We love print, have long revered the work of Margaret Howell and will always tip our hat to one of the industry's respected proponents, The Architectural Review (AR). So the news that the latest collaboration between the last two is turning into an exhibition had us sit up and take notice. Opening this week at the Margaret Howell flagship store in London, an elegant display of a specially composed series celebrates not only 130 years of AR covers but also Howell's expert eye and fascination with print, as the British designer personally selected the five artworks on display.

Explore 130 years of AR covers at Margaret Howell in London

Marking the architecture magazine's seminal moment, Howell browsed the AR's vast archives (some 1500 issues) and hand-picked her selection for a display at her Wigmore Street store. Each one is available to purchase as a limited edition of just 200 numbered copies, printed in matt, natural white, 350gsm Hahnemühle Museum Etching paper, including a debossed AR monogram.

The covers – some featuring work by leading architecture figures, such as Le Corbusier and Kazimir Malevich – are celebrated as moments of fine art, bespoke pieces that have elevated the print publication through the decades.

The designer has long been drawn by architecture, her flagship home having hosted themed exhibitions around the built environment in the past. An example is 2023's 'British Cooling Towers – Sculptural Giants,' a show created by Twentieth Century Society (C20 Society) together with Howell and presented during the London Festival of Architecture of that year. She also curated a show centred on AR Covers in 2023, making this the second in a series of collaborations with the much-loved architectural publication.

'After our exhibition of AR covers in 2023, it was a pleasure to be asked to make another selection to celebrate the magazine’s 130th anniversary,' the designer explained. 'What appeals to me about these covers is how striking they are. I am attracted to the unexpected, abstract nature of the imagery in the five covers I have chosen.'

The prints will be available to order from both the AR shop and Margaret Howell from 14 May until 14 June 2026

Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street, London, W1U 2RS, UK

A languid elegance defines S/S 2026’s most desirable menswear, where lines between the ornamental and the utilitarian are blurred, and perfection is eschewed in favour of the effortless and the undone.

A series of these looks are captured in the pages of the May 2026 Design Issue of Wallpaper* (on newsstands now), photographed by London and Paris-based image-maker Ana Garcia and Italian stylist Nicola Neri amid the serene interiors of Ed’s Shed, a wooden Adjaye Associates-designed home in London’s De Beauvoir neighbourhood (it takes its name from owner Ed Reeve, an architectural photographer).

Each captures a juxtaposition between the functional and the dressed up – whether the voluminous line of a pair of Dior cargo pants, their layered back inspired by a Winter 1948 haute couture ‘Delft’ dress, or the purposely creased texture of a Zegna suit, its surface covered in safari jacket-style pockets.

Elsewhere, the mood is conjured through intriguing layering: a Loro Piano jacket slung around the waist, a cardigan emerging from the neck of a Loewe jacket. Other pieces simply capture the effortless elegance of the S/S 2026 season, like a JW Anderson wool coat, worn here with a decorative Dries Van Noten necklace, and nothing underneath.

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Models: Amedeo Mancini at The Claw, Vincent Rockins at Kate Moss Agency. Casting: Monika Domarke. Grooming: Lachlan Mackie using Sam McKnight. Set stylist: Haruka Kogure. Photography assistant: Ricardo Muñoz Carter. Fashion assistant: Olivia Renouf. Production assistants: Danielle Quigley, Archie Thomson, Indy Davy. Set assistant: Cedrick Jison. Photographed on location at Ed’s Shed, London N1, edsshed.co.uk

In 2024, a trunk was discovered in an outbuilding at the art gallery and house, Kettle’s Yard, in Cambridge. Inside, much to the great surprise of staff, was a collection of personal effects, including letters, photographs, drawings and clothing, belonging to the Japanese artist Kenji Umeda.

Umeda had been a consistent presence at Kettle’s Yard in the 1960s, after moving from Japan to Cambridge and befriending Kettle’s Yard founders Jim and Helen Ede. They invited Umeda to work at the house, in exchange offering support and advice on selling his work.

The discoveries in the suitcase offer new insight into the works, processes and thoughts of Umeda, as well as revealing a deep affinity with Jim Ede, whom Umeda describes as his ‘sensei’, or teacher, in the unearthed letters.

‘There is very little in the way of Umeda’s work openly accessible in the UK,’ says Inga Fraser, senior curator at Kettle’s Yard. ‘The Kettle’s Yard archive contains several photographs of his later works, but the sketches we discovered in the suitcase gave us valuable insight into the early years of his career, when he was developing as an artist. They show how his sense of observation, shape and form were honed in relation to what he was seeing in the Kettle’s Yard house.’

Discovering the suitcase prompted the Kettle’s Yard team to get in touch with Umeda’s family, who donated further gifts and works, creating a more comprehensive archive at the venue.

Among the found items was Umeda’s extensive correspondence with Ede, demonstrating how their long friendship impacted both their lives. It was during his time at Kettle’s Yard that Umeda discovered Henri Gaudier-Brzeska’s sculptural works, later moving to Italy to study sculpture, and then on to America.

It was a relationship that went beyond Ede’s practical support. ‘The house had recently been extended, resulting in a quadrupling of floor space,’ says Fraser. ‘Ede was by this time in his seventies and needed help to clean and maintain the spaces and artworks – despite these being tasks he had always taken particular pleasure and care in performing. Ede’s example of loving attention to the house was clearly an inspiration for Umeda, who used the time [there] to study closely works by other artists.’ It was the Edes’ way of life, though, that had the greatest impact, adds Fraser, pointing out that the pleasure of domestic ritual is something that became essential to the artist in his life and work.

The correspondence is moving in its tracing of Umeda’s development as an artist, something that takes shape in the marble sculpture Spirality, 1977, which resides at Kettle’s Yard. ‘It is telling that he elected to send a work from this time to his “master” Jim Ede, then living in Edinburgh, and it is also telling that Ede felt the sculpture belonged to Kettle’s Yard and placed it there,’ says Fraser. ‘Umeda asked Ede to write a text for his exhibition catalogue, and the two pages of Ede’s notes for the text feature in our display. The correspondence between Umeda and Ede continued for many years, but I think it was most important for the artist during the period in which he was learning to be a sculptor, and Spirality was given in gratitude for Ede’s guidance.’

Before the works are gathered in Kettle’s Yard in April 2026, they are on display at Margaret Howell, in London. ‘When I visited Kettle’s Yard to see the clothes Kenji had left in his trunk, I was struck by their timeless practicality and the quality of their make,’ says Howell. ‘Many pieces could slip easily into a wardrobe today – a simple work jacket, a printed silk scarf, a classic trench coat. His way of dressing felt very familiar to me – we both come from a time when clothing was made to last, and when buying well was an investment rather than a disposable act.’

Howell’s London store is a natural stop for Umeda’s work, which shares the designer’s reflective and sustainable philosophy. Adds Fraser: ‘I suppose discovering such a time capsule of someone’s possessions is inevitably telling of their particular way of life at that moment. The quality, the materials, and the classic shapes of the garments belonging to Umeda were striking, and this was mirrored in the small number of personal effects: a wonderfully carved wooden tobacco pouch with the edges softened with use, a pot for tea, a fan for the heat, his calligraphy materials.

'I loved seeing the books he had chosen to take with him, which were all neatly tied in bundles with string and remain so. One of these will feature in the display. The clothes do not look out of place today; they are styles that have endured, and have clearly been made carefully using materials that age well. I couldn’t help but think of Margaret Howell’s design philosophy when I first saw them.’

‘Kenji Umeda: A Journey’ at Margaret Howell in collaboration with Kettle’s yard until 12 April 2026, then at Kettle's Yard from 25 April – 6 September 2026

It was in 1970 that Margaret Howell founded her eponymous label, driven by a simple philosophy: to create clothes that are simple in design but a pleasure to wear, favouring the timeless over fashion’s ephemeral whims. She cites Anglepoise lamps, Ercol furniture and Robert Welch cutlery as touch points: these, for her, are ‘well made and enduring’ design – a reflection of her own unerring approach.

It is this steadfastness that has ensured that Margaret Howell has stayed in business for 55 years – a near-unprecedented run for an independent British fashion label, and a testament to her cross-generational appeal (indeed, the addition of sub-label MHL, founded in 2004, introduced a younger customer to the brand). For her 50th anniversary, she released a short film in collaboration with Emily Richardson; for her 55th, she is looking back into her archive to reissue two vintage designs.

Margaret Howell celebrates 55 years with two reissued silk scarves

Specifically, the silk foulard, an accessory which has long been a part of the Margaret Howell roster. ‘I have always been drawn to the quality and detail of scarves – they are simple yet expressive, and a subtle way to add character and detail to an outfit,’ says the designer, who is reissuing two silk scarves to mark the anniversary. One is a style inspired by a vintage piece that Howell discovered in 1969, just before she started the label, the other features a polka dot design which has run through her collections.

Hand-rolled at their edges, the foulards were screen-printed by Italian manufacturer Mantero, Howell’s longstanding silk supplier. Over the years, Howell has developed deep-rooted links with Italy: last year, as part of Pitti Uomo, she celebrated ten years of her store in Florence by paying homage to her Italian suppliers and manufacturers. ‘I have always chosen to work with specialist manufacturers and weavers,’ she said at the time. ‘Italy has an innate understanding of make and quality that is unique to our industry.’

Alongside the reissues, there will be a special display of archival silk scarves – traversing the 55 years of Margaret Howell – at the brand’s Wigmore Street store (it follows last month’s exhibition of works by British weaver Peter Collingwood, which coincided with Frieze Week). It will be accompanied by an exhibition text by Penny Martin, the editor-in-chief of The Gentlewoman.

The in-store display will run from 7 November – 21 November at Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street, Marylebone, London W1U 2RS. The scarves will be available in store and on Margaret Howell’s website.

Frieze London, as Wallpaper* arts and culture editor Hannah Silver recently wrote, is an event ‘which very much ignores the parameters of the park’, with a slew of gallery openings, exhibitions and cultural happenings unfolding this weekend away from the (somewhat frenetic) buzz of the main Regent’s Park tents.

Several of these exhibitions have made use of this idea of respite: Peter Doig, for example, invites visitors to ‘sit, linger, take a nap’ at his new show ‘House of Music’ at the Serpentine Galleries, while Elmgreen & Dragset’s new site-specific installation at Town Hall in King’s Cross, invites guests into a surreal cinema, where they can sit among the art duo’s hyperrealistic human figures (part of Prada Mode, the house’s roving private members’ club, the space will also host a series of talks, lectures and screenings).

Meanwhile at Margaret Howell, a satisfyingly sedate new show of works by British weaver Peter Collingwood unfolds in the British fashion label’s light-filled Wigmore Street store. ‘One of the most important weavers of the 20th century,’ is how the brand describes Colingwood’s serene works, which here span the 1960s to the early 2000s.

‘The graphic quality of Peter Collingwood’s weavings has always appealed to me,’ says Howell. ‘They feel modern but grounded – shaped by a deep understanding of material, and a belief in what can be achieved through simple means and thoughtful design.’

Defined by their geometric, often zig-zagging forms, Collingwood – who died in 2008 – began his career in medicine before turning to weaving in the 1950s, learning under figures like Barbara Sawyer and Alastair Morton. A voracious experimenter, he made his own equipment, going on to sell rugs to Heal’s and Liberty, before exhibiting around the world.

He is best known for his ‘Macrogauze’ works, which provide the centrepiece of this new exhibition (pieces have been painstakingly sourced from both private and public collections for the display). Abstract in design, they are defined by a loose weave, crafted from linen thread and steel rods. Some are three-dimensional, others are woven to sit flush to the wall. The exhibition, says Margaret Howell, offers ‘ rare opportunity to view these intricate works up close’.

