Mood board: there was a lot to unpack in the inspiration behind Kiko Kostadinov’s third menswear show. The designer looked to a piece by German artist Martin Kippenberger titled ‘The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s “Amerika”’, which imagines its protagonist applying for a job at ‘the biggest theatre in world.’ For S/S 2019, Kostadinov took the concept of a communal job interview, and translated its location into an imaginary Bengal town location on the Ganges. His characters represented men from a cross section of society arriving at the interview. This culminated in a collection that fused a variety of codes, like sportswear and utility with a more bohemian outlook. Performance wear has dominated the London men’s catwalks, with the neon of high vis jackets already the covetable hue. It was refreshing to see utility and sports-focused silhouettes injected with a folkloric warmth and an imaginative backstory, recalling the shores of the Ganges, instead of simply a selection of synthetic fibres.
Best in show: Kostadinov contrasted high vis cagoules with pocketed plaid suits, road map seam trousers with loose tribal jacquard tunics. The designer incorporated Bulgarian carpet applique into scarves, which swathed the body or trailed from the shoulder, and in embroidered shirts. Professional garb but with pizzazz.
Team work: the designer continued his collaboration with Asics, reinventing its ‘Tug of War’ competition shoe in mismatched colours like mint and lavender. Kostadinov, who teamed up with Katsuya Kamo last season on a range of floral headpieces, collaborated once more with the hair artist on exotic and bejewelled coiled headpieces. §
