Mood board: What Margaret Howell doesn’t make isn’t worth worrying about. There are a great number of those who humbly subscribe to her reductivist, functional mantra: her winter clothes will keep you warm and her summer clothes will waft to the balmiest of breezes. For S/S 2019 the designer showed pressed linen button down dresses, crisp high-waisted culottes shorts, pleated cotton skirts in fresh white, good heavy cotton drill separates. It all felt at once familiar but somehow vital; classic, but gently updated.
Best in show: There’s a lot of talk about the immense pressures faced by designers working in the age of social media. How, for example, do you make clothes that are readable on a screen? What’s going to pop out of the feed? What will garner as much attention as possible? But fascinatingly, every season the throng of street photographers who line the pavements outside the shows are ignoring the bold and the beautiful and are instead zooming in on gentle, natural elegance. The kind that Howell has been pushing since the 1970s. Good tapered cotton trousers, fine wool pinstripe suits, polka-dotted collar skirts, indigo denim suits and fisherman jumpers rendered in lighter weave. It is all easy. And smart. Contesting the differences between menswear and womenswear feels crude here – the women looked gamine and relaxed; the boys looked elegant.
Finishing touches: Howell showed white cotton plimsolls – and a single white bomber – which are part of a collaboration with British brand Fred Perry. A range of steel-grey athletic vests, swimwear and cycle shorts, made in collaboration with the Japanese sportswear company Mizuno formed part of the collection too. Last season, Howell debuted a nylon running shoe manufactured in Japan by Mizuno – this time it was back in faded black suede.
Margaret Howell S/S 2019.
Margaret Howell S/S 2019.
Margaret Howell S/S 2019.
Margaret Howell S/S 2019.
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Lexus finally confirms the name of its all-electric LFA Concept supercarStill designated a design study, the Lexus LFA Concept should be the successor to the most unlikely of all 20th-century supercars
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King of cashmere Brunello Cucinelli on his new biographical docu-drama: ‘This is my testimony’Directed by Cinema Paradiso’s Giuseppe Tornatore, ‘Brunello: the Gracious Visionary’ premiered in cinematic fashion at Rome’s Cinecittà studios last night, charting the meteoric rise of the deep-thinking Italian designer
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Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s wet, windy and wintry and, this week, the Wallpaper* team craved moments of escape. We found it in memories of the Mediterranean, flavours of Mexico, and immersions in the worlds of music and art
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‘Architect of glamour’ Antony Price makes a high-voltage return to the runway with 16ArlingtonFeaturing a runway debut from Lily Allen, the show saw legendary designer Antony Price – best known for outfitting Roxy Music in the 1980s – unite with 16Arlington’s Marco Capaldo on the sensual after-dark collection
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‘Dirty Looks’ at the Barbican explores how fashion designers have found beauty in dirt and decayFrom garments buried in River Thames mud to those torn, creased and stained, ‘Dirty Looks’ is a testament to how ‘creativity and new artistic practices can come out of decay’, its curators tell Dal Chodha
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Tyler Mitchell’s London show explores the figure of the Black Dandy, ‘imagining what else masculinity could look like’Originally part of a visual essay to accompany the Met’s ‘Superfine’ 2025 Costume Institute exhibition, ‘Portrait of the Modern Dandy’ goes on display at Gagosian Burlington Arcade in London this week
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Inside Louis Vuitton’s Murakami London pop-up, a colourful cartoon wonderland with one-of-a-kind caféWallpaper* takes a tour of the Louis Vuitton x Murakami pop-up in London’s Soho, which celebrates the launch of a new ‘re-edition’ accessories collection spanning the greatest hits from the Japanese artist’s long-running collaboration with the house
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Get to know Issey Miyake’s innovative A-POC ABLE line as it arrives in the UKAs A-POC ABLE Issey Miyake launches in London this week, designer Yoshiyuki Miyamae gives Wallpaper* the lowdown on the experimental Issey Miyake offshoot
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New short film takes you behind the scenes at Margaret HowellA Working Space provides a behind-the-scenes look at 34 Wigmore Street, Margaret Howell’s London headquarters, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year
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Annemarieke van Drimmelen’s photographs capture the spirit of Margaret HowellDutch photographer Annemarieke van Drimmelen has captured Margaret Howell’s A/W 2022 collection in an evocative series of black and white images. Here, Van Drimmelen and Howell tell Wallpaper* how the project came together
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London Fashion Week S/S 2023: Ahluwalia to Martine RoseThough slimmed-down, London Fashion Week nonetheless provided the moments of creative expression the city is known for – from Ahluwalia’s ode to Africa to Martine Rose’s much-anticipated runway return