‘With Macrogauzes you are two completely different people – when you are working out the design on paper you are using your aesthetic sense, sense of proportion and so on,’ said Collingwood. ‘When you are making it, you are an engineer – you have to be absolutely sure the tension is correct. So after acting as an artist to design the drawing you become a technician to make it as perfect as possible.’

Alongside, Margaret Howell has created a 2026 calendar featuring Collingwood’s works. On sale at the exhibition, it makes for an early addition to the gift list of any design aficionado.

Peter Collingwood Macrogauze Wall Hangings runs until 2 November, 2025 at 24 Wigmore Street, London W1 .

The 2026 calendar will be available to buy in all Margaret Howell shops and online.

Despite temperatures tipping 35 degrees, Florentine menswear fair Pitti Uomo – a twice-yearly showcase around the city’s Fortezza da Basso which took place this week – nonetheless attracted its usual throngs of press, buyers and aficionados who are on the search for what’s new in men’s fashion (true to sartorial form, even in the searing midday heat, blazers remained on).

It is in the converted 16th-century fortress where brands from around the world come to show their latest wares in a series of stands and specially erected pavilions (early estimates have over 730 brands showing at the event, with around 43 per cent coming from outside of Italy). And, even if the scale is initially overwhelming, it gives a rare chance to speak to designers and CEOs in the presence of their clothing. When we recently straw-polled Wallpaper* editors on what they were most looking forward to over fashion month, Milan contributor Scarlett Conlon said she liked the way that menswear month allowed you the breathing room to be able to see the clothing up close – and nowhere is that more true than Pitti Uomo.

Though there is another side of Pitti Uomo: a series of runway shows by the fair’s guest designers which unfold in spaces around the city (or, in the case of Homme Plissé Issey Miyake this season, on its bucolic outskirts). It can often be illuminating to see designers in new contexts, and to unpick their choice of location which – befitting the cradle of the Renaissance – are often steeped in history (previous guest designers have included Raf Simons, Martine Rose and Grace Wales Bonner, as well as labels like Givenchy and Jil Sander).

This season, there were plenty of highlights – from a dramatic dinner party in the baroque gardens of Villa Bardini, to an outing from Homme Plissé Issey Miyake which paid ode to the colours and textures of Italy. Here, selected by Wallpaper* fashion features editor Jack Moss, the best bits of the week.

Homme Plissé Issey Miyake’s ode to Italy

Earlier this year it was announced that Homme Plissé Issey Miyake would pause showing in Paris, shifting to a nomadic schedule which will see the Japanese label – part of the Miyake Design Studio roster – show in locations around the world. A guest spot at Pitti Uomo marked the first chapter, shuttling guests to the outskirts of the city by coach, before drafting a cavalcade of black cars to drive up Monte Morello to the Medicea della Petraia, a 16th-century Medici villa where the show was held. Unfolding in the Renaissance gardens, the collection featured brand’s signature knife-cut pleats in a multitude of iterations – the colours and textures inspired by a series of research trips in Italy over the past year (one fabric evoked the look and texture of linen, while others colour-matched lemons, courgette flowers and the sun-soaked pastels of Cinque Terre’s streets). ‘The collection was inspired by not only Florence but places throughout Italy – there are many beautiful cities and landscapes,’ the Homme Plissé design team told Wallpaper*.

READ: With an ode to Italy, Homme Plissé Issey Miyake brings its brand of fashion magic to Florence’s Pitti Uomo

Margaret Howell’s cooling gelato pit-stop

Margaret Howell’s Florentine outpost has one of the most enviable positions in the city, just a stone’s throw away from the River Arno on Piazza Carlo Goldoni. On Wednesday afternoon, a party with the UKFT (UK Fashion and Textile Association) – of which Margaret Howell managing director Caroline Attwood has recently joined the board – provided a welcome pitstop. Alongside the requisite glasses of sparkling wine was a gelato truck from Florence institution Vivoli serving scoops of vanilla and pistachio – of the latter flavour, a number of guests remarked that the subtle green hue would fit seamlessly into one of Howell’s collections.

A sensual summer outing from rising Italian star Niccolò Pasqualetti

There was no denying that the searing morning heat was something of a distraction to the young Italian designer’s Niccolò Pasqualetti’s S/S 2026 show, though their clever, sliced-away garments – imbued with an sultry undercurrent – looked good against the bright blue Florentine skyline (the show was held on the industrial rooftop of the modern Maggio Musicale Fiorentino concert hall). Citing ambiguity as the hallmark of their work (‘the fluidity of stone and the sensuality of water’ reads the brand’s Instagram bio), the collection was defined by a deconstructionist impulse, with assymetric tailoring cut-away to reveal its lining, or billowing white poplin shirts which had been twisted to hang off the body with an in-built shoulder strap. Indeed, a feeling of undress – or being in the state of undressing – ran through collection, while a use of silk, linen and cotton seemed a nod towards traditional Italian fabrications (albeit reworked into their own vernacular). ‘Without nostalgia, we find ways to layer the past, and build new meanings for the future,’ the designer described, with the late hyper-pop pioneer Sophie providing the finale‘s moving soundtrack.

Herno’s all-encompassing, wear-anywhere men’s wardrobe

The Herno pavilion at Pitti Uomo is always a cool haven away from the main hustle of the fair, seeing the Italian fashion house – best known for its innovative fabrications – show a comprehensive menswear offering which spans categories and styles. Designed for the man who traverses ‘scenery, cities, rhythms’, this season‘s collection was divided into seven sections – from the more classic ‘Excellence’ line, which comprises more archetypal menswear styles in rareified materials, from silk-cashmere to double-faced wool (albeit in featherweight lightness for summer), to the sharp-lined ‘Advance’, a minimal sportswear line inspired by technical hiking gear. Others referenced collegiate attire in preppy striped shirts and Herno-motif cardigans, or drew on the heritage fabrics for which Herno is famous for. As has been the brand’s modus operandi in recent seasons, the focus was on a ‘full look’ – from trousers to knitwear, and all that’s in between – a shift away from the brand’s outerwear roots (the company began by producing raincoats with an innovative castor-oil coating in the 1960s).

Brunello Cucinelli’s dramatic dinner party

Located on the Costa San Giorgio – a steep ten-minute-or-so walk upwards from the Ponte Vecchio – is the serene Villa Bardini, built in 1641 and best known for its magical baroque gardens. It was here, overlooking the city, that Solomeo-based designer Brunello Cucinelli hosted his twice-yearly dinner party, which heralds the unofficial start of men’s fashion month (as such, it has a back-to-school feel, albeit in luxurious style). Illuminated with rows of candles, the dinner itself comprised a spread of local antipasto, before Mr Cucinelli’s famous paccheri pasta – in its rich red tomato sauce – was served from bowls so large it takes two chefs to carry. The next day, the designer revealed his S/S 2026 collection at the main fair, where the colour red was also on Mr Cucinelli’s mind – with shades spanning dusty pink, cherry red and burgundy, while a zingy tangerine shirt was a highlight. In terms of fit, jackets and trousers were cut to a longer length: an appeal to younger consumers who are erring away from the brand’s more traditional ankle-bearing crop.

Tommy Hilfiger’s one-night-only social club

‘The art of dressing up is back,’ said Tommy Hilfiger on Tuesday evening, when the American designer opened the doors to a one-night-only private member’s club – ‘The Hilfiger Social Club’ – in Florence’s Palazzo Portinari Salviati. Amid white linen-covered tables, branded cushions, director’s chairs and the requisite Aperol Spritz station, models wandered wearing a new ‘sartorial’ collection, ‘Tommy Hilfiger New York’. Offering dressed-up riffs on Hilfiger’s preppy uniform, inspired by the traditions of London’s Savile Row, the designer said it was a response to a change in the way men are dressing. ‘[People] are embracing an elevated look and it’s brought this great energy back to tailoring traditions,’ said Hilfiger, who was mobbed by well-wishers when he popped into the event. ‘When I started my brand 40 years ago, I set out to give those traditional codes a fun American twist. That's what we’re doing again today – introducing a new chapter in our menswear story.’

For the Type A personalities out there, the final months of the year are a blissful time to wipe the slate clean and get organised for the year ahead – crisp, empty planners, meeting-free diaries, and a blank calendar ready to be filled with milestones, events and holidays in anticipation for the year ahead. As with previous years, British designer Margaret Howell is characteristically more organised than most. The brand has unveiled its 2025 calendar, this year in collaboration with late, great textile designer Lucienne Day. Day's exquisite mosaic artworks frame each month in a splendour of colour and geometry. The calendar is accompanied by an exhibition dedicated to Day’s lesser-known silk mosaics spanning from 1975 to 1993.

Margaret Howell presents 'Lucienne Day's Silk Mosaics 1975-1993'

The exhibition, which is at Margaret Howell's flagship on Wigmore Street in London, is the first comprehensive showcase of Day’s 'Silk Mosaics' since the pioneering post-war designer's death in 2010. Day, whose legacy transcends time and trends, embraced colour in her work, and was inspired by the Bauhaus and modern art movements, working across mediums spanning textiles, wallpapers, ceramics, table linens and carpets.

Day's works in silk have a special quality of their own. From large-scale pieces to daintier samples, the exhibition is a chance to view the kaleidoscope of works up close, whereby the detail of craft and colour can be fully appreciated.

The compositions are arresting – mesmerising in their intricacy and yet soothingly atmospheric. The exhibition contains around 20 of Day's textile pieces crafted over the course of two decades, from the late 1970s until the end of the 1990s. Some pieces nod to her emerging work of the 1950s, playing with geometry, featuring blocks of colour and a more linear structure. Others reference a more pared-back, architectural style, reminiscent of Day's later work in the 1960s.

As such, 'Silk Mosaics' presents a compelling lens through which to view the gentle evolution of Day's design language. Against the backdrop of Frieze London 2024, with all its noise and bombast, this is a welcome retreat, and Margaret Howell, the flagbearer for British modernist values in clothing as in life, is the perfect host.

A selection of the Silk Mosaics will form the content of the Margaret Howell Calendar 2025. 'Lucienne Day's Silk Mosaics 1975-1993' runs from 11 October until 3 November at Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street, London W1 margarethowell.co.uk

The French designer Marine Serre, one of the guest designers of this season’s Florence menswear fair, Pitti Uomo 106, selected the 15th-century Villa di Maiano – located in the rolling hills just outside of the city – to present her S/S 2025 collection, which featured her most comprehensive menswear offering yet. Presented in the gilded light of the early evening, it was easy to see why designers like Serre have long chosen to show at Pitti Uomo, despite the relative upheaval of transporting a collection across borders. Here was a setting just about as cinematic as it gets, seeing models weave their way through the Edenic gardens towards the hedge mazes below, all the while the spires and domes of Florence providing a distant backdrop in the fading evening light. Afterwards, guests mingled on the lawns for aperitivo, with more than one noting their desire to uproot themselves to the Tuscan countryside.

Pitti Uomo 106: the highlights

Serre said that the collection was inspired by the glamour of Italian cinema, most astutely captured in the womenswear collection, a dramatic stream of confection-like gowns which came complete with the Italian tropes of headscarves, lace and veils. They marked a move onwards from the slick, crescent-moon second-skin pieces for which Serre has become known, and will likely please her celebrity fanbase. Other gowns, constructed from collaged hiking and tennis bags, recalled her earlier work with pieced-together, upcycled garments. It was clear that the setting had proved creatively inspirational for Serre, who seemed to find new freedoms away from Paris. A final white dress, emblazoned with the flags of Congo, Palestine, and Sudan, recalled her early slogan ‘A Radical Call for Love’. ‘The collection symbolises a call for peace,’ she said, noting that her models hailed from 25 different countries around the world.

