
The theory of opposites according to JW Anderson From retro to cutting-edge novelty
The press releases accompanying JW Anderson's presentations often recall the poems of Gianni Rodari. Light-heartedly, simple yet effective phrases translate into words a collection rich in metaphors and hidden meanings. For FW24, the designer brought the theory of opposites to London Fashion Week - «to have one thing, one must recognise the other» - but this time also found inspiration in the pop and nostalgic world of his childhood, borrowing some stylistic codes from the series Last of the Summer Wine. Although it is a rather niche reference, reserved for those who have been able to experience British television between the 1980s and the early 2000s, the femininity of the collection was communicated in a direct and unequivocal manner. There were playful proportions, plastic distortions, soft pairings, "old" knitwear, and gray granny wigs: unusualness, a constant in JW Anderson's designs, became a bit more romantic this February.
With what the brand describes as «Subtle hints of novelty revealed with delicacy,» JW Anderson's new FW24 brought to the runway a patchwork of different measures, a series of future trends that happily reconcile the seemingly unusual relationship between avant-garde and retro. It's not the space-age aesthetic that made fashion quake in the 1960s, nor is it the Matrix world of the 1990s: Anderson has produced a dimension all his own, bounded between a thick wool striped polo and a confetti pink tunic that reveals the model's nipples. In a spectrum of emotions that explores the humor of a men's jacket with anomalous dimensions as well as the practicality of a pair of blue cotton shorts, each item in JW Anderson's FW24 has a specific purpose in the brand's future. Everything except the granny wig. Maybe.