Trench redux: the designers reimagining the outerwear staple for a new season

A perennial fixture in our wardrobes, thanks to its power to transition from one season to the next, the trench coat has been reimagined over the years in myriad guises, ranging from timeless staples to fully outré interpretations. For S/S 2022, designers delivered some exquisite new ideas. Satoshi Kondo, creative director at Issey Miyake, created a ‘reveal and conceal’ buttoned-up, peek-a-boo asymmetric front, while Aspesi’s offering was generously long. Loro Piana, ever the expert in refined understatement, layered a tantalising flash of lemon yellow as an undercoat beneath its single-breasted overcoat, and Celine’s precise cut was a best-in-class ‘if it ain’t broke’ classic.

S/S 2022’s striking trench coats

At Anest Collective, the Shanghai- and Milan-based label that specialises in unconventional tailoring executed with expert craftsmanship, contributing creative director Brendan Mullane reworked the signature single-breasted trench in powder-blue wool and silk with leather details. ‘I transformed it by inserting calculated voluminous pleats to create an elaborated shaping in the lower back,’ he says.

Rokh’s Rok Hwang often revisits the trench with his deft eye and hand, and this season, he cropped, folded and cinched.

At Burberry, Riccardo Tisci’s 20-odd trench interpretations on the catwalk included one with pink suit sleeves peeking out from below a leather cape.

Meanwhile, over at Loewe, Jonathan Anderson, ever the soothsayer of our times, explored a space between protective armour and the surreal, inserting into his collection giant metallic discs that felt part decorative jewellery, part breastplate.

INFORMATION
A version of this article appears in the May 2022 issue of Wallpaper*, on newsstands now and available to subscribers (opens in new tab)