At another villa earlier in the week – the 19th-century Villa Favard, created by Giuseppe Poggi – Paul Smith, the season’s other guest designer, revelled not in the grand or cinematic, but instead in the intimacy that Pitti Uomo affords (unlike Milan and Paris, a scant schedule of shows means more time for absorbing a designer’s collection). In one of the villa’s gilded salons, guests sat on stools as Smith talked through his latest collection’s various looks. ‘I think the world’s gone a bit mad with these shows everywhere around the world,’ he said, presiding over a room of gathered guests and press. ’I just think it’s so lacking in personality. So I thought, why don’t I just talk to everyone and show the collection?’ It was an astute way of showing the Paul Smith S/S 2025 offering, inspired by Soho’s Italian coffee bars and their artistic patrons, placing the ever-charismatic Smith front and centre.

Earlier that evening, fellow British designer Margaret Howell hosted an equally intimate drinks reception at her Florence store, marking ten years of the unique location, which is just steps from the River Arno. An accompanying photographic exhibition saw classic Margaret Howell pieces blown up on posters around the store, each chosen for its links to Italian manufacturing, which Howell said she wanted to highlight (Italy accounts for nearly half of the raw materials the brand uses, and 32 per cent of clothing and accessories production). ‘I have always chosen to work with specialist manufacturers and weavers [and] Italy has an innate understanding of make and quality that is unique to our industry,’ she said. ‘Opening a production office and shop in Florence has enabled us to build stronger relationships and to showcase their craft.’ In a show of support between two stalwarts of British fashion, Howell joined Smith’s apertivo hour at the specially constructed ‘Bar Paul’ at Villa Favard, just a short walk away.

At the historic Fortezza da Basso, where the main menswear fair takes place each season, Herno provided a showcase of its own distinct brand of Italian craft (founded in Piedmont, northern Italy, it began with the construction of coated cotton raincoats and has been an expert in fabric construction since). Transforming its longstanding pavilion at the fair into a stripped-back space divided by enormous video screens, the brand’s showcase of its collection illustrated the latest step in its evolution from outerwear expert to a comprehensive fashion label that caters to the various needs of a man’s wardrobe. Which is why, despite it being a S/S 2025 collection, the pieces came in a variety of weights – from high-summer seersucker sets, tennis wear and swimming shorts (a new addition to the brand’s roster) to warmer down pieces and an array of knitwear – which Herno said was purposely ‘transseasonal’, an astute pitch for the international, country-hopping consumer.

An equally comprehensive offering came from Missoni, which made its debut this season at the menswear fair, having previously shown at the brand’s Brera HQ in Milan during the city’s fashion week. Presented in the cool, salon-like interiors of the Construzione Lorenesei – a more sedate enclave than the busy, modern main pavilion – it was described as a collection which ‘moves across occasions and situations’. An array of slouchy knit cardigans, some adorned with the classic zig-zag Missoni motif, were at the collection’s centre, equally imaginable worn with the collection’s colourful swim shorts and sandals on a summer’s evening or as an enveloping wintertime layer. A demonstration of craft came in the cobalt-blue crystal coatings on garments, recalling the shimmer of ocean waters, while intricate knit jackets – some panelled with narrow lines of leather – were constructed on traditional artisanal looms.

At Brunello Cucinelli, there was a satisfying injection of colour this season, notably in vibrant shades of peach which added new interest to the designer’s classic silhouettes. This feeling of lightness ran through the collection, which featured roomy, technical jackets (Cucinelli said the silhouette was inspired by 1980s cuts), airy knit polos and pleated white pants, alongside capsule collections inspired by tennis and golf. Tailoring, meanwhile, was cut with a narrower line, while accessories spanned Western-inspired belts, leather-trimmed espadrilles and woven-knit ties. The collection was celebrated with a dinner at Serre Torrigiani on Pitti Uomo’s opening night, seeing guests – including the actor Jeff Goldblum and his wife Emilie Livingston – spill out onto the restaurant’s terraced Italian gardens, first constructed in the 16th century and here lined with candlelit dining tables. Deemed Florence’s secret ‘oasis’, it was yet another of the uniquely cinematic settings that continue to give Pitti Uomo its distinct allure.

uomo.pittimmagine.com

When it comes to collaboration, Margaret Howell has always eschewed the flashy and ephemeral in favour of working with brands known for their timeless, built-to-last output: among them, Converse, Fred Perry and Anglepoise, with whom she created a version of the brand’s perennial desk lamp.

Such is the case with her ongoing collaboration with Mizuno, the Osaka-based sportswear brand synonymous with sleek, functional design, which began as part of Howell’s A/W 20217 collection. Then, she tapped into – or perhaps even anticipated – the so-called ’gorpcore’ movement with a techy black walking shoe, designed as much for hardcore hiking as for pounding the city streets. Various iterations of the collaboration have followed, now spanning both footwear and apparel.

Mizuno for Margaret Howell S/S 2024

For S/S 2024, the collaboration continues with a sporty and lightweight capsule wardrobe for men and women in the designer’s reductionist style. Pieces include a rip-stock nylon backpack, a Gore-Tex anorak, lightweight sports shorts, white-soled training sneakers, rain trousers and a half-zip sweater. Such is their design they can be worn for both casualwear and sports – the latter down to their technical credentials, which are developed alongside the Mizuno team in Japan and feature ultra-lightweight fabrications.

Together, it makes a case for being this summer’s most considered sportswear – whether embracing the great outdoors or simply desiring comfort at home. ‘I feel very privileged to work with a manufacturer who specialises in their product. Mizuno is a good example, using lightweight technical fabric for active sportswear,’ says Howell.

’Working together we develop styles to combine and compliment our own clothing collections,’ she continues. ’I am a believer in clothes being both functional and contemporary.’

Mizuno for Margaret Howell S/S 2024 is available from select Margaret Howell shops and online from 3 May 2024.

margarethowell.co.uk

Workwear has long been the bedrock of men’s fashion, endlessly riffed upon, honed and upgraded – from the classic denim shirt and jeans, adopted by cowboys and miners in the American West, to chore jackets, cargo pants, and hi-vis jackets. This sense of utility was seen throughout the S/S 2024 collections – from Prada’s danger-red pocket-covered gilet, a play on the uniforms of security details, to Givenchy’s khaki bombers, Celine’s camo-adorned pants and hardy suede jackets at Miu Miu.

Utilitarian men’s fashion gets an upgrade for S/S 2024

The season’s functional mood is captured in a series of carefree combinations by Italy-born, London-based stylist Nicola Neri and photographer Luca Strano, who is based between London and Milan. As seen in the May 2024 Milan Preview Issue of Wallpaper* (on international newsstands now), this series of portraits puts the utilitarian aesthetic in the hot seat – leaving you with a blueprint of how to upgrade the everyday this spring and summer.

Models: Tom Davison and Milo Boaten-Rolfe at Xdirectn, Oscar Young at Premier, Rea at Milk Management, Zakaria Dau at PRM, Mason Marchetti and Yertai Abdibekov at Next London. Casting: Miro Raynov. Hair: Kanae Kikuchi at Haco+ using Instant Icon. Make-up/grooming: Jo Banach using Chanel Les Beiges Summer Spirit and Hydra Beauty Micro Serum Lip. Interiors: Olly Mason. Photography assistants: Domizia Salusest, Farid Ghimas. Fashion assistant: Hope Palmer. Hair assistants: Takuro Watanabe, Rio Shimmaki. Interiors assistant: Archie Thomson.

A version of this article appears in the May 2024 Milan Preview Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.

From a rare glimpse inside the V&A’s extraordinary Chanel archive with Oriole Cullen, to conversations with some of the world’s finest designers and creative directors – among them Margaret Howell, Martine Rose, Véronique Nichanian, Julien Dossena and Lucie and Luke Meier, as well as on-the-rise names, like Willy Chavarria and Aaron Esh, who are reimagining the fashion landscape – I’ve chosen these interviews for the way they reveal the stories behind the figures who have defined the year in style. 

Top 10 fashion interviews of 2023

01. Julien Dossena on the evolution of Rabanne

‘I can feel the evolution,’ Rabanne creative director Julien Dossena told me of his ten-year tenure at the French house in a wide-ranging conversation taken from the September 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper*. Following founder Paco Rabanne’s death earlier in 2023, he spoke of keeping the pioneering couturier’s spirit alive (‘he left behind so much, all those radical moments of modernity’) while forging his own path forward. ’When you wear Rabanne chainmail, it’s really a feeling,’ he says. ‘There is a sensation between the garment and the skin,’

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02. Oriole Cullen takes Wallpaper* inside the V&A’s extraordinary Chanel archive

Taken from the November 2023 Issue of Wallpaper*, V&A senior curator of fashion and textiles Oriole Cullen granted us a rare look inside the institution’s extraordinary Chanel archive just prior to the opening of ‘Gabrielle Chanel. Fashion Manifesto’, its latest blockbuster fashion exhibition. ’It’s about chic, simple clothing, looking at movement and the body,’ Cullen says of the French couturier, whose designs set the template for the modern woman’s wardrobe, while also setting a blueprint for the contemporary designer with astute branding and self-promotion. ’She was happy to be front and centre.’ 

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03. Véronique Nichanian talks seeking pleasure and perfection as artistic director of Hermès’ men’s universe

‘We are always thinking: what is the classic of tomorrow?’ said Hermès’ Véronique Nichanian, artistic director of Hermès’ men’s universe, of how she approaches her celebrated menswear collections for the house in our March 2023 Style Issue. Inviting me into her Paris studio, the designer – who has been at the French house for three decades – talked about seeking pleasure and perfection in her clothing, and never looking back. ‘I want to bring happiness to people – in the sensuality of the fabric, or the colour, or something that makes you say “wow”.’

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04. At home with Margaret Howell

As part of our ongoing ‘At Home With’ series, cult British designer gave Wallpaper* a glimpse inside her domestic life – which is split between south-east London and a holiday home on the Suffolk coast – in our March 2023 Style Issue. Accompanied by her own iPhone photographs, Howell talked to me about her treasured objects, finding inspiration and her favourite place to spend a rare spare moment: ‘relaxing in my little bathtub with a view of the setting sun on a summer’s evening, listening to In Tune Mixtape on BBC Radio 3.’

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05. Norbert Stumpfl of Brioni is making clothes to feel good in

In Wallpaper’s November issue, Brioni creative director Norbert Stumpfl opened up about his creative process and design philosophy, which centres on creating truly luxurious menswear that’s a pleasure to wear – and has gained him a legion of high-profile fans during his five-year tenure, from Brad Pitt to Jude Law. ‘[I’m drawn towards] reduction, the desire to make something more simple, but still leave a powerful image,’ he told me. ’In collection fittings, we put on a lot of details to try things out. Then we take things off until we arrive at the place where [the garment] speaks for itself.’

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06. American designer Willy Chavarria on his lifelong love of Dickies

Selected as part of the ‘Wallpaper* USA 300: A Guide to Creative America’, the award-winning designer Willy Chavarria – whose distinct approach sees him infuse his collections with references to his Mexican-American heritage and the melting pot of cultures he witnesses in his home city of New York – spoke in August about his collaboration with Dickies. Talking utilitarian design, authenticity, and buying his first pair of Dickies at Kmart, it’s a collection which gets to the heart of his lifelong fascinations. ‘It’s very special to get to design a collection for a brand that I have grown up wearing and admiring,’ he says. ‘To me, the most elegant look will always be a clean, pressed pair of Dickies pants worn with a crisp white T-shirt.’

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07. Lucie and Luke Meier’s eclectic new vision for Jil Sander

Speaking in the run-up to their A/W 2023 show for Jil Sander, wife-and-husband duo Lucie and Luke Meier talked to Scarlett Conlon about their latest collection, which began with the pair looking back to the 1990s music scene. ‘It's quite unexpected,’ they said at the time of the heady, freewheeling collection, presented in Milan in February. ‘We’re always evolving as people and our ideas are always progressing are always changing,’ said Luke. ‘Fashion is exhilarating because it’s a dialogue with what's going on in the world.’

