Mood board: ‘I wanted this to be something that was romantic,’ JW Anderson said of his elegant S/S 2020 collection. The djellabas in suede, the crisp white sailor suiting and washed silk dungarees emanated a youthful, nomadic ease, something the designer said ‘felt nymphlike’. Stiff silk organza was sculpted info floral broaches, attached behind the ears, their feather stems twitching as the models walked. ‘I wanted something that was more of a kind of dreamscape, like there was an effortlessness to it – this is what the brand is about. It’s sensual. It’s light’ – all of the key codes that Anderson has been building on for the last six years. It evoked a 1970s resort fluency. The flap of the house’s oro ‘cashmere’ suede ushered in the minimal, reductivist look.
Scene setting: Short suits in layers of poplin and voile, denim duffle coats and dhoti-like trousers were rooted in a bohemian, travelling spirit. ‘I wanted it to feel like Alice in Wonderland, like you could just tumble away. You could go to the beach or you could not go to the beach,’ he said. Guests sat on Knoll’s re-issue of Eero Saarinen’s Conference Chair, made for Maison de l’UNESCO in 2018. Nine video works by the British artist Hilary Lloyd were installed in the centre of the auditorium. Made between 2008-2017, they muse on natural and constructed worlds; the hyper-corporeal. ‘I wanted something to relate to this childlike dreamstate that I think we’re all in, this non-reality. The idea of the screen, the look,’ Anderson said.
Sound bite: Standouts were the textiles, made using a global network of craftspeople. Caftans were offered in hand-embroidered red and white cotton made in Bangladesh to hand-dyed and woven indigo cloth created by artisans in Burkina Faso. ‘I wanted to look back to the era when the brand became something in the 1970s. With the success of Paula’s Ibiza shop, there is this something of cotton meeting linen. As much as this is fashion, it’s rooted in the brand’s heritage. I feel like we’ve enhanced the past but made it for the future.’ §
