LFW SS22: Denim Highlights

London Fashion Week brought the best seasoned designers and a fresh stream of new talent back to runway with the first live shows since the pandemic. Featuring fashion and styling references from our favorite 90’s and 00’s trends via Mark Fast and KNWLS to a conceptual take on upcycling by designer to watch Jawara Alleyne, this season did not disappoint.

We’ve rounded up our picks of the most aspirational looks and designers to watch from London Fashion Week, who are capturing the look of today.

Goom Heo’s SS22 collection explores the idea in finding comfort in chaos and aims to restructure what is considered traditional menswear. Chainlink tops, hip bone accentuating cut outs and full butt cheek baring styles usher in a brave new wave of menswear. The collection features dark gray acid washes with exaggerated honey comb and 00’s, tiger stripe finishes woth cloudy, high contrast indigo bleach outs and exaggerated fringe detailing.

See the full collection here.

“A journey through the hedonism of ’90s British subcultures was what Mark Fast proposed this season,” Vogue’s Liam Hess writes of Mark Fast’s most recent runway presentation. Denim finishing techniques included  graffiti inspired, hand-painted denim sets, over-dyed and laser printed pieces, as well as shibori bleached styles. I personally didn’t experiences the 90’s London fashion scene but Fast’s collection make it look like it was a pretty fun place to be.

See the full collection here.

Rejina Pyo’s SS22 collection kicked off with a relaxed vacay vibe and transitioned into soft tailored separates. Using prints of photographs the designer took as a teenager, Pyo told Vogue, “They’re fragments of memories from past travels, I guess I was looking back at them with a sense of nostalgia, they seemed to evoke freer days. I liked that they felt a bit naïve, back when there was nothing to worry about.” Pyo continued, “I wanted to explore that feeling you get on holiday; when you might dress a little more adventurously, and that sense of anonymity you have when you’re away from home and you tend to let go a bit more.” A feeling we have all been craving for nearly the past two years!

Full length, tailored yet slouchy denim in classic washes mark this new era of casual wear. Exaggerated collars, lattice detailing and contemporary seam placement all bring a sophisticated yet easy-going attitude.

See the full collection here.

Since the brands debut in 2020, designers Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault of KNWLS have consistently delivered aspirational designs capturing the mood of the early 2020 decade, there designs are a favorite of all the “it girls” from the Jenners and Kardashians to the Hadids.

The brands ability to mix different eras of influence and aesthetics without it feeling forced or cheap is quickly propelling them to be the designers for a generation. This season featured the brands signature low cut pants, light wash, streaky denim and some Y2K reminiscent finishing techniques and styling.

See the full collection here.

A feme-centric collection, playful and volumized tops paired with mid-rise baggy jeans, gives a sense of the post-pandemic era garden party and Sunday brunch uniform.

Designers Molly Goddard and Simone Rocha both returned to fashion week this season with new babies. Pooling inspiration from children’s wear and going back to thoughts of her final collection as a student at Central Saint Martins fashion school, Molly told Vogue “My graduation collection was all based on blowing up the dresses I had when I was a child,” and as Vogue writer Sarah Mower concluded “That’s where her obsession with smocking grew; and the happy/oblivious power of grown women taking up a good amount of space.”

See the full collection here.

Jawara Alleyne showed his second collection with design incubator Fashion East last week in London and is a name we’re definitely going to be watching out for as he progresses in his career. While fellow Fashion East designers put on traditional runway shows, Alleyne opted for a live presentation, as a means to continue exploring the collections theme of re-contextualization, sustainably-minded design and reconstruction.

Challenging the traditional expectations of menswear, Alleyne likes to include what could be considered more aesthetically feminine design techniques, such as draping and shaped silhouettes. The designer also looks to his upbringing in Jamaica to define his attitude of design, highlighting the lifecycle of a garments, oversized and ageless pieces. Another interesting aspect of his presentation was in which they way he expressed “the unfair weight of expectation young designers face,” Alleyne said of his collection.

See the full collection here.