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08. Sofia Prantera introduces a new chapter (and address) for her cult streetwear brand Aries

Just prior to its opening, Aries founder Sofia Prantera invited me into the brand’s first-ever store in Soho as the label completed its evolution from niche streetwear brand to cultural ubiquity – all the while retaining its DIY roots. ‘I think what I picked up from skateboarding is this DIY attitude to things – you don’t need everything to make something work, you just need an energy,’ she said. ‘When people say ”the death of streetwear”, it’s just the death of a kind of streetwear – the type replicated by mass production. But it’s not the death of the spirit of streetwear.’

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09. Aaron Esh takes us behind-the-scenes of his debut London Fashion Week show

British designer Aaron Esh – a recent Central Saint Martins graduate – invited Wallpaper* beauty and grooming editor Hannah Tindle into his London studio in the run-up to his much-anticipated debut show at London Fashion Week. Taking place on one of the upper floors of Tate Modern’s Blavatnik Building, with expansive views of the city beyond, the assured debut cemented him as a young designer to watch. ‘It’s the clothes that I see when I’m at a house party; or the clothes someone would wear to do an off-license run,’ he said. ’There’s an authenticity and realness to the clothes, mixed with beautiful tailoring and amazing craftsmanship. That’s what we’re trying to achieve.’

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10. ‘I wanted sexiness, and cheekiness, and fun’: Martine Rose on her Italo-disco-inspired show at Pitti Uomo

Early in 2023, Martine Rose decamped from London to Florence to show her A/W 2023 collection as part of the city’s historic menswear fair Pitti Uomo. Choosing Florence’s outdoor Mercato Nuovo and transforming into a shag pile-carpeted, mirror-walled nightspot for an ode to Italo-disco that merged ‘Italy and London together’. ‘I wanted sexiness, and cheekiness, and fun,’ she told me after the show, which captured the feeling of letting yourself loose on the dancefloor – all in the designer’s unique, idiosyncratic style. 

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For quite some time, the necktie has been relegated to an artefact of a bygone era, one of stuffy corporate wear and forced formality that in a post-pandemic world looked largely left behind.

It is with some surprise, then, that the tie has had something of a comeback in recent seasons, its death knell stilled by a new generation of designers who are using the classic accessory to represent something altogether more irreverent – a symbol of the past which in their hands is ripe for reinvention. 

The return of the shirt and tie

It might be in part down to the influence of Matthieu Blazy at Bottega Veneta, who featured a series of nappa-leather ties as part of a playful riff on corporate wear in his A/W 2023 collection. In its unexpected fabrication – which conjured a satisfying frisson of kink – it continued his desire to elevate the quotidian into extraordinary and seductive expressions of design.

Much of the tie’s appeal lies in its shape-shifting ability and multitude of iterations – whether the playful polka dots of Paul Smith (clashed here with a striped shirt and 1970s-tinged tailoring) or the heritage-inspired checks of Margaret Howell (team with a V-neck sweater for a contemporary exercise in layering).

At contemporary British tiemaker Marwood, meanwhile, the 2010-founded brand continues its desire to reinvent the accessory with distinctly modern designs in woven silk and British lace, each made in England. Here, their flecked tie in silk slub is combined with a vivid blue zip-up sweater by Jil Sander to striking graphic effect

A version of this story appears in the January 2024 Next Generation Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today!

Fashion has well and truly infiltrated Frieze Week, with a slew of happenings across the city to coincide with the arrival of Frieze London 2023, which opens to the public tomorrow (12 October 2023). Whether fashionable new sponsors for the fair itself or the numerous other happenings across the city – from a blockbuster Gucci Cosmos exhibition to Dover Street Market’s annual Frieze takeover, as well as relaxing gong bath courtesy of Birkenstock, Tekla and Matches – there is plenty to keep both art and style aficionados amused throughout the week. Here, we run down the fashion-and-Frieze crossovers that aren’t to be missed.

Best fashion moments at London Frieze Week 2023

Stone Island and Dunhill become Frieze partners

The year’s Frieze in London welcomes two new principal partners: Italian streetwear label Stone Island and British heritage house Dunhill, the former supporting Frieze’s ‘Focus’ and ‘Frieze 91’ projects, the latter Frieze Masters. As part of the multi-year deal, Stone Island will give participating ‘Focus’ galleries – younger, less established institutions – a special bursary which is equivalent to 30 per cent of the stand fee. ‘Stone Island is built on community and creative energy inspired by research and innovation, characteristics that define the Focus section of Frieze’s art fairs,’ says Robert Triefus, the brand’s CEO. ‘Through this partnership, Stone Island will offer foundational support to some of the world’s most significant emerging galleries and artists for years to come.’ The partnership will be celebrated with a club night at Koko in Camden on 12 October, as well as a special collaborative collection with Dover Street Market, which will launch at the store the same day. 

Dunhill, meanwhile, will support this year’s edition of Frieze Masters Talks, a celebrated programme of conversations between various art world figures – this year’s participants include Sarah Lucas, Maggi Hambling, Rachel Whiteread and V&A East’s Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, among others. There will also be a dedicated Dunhill space at the fair, whereby the current collection from the house will sit alongside archival pieces, curated by Nick Foulkes, author of Dunhill by Design. 

Burberry supports Sarah Lucas at Tate Britain

Though it opened just prior to Frieze, British artist Sarah Lucas’ latest exhibition ‘Happy Gas’ at Tate Britain (until 14 January 2024) will no doubt attract those travelling to London for the fair (Lucas will also participate in Dunhill’s Frieze Masters Talks on 13 October at 3pm). The exhibition is sponsored by British fashion house Burberry, which under latest creative director Daniel Lee is hoping to forge greater links with Britain’s arts and culture scene. To coincide with the exhibition, Burberry released a special portrait of Lucas photographed by Anton Gottlob at Tate Britain and will host an intimate private dinner during Frieze Week to celebrate the partnership.

‘Humour, desire, domesticity’: read our review of ‘Sarah Lucas: Happy Gas’.

Gucci Cosmos takes over 180 Studios

Brutalist landmark 180 Studios plays host to Gucci Cosmos, a travelling exhibition that celebrates the Italian house’s archive and opens to the public on 11 October to coincide with Frieze Week. The immersive exhibition – comprising a number of garments and accessories that date from Gucci’s founding in 1921 to the present day – features dramatic set pieces from British artist and set designer Es Devlin. These include a pair of enormous white resin figures project with archival looks (an ode to Gulliver’s Travels), a luggage conveyor belt, and a surreal, futuristic imagining of the house’s archives. The exhibition will run until December 2023. 

Take a look inside Gucci Cosmos.

Dover Street Market launches ‘Frieze 2023 Happenings’

Dover Street Market’s London outpost continues its tradition of hosting a series of installations, activations and product launches to coincide with the arrival of Frieze Week. Beginning with a celebratory evening on 12 October – complete with food and drink from its in-house Rose Bakery – these include a special collaborative collection with Stone Island, the arrival of a slew of new Comme des Garçons collections, as well as various special projects with the likes of Mary McCartney, Jake Chapman, Dauphin x The Serpentine Galleries, Susan Nemeth, Angela Hill and Seana Gavin, among others. 

Tekla, Birkenstock and Matches provide a relaxing pit stop

Those seeking escape from the hustle and bustle of the Regent Park tents should head to Mayfair, where Matches is hosting a series of relaxing crystal-bowl gong baths in its Carlos Place townhouse. The occasion is Birkenstock’s recent collaboration with Danish lifestyle brand Tekla, a series of loungewear, clogs and sandals designed to capture the serenity of home. Attendees will also be able to shop the collection, launching exclusively at Matches, while the pieces can also be purchased online.

Gong baths will take place on 12 October 2023 at Matches Townhouse, 5 Carlos Place. Places can be booked here.

Thom Browne celebrates 20 years in business

American designer Thom Browne has arrived in London this week to celebrate 20 years of his theatrical collections, as documented in a new Phaidon-published tome. Browne hosted a dinner on Monday night (9 October) at London‘s V&A to mark the book’s launch – preceeded by a talk alongside critic Charlie Porter – as well as a special lunch on Tuesday alongside department store Harrods. A capsule collection – available on the brand’s website and in flagship stores around the world – will also celebrate the anniversary, featuring its year of founding, 2003, adorning a series of Browne’s iconic pieces, from varsity jackets and sports coats to a classic wool flannel pleated skirt. 

The Row hosts new work by jeweller Ana Khouri

Ana Khouri’s creations have long straddled sculpture and jewellery – Khouri had a background in fine art before starting the eponymous jewellery brand – making Frieze Week the perfect moment to reveal a new collection. Hosted by The Row in its London Carlos Place outpost, Khouri will reveal a new collection of pieces titled ‘Raw’, part of her ‘Edition’ line, which is released every two or three years. Mining Khouri’s fascination with gold – ‘its simplicity, the way it reflects the light and illuminates the skin’, as she describes – the various pieces are inspired by the process of digging in the dirt for gold. ’I was overwhelmed by a sense of reverence for the care involved in procuring such a gift from the earth and how that care can yield something so exceptional,’ she says. ‘Unearthing even the smallest fragment of raw gold, holding it in my hand, I felt enveloped by something larger – as if nature’s creative energy and my own had merged.’

Margaret Howell hosts exhibition celebrating Architectural Review’s memorable covers

Opening on 13 October 2023, Margaret Howell will host a new exhibition in her Wigmore Street store (featured in a recent behind-the-scenes film), celebrating two decades of Architectural Review covers spanning the 1960s and 1970s (eras of design that have long been a fascination for Howell). The exhibition follows a show hosted by the brand during the London Festival of Architecture 2023, whereby photographs of Britain’s cooling towers – ‘sculptural giants’ – were celebrated in a mesmerising display in the brand’s flagship store.

The Architectural Review Covers Exhibition runs at Margaret Howell, 34 Wigmore Street from 13 October – 5 November 2023.

Vestiaire Collective supports the Barbican’s new exhibition on ecology and gender

Fashion resale platform Vestiare Collective – which aims to provide a sustainable, circular way of buying and selling luxury fashion – sponsors a major new group exhibition at the Barbican, titled ‘RE/SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology’. Across various mediums – including photography, film and installations – the expansive exhibition sees 50 women and gender-non-conforming artists explore ‘the systemic links between the oppression of women and the degradation of the planet’. A particular focus is placed on work from indigenous communities, while several of the artworks look towards a brighter future: ‘a roadmap for creative forms of civil disobedience and protest: a lesser explored, cautiously optimistic route to reconsidering our relationship to the Earth’, as the institution describes. To celebrate the launch, Vestiare Collective will host a private view and dinner on 11 October 2023. 

‘RE/SISTERS: A Lens on Gender and Ecology’ runs from 5 October 2023 – 14 January 2024 at Barbican Art Centre

Theory ‘Shades of Fall’ 

To celebrate the launch of a new campaign, ‘Shades of Fall‘ – based on the idea of colour theory – American brand Theory hosted an exhibition of work by Wanda Koop and Kenny Rivero at No. 9 Cork Street Gallery (a partnership with Frieze, it was celebrated with an intimate dinner on Friday evening). The two artists offered their own colour theories as part of the campaign; ‘red is the most powerful and passionate,’ said Koop, while Rivero posited that ‘black is the uniform, the armour and the camouflage that lets me be everywhere and nowhere at once.’

Discover the best of Frieze London 2023 in our ongoing round-up.

Margaret Howell first collaborated with Fred Perry in 2019, the first collection inspired by the latter’s roots in tennis (the 1952-founded brand’s namesake was a three-times Wimbledon champion). It is a partnership that has proved fruitful, and fitting – both labels are synonymous with British style, and have been adopted by subculture and establishment alike. 

