JW Anderson S/S 2020 London Fashion Week Women's

W Anderson S/S 2020

(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Mood board: ‘It was about looking and questioning’ said Anderson backstage after his S/S 2020 show. ‘The ability in fashion of being able to refocus.’ And there was plenty to look at inside the designer’s usual bleacher-lined Bloomsbury show venue. Draped one sleeve dresses with a rhinestone smattered infinity-shaped breast pieces and belts, lurex harem pant suiting, colourful fringed shirting, splodgy Dalmatian prints and leather drawstring pouches slung in threes over the shoulder. Anderson spoke of ‘noise cancellation’ and honing in on details in the oddly specific and eccentric style he is renowned for. Take boned blazers, their fronts ‘blown up in Marie Antoinette style’ and backs deflated, bejeweled sandals designed to barely stay on the foot and beaded daises covering breasts inspired by ‘1970s iconography.’

Scene setting: ‘It was about the idea of ephemera,’ Anderson added, referencing the show’s venue set up, which featured the artwork Pet Co. (2018), by Vancouver-based artist visual artist Liz Magor, made up of boxes of transparent plastic museum casings, holding colourful childhood toys. The installation spoke of things once treasured, lost, found and given new meaning, in the same way fashion works to bring new modernity to silhouettes, techniques and shapes. ‘It’s about taking things we no longer want and repositioning them,’ Anderson said.

Finishing touches: Anderson focused on the idea of jewellery and it’s ability to ‘become armour or something more sensual,’ seen in rhinestone sparking breast harnesses, repositioned as a form of underwear worn as an outer layer on the body, worn both as a form of protection and adornment