it too much and appreciating the creative that we desire so much. Im sure one day we might see the method to his madness.

 

[balmain1914]

Nope.

 

[jeffandtheworld]

I like this collection more than the previous one. I can totally see some pieces being fabulously matched and worn in real life.

 

[ogepma]

I had always been a fan of this guy, and still am, in some ways but I just can't help but feel that the little fame he has gotten over these past few seasons has gotten to his head. This collection is ok, but heavily pretentious, like his previous ones; but this time, the collection felt unnecessary and forced. It just didn't work for me. That's not to say that there aren't some interesting pieces here. For instance, I find those dresses with the shearling detail interesting and I have to say, he does have a good eye for materials and the garments are very well made. But it all seems as if he deliberately goes to extreme lengths to make the clothes unflattering and somewhat unappealing to women. Whether or not he is trying to create a sensible dialogue about how we see clothes with respect to the female form is yet to be seen but he certainly not advancing towards any sort of dialogue with this show.

 

[Petit Lucille]

Some of them look so tortured in itself, and as in torturing the models. The shoes are great though.