Sportswear remains prescient to the latest chapter of the collaboration – titled 'Fred Perry for Margaret Howell’ – which launches online on June 16, 2023 and in stores from June 19. ’I enjoyed sports and athletics at school and when I began designing clothes, sportswear was a source of inspiration – photographs of sports men and women in action for example,’ says Howell. 

Fred Perry for Margaret Howell S/S 2023

‘I also grew up with the name of Fred Perry so to collaborate with the Fred Perry company, and their expertise of manufacture, I feel is a happy match,’ she continues.

As such, the collection – made for both men and women – is defined by its ease of design, whether a gently oversized open-collared rib sweatshirt (a riff on Fred Perry’s famed signature polo shirt), zip-cuff narrow-leg track pants, or a polo-neck dress evocative of women’s tenniswear. A restrained colour palette spans black, off-white, burnt orange and khaki; each piece is completed with Fred Perry’s signature laurel leaf logo as an embroidered self-coloured motif.

Alongside, a smattering of accessories complete the collection; namely, a classic pair of cotton sports socks and a high-top plimsoll in black canvas with a natural rubber sole.

'Fred Perry for Margaret Howell’ is available from tomorrow (16 June, 2023) online and in stores from 19 June, 2023.

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'British Cooling Towers - Sculptural Giants,' an exhibition focusing on the architectural value and historic legacy of this industrial typology and piece of brutalist architecture, is opening to the public this weekend. Launched by Margaret Howell in association with the Twentieth Century Society (C20), the show is located at the brand's space on Wigmore Street and forms part of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) 2023, which kicked off this week.

'British Cooling Towers - Sculptural Giants': a brutalist exploration

Bold and beautiful, these mesmerising architectural structures have had a powerful impact on the British landscape – and this show aims to celebrate and discuss it, as C20 is undertaking a campaign to raise awareness of the immediate threat British cooling towers face. 

'The Twentieth Century Society have been at the forefront of protecting modern heritage for more than 40 years, but saving cooling towers is perhaps our biggest challenge yet. These ‘Sculptural Giants’ have a presence unlike any other structures in the British landscape, yet within just a couple of years all the surviving examples are scheduled to be decommissioned and demolished. This new exhibition celebrates their engineering and artistic bravura, the impact they’ve had on all our lives, and looks at how these are relics of the carbon age,' says C20 director Catherine Croft. 

The exhibition features captivating photography by Luke O'Donovan, mixed with historic imagery from the RIBA archives - offering context of past and present, in the hopes to inform the cooling towers' future. To that end, a panel discussion chaired by Catherine Croft, Director of C20 on the 14 June in the space aims to provide more food for thought and instigate conversation. 

'British Cooling Towers - Sculptural Giants' is on at the Margaret Howell flagship shop, 34 Wigmore Street, 3 - 18 June

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Here, as seen in the March 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper* and accompanied by her own iPhone photographs, we talk domestic bliss with British clothing designer Margaret Howell, who splits her time between south-east London and a holiday home on the Suffolk coast. 

At home with Margaret Howell

Wallpaper*: Can you tell us a little about your home?

Margaret Howell: I live in south-east London, but my neighbourhood is very leafy and green. There are ponds, Georgian terraces, graceful church spires, and a few hints of modernist architecture. I also really appreciate the independent butchers, fishmongers and bakeries that are all within walking distance. 

W*: Where and when do you find that you are most productive?

MH: It can be anytime, anywhere. I get a lot of my written work done on my train journeys between Suffolk and London. 

W*: Where is your favourite place at home?

MH: Relaxing in my little bathtub with a view of the setting sun on a summer’s evening, listening to In Tune Mixtape on BBC Radio 3.

W*: What do you collect?

MH: I’m not the kind of collector who goes out looking for a particular type of thing. But every so often I find something that attracts me, usually on the beach, that could be the start of a collection. There was a time when I used to collect pebbles with patterns that resembled engraved numbers and letters.

W*: What excites you about clothing?

MH: Achieving the spirit and character of an idea. Getting the right fabric for the right concept, and perfecting the proportions, fit and detail. 

W*: What are the ideal conditions for creating?

MH: When I started my career in the early 1970s, I would put some music on, sit down with pencil and paper, and think: ‘What would I like to wear?’ and then start drawing.

W*: Do you have any rituals? 

MH: I like to start the day with some form of outdoor exercise; walking, swimming or cycling. It gives me my fix for the day. 

W*: What are you working on at the moment?

MH: A/W 2023.

W*: Is there a particular part of the process of creating a collection you especially enjoy?

MH: As a design director, I enjoy editing at all stages of creation, keeping an eye on proportion and detail. But a collection, whether for a show or photography, requires a different kind of editing. I also enjoy working with a stylist on our collection release when we can be experimental and can exaggerate our clothes in a freer way. 

W*: Where do you go for inspiration? 

MH: At one level, when I’m walking in the countryside. But very often I find inspiration from social documentary photographs of people in real situations, past or present. Occasionally I notice someone on the street whose style I respond to – it could simply be a group of workmen in their overalls. 

W*: Do you have a favourite item of clothing? 

MH: A pair of Levi’s ‘Big E’ jeans that belonged to my father in the 1960s. I love the wide, straight-leg style and the toughness of the denim, as well as the sentimental value.

W*: How do you switch off?  

MH: Cooking supper with a glass of wine.

W*: Outside of your home, what is your favourite place in the world?

MH: Lying on an empty beach after a sea swim, being warmed by the sun.

W*: Can you tell us a memorable view?

MH: On the train from Suffolk back to London, the sight of the Stour Estuary and mudflats. An expansive view that never fails to disappoint, whether at high or low tide.

W*: What are you currently reading? 

MH: I was given Alan Bennett’s Pandemic Diaries at Christmas. I love the way he combines humour and poignancy. 

W*: What is your favourite indulgence?

MH: A Japanese massage.

W*: What would you serve if Wallpaper* came for dinner? 

MH: Something homemade. Like a steak and kidney pie, or a casserole. 

W*: Is there an item at home that you particularly treasure?

MH: I have a small, framed photograph of an image I took to use up the last shot on a roll of black-and-white film. It later turned out to have enormous personal significance. 

W*: If you weren’t a clothing designer, what would you be?

MH: I don’t know, but I can’t imagine a job where I wasn’t being creative in some way. Perhaps a gardener, but I think I would have trouble remembering the Latin names! 

W*: What one piece of advice would you give for the next generation? 

MH: Buy only what you really need. 

W*: What’s next on your to-do list?

MH: Sorting out my photographs. I have taken pictures for well over 60 years, and on several occasions I have tried but been unsuccessful in cataloguing them.

A version of this story appears in the March 2023 Style Issue of Wallpaper*, available now in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today

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Margaret Howell presents an exhibition that celebrates the plywood furniture designs of Isokon. Staged at Margaret Howell’s Wigmore Street HQ (until 5 November 2022), the display spans from 1936 to today, with designs by Marcel Breuer, Barber Osgerby and Jasper Morrison, as well as tools, moulds and templates from the workshop to give an additional insight into its history and practice.

‘Isokon furniture demonstrates the versatility and strength of plywood,’ comments Howell. ‘Light and malleable, [plywood] allows designers the freedom to produce furniture in an innovative and sculptural style. Isokon advanced the cause of international design in 1930s Britain – simple, minimal and still so modern.’

The history of Isokon started in 1931, when the workshop was founded by English entrepreneur Jack Pritchard and Canadian architect Wells Coates: Pritchard had asked Coates to design a building and the result of their partnership was the Lawn Road Flats in north London, which were completed in July 1934.

The flats became home to Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and László Moholy-Nagy, who also collaborated with Pritchard, expanding the workshop’s scope. In particular, Breuer contributed several plywood designs to Isokon, creating chairs and tables for the brand. 

Original pieces by Breuer are on display alongside contemporary designs, and the furniture is accompanied by 12 archive photographs of Isokon furniture and the Lawn Road Flats, which will become the Margaret Howell Calendar 2023.

To coincide with the exhibition, Margaret Howell has reissued a series of the Marcel Breuer 1936 ‘Nesting’ tables; made at Isokon’s Walthamstow workshop, the tables are in birch plywood and presented with a special Isokon and Margaret Howell stamp.

INFORMATION

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‘I wanted it to be alive and have a sense of activity,’ says designer Margaret Howell of the original vision for her eponymous label’s 34 Wigmore Street headquarters in a voiceover for a new short film, A Working Space, released today in celebration of 20 years at the address. 

The short film, directed by Emily Richardson – whose work has previously been screened at Tate Modern, BFI London, Barbican Cinema and various international festivals – takes the viewer inside the Marylebone address that houses the brand’s offices and flagship store, and has also played host to various Margaret Howell fashion shows, exhibitions and events. The space itself, recognised for its high vaulted ceiling, was designed in collaboration with architect William Russell in 2002.

A Working Space: a new film from Margaret Howell

‘[The film] acknowledges the whole company, and the workforce involved in producing what is on display,’ says Howell. Filmed around 34 Wigmore Street, the film sees the camera linger on the various operations that take place within the building: hands wrapping up a purchase in tissue paper, employees gathered for collection meetings and fittings, a rare glimpse of the designer herself at work. Other scenes are more quotidian; towards the end of the short, Howell is shown picking up leaves in a tiny outdoor courtyard. ‘[I want it to have a] strong sense of family,’ she surmises of the brand’s home. 

A Working Space will be shown at 34 Wigmore Street and across international Margaret Howell websites from 19 August 2022. In the store itself, an exhibition will coincide with the film’s release, featuring photographs and quotes from Margaret Howell’s longest-standing customers, collaborators, and members of staff. 

Watch Margaret Howell’s short film A Working Space, below.

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‘There’s a strictness and gentleness to it,’ says Dutch photographer Annemarieke van Drimmelen of the brutalist architecture of London’s South Bank, the backdrop for her first campaign for Margaret Howell, which launches exclusively with Wallpaper*.

Such descriptors match Howell’s own approach to design, whereby a singular vision – often inspired by the precise lines of uniforms, workwear and midcentury furniture – meets a softness of hand, a desire for clothing to feel ‘relaxed, lived in’. ‘I enjoy pulling these threads of British tradition, quality and skill together in clothes that are meant to be worn in the real world,’ she has previously said.

Annemarieke van Drimmelen shoots Margaret Howell A/W 2022

The various images, photographed against the South Bank’s aged concrete walls – of a colour and texture van Drimmelen describes as ‘beautiful’ – capture Howell’s A/W 2022 men’s and women's collections in black and white, a monochrome palette long favoured by the designer for her campaigns. 

‘I like to shoot our campaign images in black and white,’ Howell tells Wallpaper*. ‘This may be connected to social documentary photographs, which are always a source of inspiration for me when designing clothes. People’s expressions, their clothes in movement, a moment caught. I chose to work with Annemarieke as I feel she shares this approach to her photography.’

‘Even though the campaign is shot in black and white, the light and the models' expressions are quite soft and gentle, which is something I wanted to bring back to the photography for the campaign,’ says van Drimmelen. ‘I love some of her early campaigns. The eye for details seen in a gentle way is something that I still associate the brand with.’

The photographer, a former model who is based in Amsterdam, notes that the project is something of a dream collaboration: ‘I’ve been a customer at Margaret Howell for a long, long time,’ she says. ‘To me, there’s something honest about what she makes: essentially it’s very good clothing made really well. That sounds simpler than it is. To do that right for a long time and not compromise is such a strength.’

‘I have a lot of respect for how she works on set. When I work I often disappear into what I’m shooting – I tend to forget everything around me. Margaret let me wander off where I needed, but also stayed with me. With Beat Bolliger [the campaign’s stylist], we made it together.’

‘The devil is in the details,’ Wallpaper* wrote of Howell’s A/W 2022 collection when it was released earlier this year. In van Drimmelen’s clear-eyed images, such details are revealed and magnified: the upturned collar of a trench coat, the cuff of a sweater with a fingerless ribbed glove beneath, a pinstripe shirt appearing from beneath a blazer. Others capture the clothing how it is intended to be worn: in movement, for the day-to-day.

