Craig Green. Menswear. Spring 2020 - London Fashion Week

(Images from the designer and the public domain. Credited to the photographer/company where applicable

One of the most creative designers for menswear at the moment, particularly from the English fashion scene, is Craig Green. Whose showing for Spring 2020 maintains his fascination with combining, in my opinion, the spiritual to the secular, defining aesthetics via ideas and concepts that have past through history.  Which is important to sometimes reflect upon, but not dwell.  The ghosts  of yesteryear.  History is filled with ideas, some are archaic and useless, others may hold keys and assist in progressing through the currents of life.  Which essentiall all there is, are moments in time. Technology has superseded, more so the digital feedback loops and infused a strange idea of immortality.  But, it is an illusion.  To which Green portrays with the use of the mirror, adjoining the mirrored reflection as a themed concept, as the models walked down the runway.  A brief matelistic shadow of facing the ikon as time erodes its resonance.  

The eclectic for Green's Spring collection has, noted with his previous collections, a uniformity to it, with precision concepts matched against Green's imprint of utilizing a style, for his signature brand, that is very unique; and utilizing history, as mentioned,  he is able to provide a backlog of ideas.  An impression in its refinement that is of the now.  To be significant is to avoid the repetition, the study is on how much the cultures, from East and West have borrowed and redefined through their own observations of each other as an individuality.  A claim of the original  has always been drawn from another place in time.  An important perspective when noting how effortless Green's collections are, as they materialize a distinctness despite the infusion of past concepts.  

The array of ghostly shapes and stylizations is lit under compressed mirrored dynamics, which illuminates the models in defined ways, the vivid forms of Green's synthetic material base shine through – in easy and subtle ways for his Spring looks.  A sheer, but layered quality, maintaining the masculine – which is important.  Designers may experiment with fluidity, but in an androgynous sense women are vastly superior at carrying male styles, so it is refreshing to see a male toughness.  Layering of the see-through tops and pants, assists in the portrayal of Green's utility/work wear themes.  Structured and outlined, with some pieces utilizing the femininity of lace inspired cutouts, which I find can offer, or at least attempt as bridging a duality between the masculine and feminine and vis versa.  As borrowed concepts of each other.

Overall the styles hold a futurist concepts that is based in the now.  Post dystopic construction attire that I feel has influenced many of the designers of late, although Green has added the experimentation of a contemplative and apparitional looks. 

The color palette is muted with mostly even tones, set against the more striking colors of greens, purple and reds, with the base of white and black compressing the spectrum on display.