Martine Rose’s SS24 show was the most exciting thing to come out of London Men’s Fashion Week, and it wasn’t even on schedule.
Apart from Saul Nash who will be presenting his show later today, the schedule for London this season is dead, so not appearing on it makes total sense for Martine Rose. After rumours flying around London on whether or not the designer would be showing, attendees were brought to St Joseph’s Parish Centre, where the show was held, near her North London Studio.
Taking place in a community centre, the theme of community was clear from the get-go. Local figures made their appearances through clothing that was reinterpreted in the easy-going way of Martine Rose, juxtaposing the classic with a new cool. We saw graphic track jackets that made royalty cool, cut in memory of the late Queen Lizzie.
A new interpretation of tradition in more than one way was seen throughout the show, displacing the meaning and the physical attributes of clothing. A refuse collector, a job that requires waking up at the crack of dawn, saw its trousers and jackets paired with a nightlife-certified morning-missing corset-style top and fur jacket.
Biker culture also made its way into the collection, with a series of leather-clad jackets, buckle-ankle trousers and bags. One of the jackets was constructed without any canvas, with shoulders displaced upwards and volume at the front, creating an exaggerated movement on the runway. We also saw menswear looks finished off with 1930s traditional women’s girdles and tailoring rendered “Empty”, with pieces losing their fixed structures to create a laid-back, almost sleazy look.
Last February, Kendrick Lamar was spotted accepting his Grammy Award in an unreleased Martine Rose x Nike shoe, following up on last July’s Shox Mule, fashion’s favourite and weirdest mule-heel-sneaker hybrid. This season, we saw the shoe in a purple-and-blue gradient – the ones Kendrick wore – an orange-and-yellow gradient as well as an all-black version with pale yellow and green details.
The shoe collabs didn’t stop there though. With the announcement of Martine Rose guest creative directing at Clarks dropping last month, the SS24 show gave us a teaser of what to expect. Two pairs from the “Coming Up Roses by Martine Rose for Clarks” collection were shown: one for the guys in an Oxford style and one for the gals as a heeled loafer, both seen in all-black leather and mock-exotics.
Martine Rose’s SS24 show may have been off schedule but it was on beat, with the designer capturing the essence of subcultural and reinterpreting in an effortlessly cool style.
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