Asked what it is about her photography that she believes drew Howell to her work, van Drimmelen answers that it is more of a question for the designer than for her. ‘But I do feel we both come from a personal place,’ she says. ‘We don’t create anything that we’re not. And perhaps in some ways that’s the same woman.’

INFORMATION

margarethowell.co.uk

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 documents the intricate process of creating the perfect shirt in a new film, The Making of a Shirt. Produced with filmmaker Emily Richardson, the film follows the steps of creating the garment, from the cutting to the finishing and checking, from Margaret Howell’s workroom in Edmonton, north London.

‘In my teenage years, I enjoyed making my own clothes from paper patterns, but the one thing that was a real challenge was to make a shirt. A shirt has so many strong pieces,’ Howell muses in the short film. ‘You have to halve and quarter to get it to set correctly, and then all these little details – at least two dozen pieces of pattern that go into making the shirt.’

The perfect shirt

Each shirt made in the Unit 7 workroom is created individually by a machinist, whose initials are sewn into the finished piece. The machinist’s detailed work is celebrated with close-up shots of a pair of hands as they go about the intricacies of their craft, with every detail observed, from the creating of the holes for the buttons to the jigsaw-like assembling of the pattern pieces.

‘When you’re producing something, or making something, everything’s important,’ Howell says. ‘Every last detail has to be thought about. The collar has to be notched and sit perfectly on the neckband. It has to be well cut as well as well stitched.’

The resulting pieces adhere to Howell’s relaxed aesthetic, consistent with the traditionally less structured cuts of men’s tailoring for shirts, which are easy to wear and comfortable for both women and men. ‘People are conscious of how they feel in a piece of clothing,’ says Howell. ‘The quality comes through the fabric and the make and then the comfort.’

INFORMATION

The film will be available to view in the Wigmore Street shop, London, and across all Margaret Howell websites from Friday 24 September 2021

margarethowell.co.uk

It’s been eighteen months since the London fashion crowd stomped the streets in idiosyncratic, head-turning looks, flitting between shows in cultural landmarks across the city, and celebrating the British capital’s spirit of creativity and community. A lot has changed since then. Brands have shuttered, boutiques have closed and our means of communication have shifted. The London Fashion Week schedule has become gender free.

But a warm optimism and anticipation filled the seats at S/S 2022’s shows and presentations, as viewers celebrated the joy of seeing a new clothing collection in real life: the vibrancy of a colour, the texture of a fabric, the drape of a silhouette, by burgeoning brands and behemoths, from 2021 LVMH Prize Winner Nensi Dojaka to Erdem, SS Daley to Roksanda. Here’s eight things to know about the British capital’s return to fashion form and London Fashion Week S/S 2022.

London Fashion Week S/S 2022: all you need to knowLFW : ‘F’ is for friendship

A sense of community is integral to London's fashion scene, a unity brought into focus by talent incubator Fashion East, which celebrated its 20th anniversary at London’s The Standard Hotel. For S/S 2022 Goomheo, Maximilian, HRH, Jawara Alleyne and Chet Lo made up the burgeoning talent roster, Asian-American designer Lo making his debut with a series of futuristic 3D-knit designs, inspired by the vibrance of holiday. Elsewhere, Simone Rocha celebrated her brand's tenth birthday with a party with long-time collaborator Dover Street Market. A stained glass church installation housed a special celebratory collection, featuring archive pieces, and upcycled tableclothes crafted in collaboration with Luncheon magazine.

Matchesfashion celebrated its Innovators initative, a conversational project that sees its latest roster of emerging talent, including Harris Reed, Chopova Lowena and Grace Wales Bonner speak to their creative heroes. At a party at the retailer's majestic Carlos Place townhouse, guests snacked on cute mini pizzas housed in boxes printed with its signature marbled motif. 

Richard Malone – fresh from a turn as gallery curator – marked his collaboration with Mulberry with a show at the Victoria & Albert Musuem. Models strode against a backdrop of breathtaking Renaissance artworks sporting sculptural spliced designs, from cut-out ruched dresses to patchwork leather coats, made using upcycled Mulberry fabrics. They also carried the designer’s accessory interpretations for Mulberry Editions – bold, graphic takes on the brand's ‘Bayswater’ and ‘Darley’ bags. 

Another way to absord the community-focused energy at London Fashion Week? The whoops and cheers from the audience as Nensi Dojaka took a bow on the runway at her S/S 2022 finale, or the hug Maximilian Davis’ mother gave him post-show, in view of the smiling guests.

The city still lives in splendour

After long months of lockdown and social and physical restriction, the British capital is slowly but surely getting its buzz back. Nothing exemplified this more than the diverse locations in which London's brands chose to stage their shows. In celebration of his eponymous label's 15-year anniversary, Erdem hosted an intimate runway show outdoors amongst the classical colonnades of the British Museum, framed by a rainbow that appeared at the show's finale.

Rejina Pyo hot-footed across east London, staging her show at the Zaha Hadid-designed London Aquatics Centre in Stratford, which hosted events during the 2012 Olympics. Simone Rocha showcased her collection at the medieval church St Bartholomew the Great. Roksanda returned to her regular Serpentine Galleries location. And Kiko Kostadinov looked to the rooftop of the Selgas Cano-designed workspace Second Home.

More gritty, Knwls took guests to a dimly lit underground car park behind Oxford Street, while Edward Crutchley shone colourful lasers and smoke across the unfinished concrete interior of Collins’ Music Hall. Saul Nash brought memories of going to school in Hackney to his idiosyncratically performance-focused runway show, with male models sporting hybrid tracksuits and Nikes and getting changed in front of the audience at bus stops.

Skimpy is chic

Let's hear it for flaunting the female form. Following on from the glamour and body-sporting chic at New York Fashion Week S/S 2022, a host of brands embraced unabashed body-con silhouettes. Supriya Lele brought a confident, grown-up mood to her colourful, 1990s-centric shapes, with cut-out halterneck dresses in soft leather, daring bodysuits paired with wrap skirts and cropped bomber jackets. Inspired by archetypal silhouettes, she reinterpreted a man's oversized vest as a sheer sequined net dress, and reimagined a pair of capri pants in sheer mesh that tied at the navel. ‘The collection is about evolution and pushing the brand forward,’ Lele told Wallpaper*. ‘It's about reaffirming what we are good at.’

Nensi Dojaka, who scooped this year’s LVMH Prize, evolved her signature lingerie-centric LBDs, updating her transparent strappy pieces with pinks and browns and adding knitwear elements and tailoring, such as tuxedo trousers and oversized blazers. Elsewhere, Knwls brought heavy-metal biker-girl glam to its sexy skin-tight silhouettes, with bleached denim, cracked leather, sand-splashed hues and cowboy hats.

Menswear is in the mix

S/S 2022 saw the men's and women's catwalk schedule physically merge. Cue Saul Nash's school-inspired sportswear take, complete with Nikes, Kickers and tracksuits printed with the Hackey-born designer’s TFL travel pass; plus Molly Goddard's menswear evolution, which saw silhouettes inspired by children's clothes, and models sporting heart-motif intarsia knits, thigh-revealing shorts and ballet pumps. Upcycling wunderkind SS Daley's debut catwalk show featured whimsical, upcycled silhouettes, from paisley suits to rugby shirts, voluminous trousers to dressing gowns, while Stefan Cooke looked to classic wardrobe pieces, like tracksuit bottoms, polo shirts, vests and bomber jackets, reintrepreting them with trompe l’oeil effects, light-hearted dancing-women motifs, cable-knit appliqué and chainmail.

Set your sights on far horizons

Unsurprisingly, a host of designers set their sights on escapist scenes. At Fashion East, Maximilian looked with a nostalgic nod to the sun-soaked colours and vibrancy of life on the islands of the Caribbean Sea, inspired by memories of family visits to Trinidad, presenting ocean tones, reds inspired by the island’s scarlet ibis bird, and outfits riffing on carnival attendees.

Chet Lo's innovative knitwear also looked to sun-drenched sojourns, the tones of tropical cocktails and the outlines of pool inflatables.

Laura and Deanna Fanning looked to the streets around north London that they walked during lockdown for Kiko Kostadinov's A/W 2021 collection; but for S/S 2022 they looked to the sunny shores of their native Australia, where they have not returned since the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Looking to beach literature by Kathy Lett and Tim Winton, the brand's collection referenced surf, salt-baked tones from sand to oceanic blues, the undulating shapes of waves, and the relaxed ease of beach living. Wrap skirts were embellished with shells, blouses had flowing handkerchief shapes, and ribbed knits were imagined as upside down cardigans. ‘For many Australians, the coast is such an ordinary aspect of growing up that can be a fetishised and commercialised norm. In saying that, there are so many beautiful parts of the coast that really give you a sense of perspective, relief and a moment to reflect in its calmness and sparsity. Not being able to return home, we really felt a sense of longing for the calmness and balance that coastal trips and moments provide for us,’ the sisters told Wallpaper*.

The show must (not) go on

Not all brands were back on the official schedule, with notable exceptions from September's London Fashion Week being Burberry, Christopher Kane and Chalayan. Margaret Howell skipped a physical show in favour of a film and a small collection of accompanying appointments – the perfect way for the brand to allow editors to touch the tactile, time-honed fabrications and attention to cut and comfort that the label spends hours deliberating over. Chalky, paint-like textures were central to the men's and women's collection, which featured pastel-hued simple striped dresses, Mackintosh-designed boxy cagoules, casual unlined tailoring and schoolish-inspired styling. ‘Each season, there's a lot of tweaks that go on,' Howell told Wallpaper* of silhouettes that nodded to heritage styles in the brand's extensive archive.

Prince of partywear Halpern also eschewed a physical show, in favour of a digital film created in collaboration with The Royal Ballet. At the Royal Opera House, dancers twirled in fluid silk gowns and dresses drenched in colourful fringing. JW Anderson also skipped an IRL show, debuting instead a collection film and in-store activations at the brand’s 6a-designed Soho boutique. 

Christopher Kane and Burberry chose to hold their runway shows through livestream in October, parallel to Paris Fashion Week. The former, presented an offering that meditated between minimalism and more tongue in cheek silhouettes, featuring dresses in fluid metallic pleats or with architectural volumes, satin coats with 3D folds, chainmail tops and jumpers and shirts embellished with the figurative characters that Kane dreamt up during lockdown.

The world is a stage (and a swimming pool)

Theatricality was high on the agenda for a host of immersive, performance-focused shows. At London Aquatics Centre in Stratford, Rejina Pyo showed a colourful print-splashed collection, featuring Canadian tuxedos, puritan-collar dresses, ruched skirts and oversized tailoring. At the show’s finale, models ascended the space's diving boards and were joined by members of the GB diving team, who wore bold swimming costumes and performed breathtaking dives into the swimming pool below.

Roksanda returned to her favourite Serpentine Pavilion venue – designed for 2021 by South African architecture practice Counterspace, using Portuguese cork and bricks made of construction waste – with a show-cum-performance, created in collaboration with choreographer Holly Blakey. Dancers ascended seating, crawled across the floor and clambered onto each others shoulders in a performance inspired by layered human emotion and tension, wearing the designer's colourful, motion-fuelled pieces, like bell sleeve gowns, fringed dresses and slouchy suiting.

Menswear designer Steven Stokey-Daley – whose star began to ascend after his whimsical, upcycled designs were sported by Harry Styles – enlisted members of the National Youth Theatre for his brand SS Daley’s debut catwalk show, with a performance that riffed on notions of masculinity, stereotypes of public and private school, power structure and class. The designer developed these fascinations when studying at the University of Westminster, which has a campus overlooking Harrow School's rubgy fields. Meanwhile, Charles Jeffrey returned to dramatic form, staging ‘Portal' at the gritty Metalworks in Islington, with models striding amongst laser beams and sporting century-spanning garments, headpieces ablaze with burning candles.

