JW Anderson Paris Fashion Week Men's S/S 2020

Mood board: The theme for S/S20 was for a shared wardrobe. In 2013, Anderson stunned the audience with frilled bloomers and corsets for men – now such a look is the blueprint for London’s brightest young stars. And although its translation onto the street is taking a little longer, Anderson showed knitted shift dresses with tassels on boys for the coming season. The show featured sophisticated riffs on the tuxedo too. Lapels turned into fringed scarves and were worn naked, with slim trousers. ‘I liked the idea that the tuxedo tape started to blow up and fall off. That’s where we started,’ Anderson said. The look had a haphazard sensuality.

Scene setting: The show space was dressed with works by artists Kate Newby, Harry Kramer and Paul Thek. New Zealand born Newby’s ‘Make! A! Wave’ (2016) in porcelain was hung in the middle of the room and trilled as guests unknowingly brushed past. Suspended on coloured wires too were large globules of glass that seemed to sit still in mid-air. Casually arranged as if abandoned, a framed poster of Thek’s 1966 show rested against a column. Newby’s ceramics and found glass fragments were scattered on two more framed posters by Thek. There was a purposeful, radical nonchalance to the whole thing, a layering of generations, materials and ideas. ‘Grosses H’ (1962-1964), a large kinetic wire piece by the German sculptor Harry Kramer, took centre stage.

Sound bite: ‘I like this idea of craft goes machine. I was looking at Kramer – who did all these kinetic sculptures. He was a hairdresser and I found it interesting that you have someone who was doing hair, moving into art,’ Anderson said. Sleeves on trenches were slashes, creating a graphic shoulder line from the back; knits were slashed and caged, and had the air of tumbling around the body. ‘You have felted clogs and a grandmother-knitted look that looks like it has been passed down but there is modernity in the wrongness. As much as the look is very relaxed, there’s a precision to the edge. When you do a knitted sweater, it’s not part of something else, it’s one complete thing,’ he said.