Mum’s the word

Simone Rocha recently gave birth to her second daughter, and for S/S 2022 she had motherhood on her mind. The designer referenced  ‘Sleep walking, mothering',  ‘Communion dress’, ‘Baby teeth & lack of sleep' in her collection notes, which featured voluminous cotton nightgowns edged with brocade and broderie anglaise, girlish ballet shoes, ethereal layered petticoats, ribbon detail cardigans and beaded crowns. Spring spoke of vulnerability and strength.

Elsewhere, Molly Goddard – who is on maternity leave after giving birth to her first son – subtly alluded to her new role as a mother, looking at the baby and kids’ clothes she has collected over time, and blowing up silhouettes such as smock dresses to grown-up proportions.

Margaret Howell continues to mark the 50th anniversary of her eponymous clothing brand with a short film celebrating the fundamental role Japan has played in her life and work.

Affinities – 50 Years of Design is Howell’s second collaboration with filmmaker Emily Richardson, who worked with the designer on identifying the objects and locations which hold a significance for her. The three minute film is to accompany the brand’s anniversary celebrations in Japan this month, postponed from last year due to the pandemic. Encapsulating the clean simplicity of Japanese design and the parallels Howell sees with her own aesthetic, the film ultimately expresses Howell’s love for the country sparked upon her first visit in 1983.

‘The locations in the film are, like the objects, ones that Margaret has a personal connection with,’ says Richardson. ‘Some are photographs that she took on trips to Japan and others are Suffolk landscapes that reflect the quality of the objects chosen.’ The film intersperses locations with personal photographs and significant objects in a tribute to pure design codes.

‘In the process we were thinking about a beauty in the simplicity of their design and a skill in the crafting of these objects, which Margaret felt a great affinity with,’ Richardson adds. ‘In telling this personal history, the only restriction is time. There is always so much more that can be said. But I really enjoy the process of getting to the essence of something which communicates not only part of a personal history but a feeling about the person.’

Watch Margaret Howell's Affinities – 50 Years of Design

The film, along with clothing, drawings and personal memorabilia from the Margaret Howell archive will be on show at T-Site Daikanyama, Tokyo, from 15 – 30 May, and in the ROHM Theatre, Kyoto, from 4 June – 13 June. 

INFORMATION

margarethowell.co.uk

In 1933, children’s toy pioneer Paul Abbatt wrote in the journal Design for Today that play was ‘a force which can be used for development and valuable experience, a force which, if it is not thwarted by the wrong choice of playthings, develops into the power behind the successful architect or engineer.’ Abbatt and his wife Marjorie who trained as a teacher and a child therapist, are famed for inventing a range of interactive, educational children’s toys, inspired by trips to study progressive nursery teaching approaches in Vienna, former Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. These designs are instrumental to how play is viewed as instrumental to development, also informing the architecture of play spaces and the education of those living with learning disabilities.

‘As a grandparent able to observe young children at play it soon becomes clear they are most absorbed and happy when they feel in charge of creating and constructing,’ says Margaret Howell. In celebration of Abbatt Toys – which first launched from its husband-and-wife founders’ Bloomsbury flat in 1932, the designer has launched an exhibition celebrating its groundbreaking designs at its Marylebone flagship. The show forms one of a series dedicated to strong design. In 2019, Howell celebrated the pages of the Council of Industrial Design's Design Folios, which were produced in the mid-20th century.

Abbatt Toys’ designs encouraged problem solving and creative thinking, and included silkscreened play tray jigsaws, stacked elephants and farmyard barns which were formed from slats of wood. These creations were also inspired by trips its founders took to Leipzig Toy Fair, toy factories is Dresden, Nurenberg and Berlin, and the Maison des Petites in Geneva. The designs were adapted to different ages and stages of development, with relatively little attention to gender difference. They were also masterminded by the Abbat’s architect friend Ernö Goldfinger, who also designed their child-friendly showroom on Wimpole Street in London, in 1936.

‘They designed toys to stimulate the imagination as well as physical skills. Self-learning hand in hand with fun!’ Howell says of the Abbatt’s output. We suggest you pop in for a spot of play time.

INFORMATION

margarethowell.co.uk

Sportmax

Established in 1969, Sportmax speaks of the vitality and liberation of the 1970s. In uenced by his trips to New York, its Italian founder Achille Maramotti envisioned the brand as the urbane, go-ahead sister of Max Mara, which he had launched from a small factory in Re io Emilia in 1951.

‘The genesis of Sportmax was taking the idea of sportswear and introducing it into daily life,’ says Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, US retail director of the Max Mara fashion group and granddaughter of the founder. Achille Maramotti, alongside Cacharel and Sonia Rykiel in Paris, forged the business of ‘ready-to-wear’. But where his vision really shone was in Sportmax’s focus on style-savvy, fuss-free, mix-and-match separates that could be worn seven days a week.

The collection (first shown as a catwalk presentation in 1976) struck a chord with a generation of women newly entering the workplace. Fifty years on, the team at Sportmax pursues the same ethos, introducing new techniques, hybrid garments and innovative fabrics. Over the decades, the brand (steered by Luigi Maramotti since the 1980s) has employed creative collaborators such as Jean-Charles de Castelbajac and Guy Paulin, but never revealed ‘names’. The anonymity allowed the brand to be the centrepiece.

This spring, a 15-piece anniversary capsule collection that riffs on core styles hits stores. Pieces are finished with Sportmax’s shaded topstitching, creating a signature lightweight feel and deconstructed look. The relevance of Sportmax proves that through the wildest fluctuations in trends and societal shifts, there is poetry to be found in everyday style.

Paul Smith

Life’s mishaps have a way of opening up new pathways. If it weren’t for a calamitous accident at the age of 18, amateur road cyclist Paul Smith might have pursued his sporting dream. Instead, post-recovery, he found a community of art students at the Bell Inn pub in Nottingham, and learnt the principles of couture from his Royal College of Art-trained girlfriend (now wife) Pauline Denyer.

Opening his first store in Nottingham outshines knighthood as one of his proudest moments. It’s here that Smith, all chiselled good looks and quick wit, learnt how to make customers feel at ease in a con ned space, deploying curios collected from his travels as icebreakers to his burgeoning line of natty suits and shirts. Collecting (dominoes, stamps, cycling memorabilia, ceramics) continues to be a cherished idiosyncrasy. During the design boom of the 1980s, Smith became a national hero known for his ‘classics with a twist’, establishing a network of stores, a vibrant design language and a reputation for comfortable yet smart suits.

Combining the classy and the unexpected – perky, coloured linings, the famous stripes – the brand suggests wit, individuality and that very British quality of self-deprecation. Collaborations with the likes of Leica and Carl Hansen & Søn have boosted Smith’s taste-making clout, while his athlete’s mindset has kept the brand in the fast lane. In an era when overproduction weighs heavily, Smith’s insistence on creating quality products with a difference is an inspiration.

Margaret Howell

‘My work has always been about trying to remain true to myself; it is a consistent style with subtle changes,’ says Margaret Howell of her half-century run. Having graduated in Fine Art from London’s Goldsmiths’ College in 1969, she was  rst inspired by a pinstripe shirt found at a jumble sale. She set up a workshop in 1973, and her line of shirts caught the eye of retailer Joseph Ettedgui, who helped her open a menswear store four years later. 

At a time when style was dominated ato one end by 1970s  amboyance, and at the other by English formality, Howell excelled in meticulously detailed, ‘lived-in’ pieces. ‘I wanted to make items feel contemporary through the proportions, softness and lightness of the fabrics – linen, corduroy, tweed. People responded,’ says Howell. By the 1980s, she was creating men’s and women’s collections and had signed licensing in Japan, a venture that proved a lifeline through the turbulent decade. The brand’s success rests on Howell’s hands-on approach, and what she leaves out (loud colour, extraneous detail) as much as what she includes.

The trend-defying durability of her designs, including an unlined linen shirt jacket dating from the 1970s, and a button- through skirt based on a trench coat, are testament to Howell’s enduring, resilient vision. By introducing photography and 20th- century furniture in her store, Howell also quietly pioneered lifestyle retailing; her stores in London, Paris, Florence and Tokyo remain a lure for collectors and browsers alike. 

INFORMATION

sportmax.com
paulsmith.com
margarethowell.co.uk

Over the last month, we’ve transitioned to viewing the world from a smaller viewfinder. As the perspective of our new parameters has shifted, so we’ve found uplift in everyday domestic details or striking beauty in the natural world, now seen largely through our windows. As fashion designers have acclimatised to this new, four wall-defined way of life, from Beijing to Berlin, London to Longiano, we’ve invited those within our creative community to document by hand what they can see from their work desk or window. Here we present our rooms with a view.

Manolo Blahnik, Bath

‘The sky was blue almost Mediterranean,’ says the footwear behemoth of the lush garden view from his bedroom window.

Maria Grazia Chiuri, womenswear artistic director Dior, Rome

A unifying Italian flag hangs from the window of Chiuri's home in Italy's capital.

Michael Halpern, London

Jars of citrus fruits and bowls of fiery chillis sit on the colour-inclined womenswear designer's work desk.

Margaret Howell, Suffolk

‘One drawing is my sheep’s trough with planted tall, reed grass. The other is my hazelnut tree, which planted itself by seed many years ago. I drew this just as it’s new leaves are coming out. At least nature is carrying on as normal' – MH.

Bryan Conway, design director Tiger of Sweden, Stockholm

Titled ‘Spring in Sweden,' Conway's sketch offers a tree-lined street scene in the country's capital.

Marco de Vincenzo, Rome

From his window, the womenswear designer can see the splendid baroque architecture of Rome.

Massimo Giorgetti, founder MSGM, Milan

Plant-festooned balconies greet Giorgetti as he looks across Milan from his apartment.

Eudon Choi, London

From the view of his kitchen table, the womenswear designer sees a selection of sculptures and stacks of his husband's copies of Wallpaper*.

Karl Templer, artistic director Ports 1961, London

A green garden view greets the artistic director from his work desk in London.

Pierre Hardy, Paris

The window view through the accessories and jewellery aficionados wood panelled apartment reveals the splendour of the River Seine.

Thom Browne, New York

The designer presents an abstract view from his Central Park West location.

Petar Petrov, Vienna

Mannequins and a cutting table make up the designer's view across his mid-century apartment and live-in studio.

Isabel Marant, Paris

Natural beauty greets the progenitor of Parisian chic from her window.

Samuel Ross, founder A-Cold-Wall*, London

The boundary-pushing menswear designer shares a domestic scene from the London-based home he shares with his family.

Maria Skappel-Holzweiler, head of design Holzweiler, Oslo

For the head of design of the family run, Norwegian brand, respite comes in watching her children painting Easter eggs, outside in a pergola.

Sean Suen, Beijing

The menswear designer, who has been on lockdown since late January, shares a domestic scene in pencil and coloured wax crayon.

Lorraine Acornley, creative director Begg & Co, Hertfordshire

Quick daily observational sketches of a plant pot on Acornley's desk, ‘explore line and materials'.

Giuseppe Zanotti, Longiano

The Italian footwear behemoth is currently residing in his home in Longiano, Emilia-Romagna, a short distance from the brand's factory.

Daniel Rosenberry, artistic director Schiaparelli, New York 

‘My window, my desk, my things and me' – DR.

Tammy Kane, co-founder and creative director Christopher Kane, London

A view of nature across a conservatory has been imagined using oil on canvas and oil crayon.

Albert Kriemler, creative director Akris, St Gallen

Lines from First Suprematist Standing Poem (1965), by writer, visual artist and gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay, greet Kriemler.

Giuseppe Marretta, menswear design director, Pringle of Scotland, London

Exhibition posters and verdant plant life offer visual distraction for the menswear designer.

MM6 design collective, MM6, Paris

The eclectic collective serve up a symbolic sketch inspired by the inversion of social structures. ‘Even so, we are still singing,' they add.

Cecilie Bahnsen, Copenhagen

A huge Scots pine tree stands outside Bahnsen's window in the Danish capital.

Erdem Moralıoğlu, London

A sketch of rooftops from Moralıoğlu's window sits amongst ready-to-wear illustrations and swatches of fabric.

Alessandro Sartori, artistic director Ermenegildo Zegna, Milan

An abstract artwork, cosy chair and Cire Trudon candles all make up Sartori's domestic set up.

Roksanda Ilinčić, London

Linck Ceramics vases – from a curated Matchesfashion collection with Wallpaper's Picky Nicky – stand next to a window plastered with a community-focused NHS poster. 

Molly Molloy, co-founder Colville, Milan

‘I look out on to a courtyard of bright yellow apartments and have a balcony full of tropical plants. When the sun is out I have the windows open, you can hear the clattering of plates at lunch time and the smell of amazing Italian dishes cooking.' – MM

Ramesh Nair, artistic director Moynat, Paris

Stacks of artist monographs and a feline friend sit on Nair's busy work desk.

Feng Chen Wang, Shanghai

Shanghai's built up skyline forms the backdrop to the menswear designer's studio space.

Gherardo Felloni, creative director Roger Vivier, Isola del Giglio 

A burnt sun setting over the ocean greets the footwear designer from his island home.

Alexandre Mattiussi, founder AMI, Paris

A window view completely free of buildings offers the natural gift of a clear blue sky.

Mood board: Today’s frenetic catwalk line up at global fashion weeks, with designers regularly disappearing from show schedules and brands booming in and out of popularity, makes the half century success of a label more powerful than ever. When Margaret Howell launched her brand fifty years ago, it began as a shirting business, before becoming a global go-to for impeccably crafted, utilitarian clothing. For A/W 2020 she celebrated her brand’s anniversary milestone in typically laid back style, showcasing a collection of signature men’s and women’s favourites, from practical waxed jackets to drop waist dresses, oversized pinstripe tailoring to schoolgirl kilts.

Best in show: Howell’s design aesthetic is as relevant today as it was fifty years ago. She delivers timeless wardrobe pieces, from suiting to knitwear that will stand the test of time (and trends). The show’s opening looks emphasised this longevity, with single items styled on bare legged and booted female models, including an oversized white shirt, a duffle coat and a belted workman’s jacket.

Finishing touches: Howell is notably absent at the end of a fashion show, failing to take a bow at the end of her catwalk. Her decision to avoid the show space starlight is emblematic of her brand, which is renowned for its unfussy and subtly enduring appeal. True to form, as the show finished, Howell did not take a turn at the head of the runway. Sometimes the most pared-back milestone celebrations are the most impactful.

A hazy tie-dye pattern resembling a sun-scorched desert, schoolgirl-centric checks in grayscale tones, lush assemblages of tropical fronds…prints define the sartorial sway of the fashion season. So much so, that for our March 2020 Style Special issue (W*252), we took a magnifying lens to the most magnificent womenswear motifs of S/S 2020, enlisting Paris-based set stylist Marie-Noëlle Perriau to fold our favoured fabrics into origami-centric shapes, photographed by Patricia Schwoerer.

It’s not the first time we’ve enlisted Schwoerer, who has shot advertising campaigns for Issey Miyake, Prada and Dior. She also lensed the overhauled interiors of Celine’s rue de Grenelle boutique in Paris, for our June 2019 issue (W*243).

Perriau has collaborated with brands including Delvaux, Bulgari, Prada and Comme des Garçons and defines her set styling approach as an ‘effortless intervention,’ composed of ‘natural gestures’. It’s a sublime approach for letting prints including MSGM’s romantic rose motifs, Chanel’s panoramic sketch of Paris’ rooftops and Celine’s vintage upholstery prints shine. For our pattern-focused special, Perriau worked to ‘find the right balance’ between Schwoerer’s striking close up photography and Marianne Kakko – Wallpaper’s Assistant Market Editor’s – styling motifs. ‘You had to navigate between these two elements,’ she adds.

For 2020, Perriau is working on a wide range of brand-focused and personal projects. Of particular importance is an experimental art installation titled ‘cellule d’expérimentation esthétique’, installed in healthcare facilities, which will engage one visitor at a time inside a small room, and explore their interaction with plastic forms. Just like the magnifying lens we took to S/S 2020’s standout prints, we’ll be sure to zoom in Perriau’s next project too.

INFORMATION

marie-noelle-perriau-deco.com
patriciaschwoerer.com

Mood board: There’s a sense of comfort and steadfastness behind Howell’s collections. London offers up eclectic and eccentric collections, alternative viewpoints and a vast array of ideas. Not always successfully. Howell opened her first Marylebone store in 1980, and for nearly forty years, her refined, workwear and utility-focused aesthetic, has become beloved the world over. The neutral wardrobe-lasting pieces she designed for autumn, in tans, rust, greys and khaki, serendipitously echoed her approach. For women, pleated skirts, paper bag waist trousers, herringbone jackets and Argyll knit sweaters with pops of pink. For men, sharp trench coats, loose denim, aviator jackets and Barbour anoraks.

Finishing touches: There were pieces here that bordered between town and country, between Howell’s man and woman working in the week, then popping to a rural abode for gardening at the weekend. Relaxed tailoring and corduroy jackets, trousers with utilitarian turn-ups, delicate leaf print skirts, ties and flat caps.

Best in show: The faultlessness in Howell’s clothes lies in their timelessness. A relaxed black men’s suit with turn-ups will stand the test of trends as will women’s snuggly coats, drill trousers and tailored jackets.

From bus stop signs to flight food trays, tennis rackets to milk bottles and Ercol chairs – the pages of the Design Folios produced by the Council of Industrial Design feel familiar and nostalgic, classic and contemporary; representing what was perhaps the pinnacle of midcentury British design.

As a way of introducing this halcyon era to new audience, British fashion designer Margaret Howell has opened an exhibition at her brand's 34 Wigmore Street flagship in London, to accompany the launch of its 2019 calendar, both featuring images from the Design Folios, selected from The University of Brighton Design Archives, where they are now held.

Howell was struck when she came across a collection of vintage posters made by the Design Council to promote design, while on a research trip for vintage items. ‘These evocative images are from another era but their message is clear and modern in outlook. They recall a time when a devastated post-war Britain had to be rebuilt and it was thought important enough to promote the public awareness of design for its own sake,' she says of her curation. 

During the Second World War, product development in Britain ground to a halt. The Council of Industrial Design was founded by Churchill’s government in 1944, as a way to support the nation’s economic recovery by promoting British design – primarily at schools and colleges across the country. ‘Most strikingly in the early decades – the idea of ‘quality of life’ improvements was inseparable from the economic arguments being deployed,' explains Dr Lesley Whitworth, deputy curator and senior research fellow in the University of Brighton Design Archives, who is the author of several contributions to the history of the UK Design Council.  

Four years after the foundation of what is now known as the Design Council, the first Design Folios were disseminated to subscribers: a catalogue of courses and programmes aimed at designers, educators, manufacturers and retailers, with exemplary photographs of some of the most revered designs of the day. ‘So popular was the concept, and so frequent the requests for more content, that in 1965 the Council gave serious consideration to re-launching the series,' Dr Whitworth notes.

‘The Design Council generated a photographic library recording "the best" of this country’s manufacturing output, that eventually ran to some 100,000 images. As a body, they represent the breadth, and vigour, and conviction of the national impulse to create, albeit abiding by historically-contingent views of what "the best" might mean,' she continues. ‘The pictorial record of which the folios form a small part, represents a rich resource for the study of our evolving built environment and the material culture with which it is furnished.'

The Design Folios are a testament to a time when design was still strongly, intertwined with a sense of national identity and community, and when it was highly regarded by the government an important educational tool – not only for the future of the economy, but for the wellbeing of society at large. We recommend a visit to Howell's Wigmore Street store, for a moment of inspirational respite.

INFORMATION

’The Council of Industrial Design - Design Folios’ exhibition is on view until 4 November 2018. For more information, visit the Margaret Howell website; the University of Brighton Design Archives website

ADDRESS

34 Wigmore St
Marylebone
London
W1U 2RS

VIEW GOOGLE MAPS

COS: the brand is known for its minimal clothes and artistic presentations. At Pitti it introduced a new season-less capsule collection of 17 menswear essentials entitled Soma with a performance choreographed by Wayne McGregor. The collection of separates in white, navy and grey melange have been designed to explore what essential menswear means. ‘Every detail has been designed with functionality and the movement of the wearer in mind,’ said Christophe Copin, COS head of menswear design, of the understated aesthetic. Dancers drew on the connections between garment and gesture. Wayne McGregor said: ’My choreography, performed by the dancers, has movement which is both familiar and unfamiliar, light, inventive and playful, but in its essence – simplicity. Soma is of the body, of nature, of being human.’

Craig Green: London Fashion Week Men had a number of notable gaps – one of the biggest was left by Craig Green who, as menswear guest designer, was the headline act at Pitti Uomo 94. Since starting his label in 2012, his padded workman’s jacket with tie-fronts has become a staple for sartorial men across the world. His palm tree collaged cagoules for S/S 2018 were worn by many guests to his show, held in the enormous Boboli Gardens. The space was dressed in tarpaulin and metal structures made in collaboration with David Curtis-Ring. Models moved in and around the grass and stone walkways. The collection riffed on Green’s ‘travelling men’ – his muse is often esoteric, embracing new shapes and forms as he goes. Here, he added more fluid flourishes to his signature, rigid style. Shapes and materials were collaged onto the body; multicolored flyknit tops were made in collaboration with Nike. Vests were wrapped and worn layered, high and tight over the torso; a series of crisp white shirts had vests trapped between them. Red rope cables ran across the back and down the arms of clothes. The show closed with a series of multi-floral quilted tarpaulins attached at the shoulders with knitted cables. Flora and fauna. Nature and future.

Federico Curradi: The designer, who presented his S/S 2019 collection in his home city, looked to Tuscany’s Arno river for inspiration. Organic hues meandered through casual and relaxed separates, like garment-dyed silk waterproofs in orange and sea green, rusty chunky knit V-necks and loose striped shirts. Patchy garment dye techniques evoked the salt spray of the sea, while fish-shape charms and woven belts had a crafty, nautical flair. Fabrications and silhouettes that float our boat.

Roberto Cavalli: Creative Director Paul Surridge arrived last year at the helm of a design house steeped in swagger and sex. Cavalli’s inimitable namesake founder built an empire on animal print pep, sand-blasted denim, leather and gold – all things that seem today at odds with our more sombre times. What does the manicured machismo of the Cavalli man look like today? Surridge’s S/S 2019 collection was entitled ‘Reboot’ – re-working and re-examining the brand’s DNA. Athletic tailoring was front and centre. The mood was relaxed as models walked across a red and blue carpeted catwalk set inside an epic Carthusian monastery high in the suburbs of Galluzzo. Modestly lavish, the collection focused more on surface tension than dramatic silhouette or OTT gestures. ‘My mantra is respect the past embrace the future, and that is my approach at Cavalli and how I navigate this brand to the next chapter. You just have to believe in yourself and protect your vision,’ he said. The show opened with all-white abstractions of animalier; throughout, the anticipated animal motifs were sliced, sun-bleached and out of focus. They appeared as tone on tone jacquards or perforated onto leather. ‘This is a wardrobe that reflects the times; I wanted the clothes to be immediate and not over designed or complicated. This collection is the new foundation of things to come.’ His approach is lenient and sparing; the opulence is all left to the touch.

Herno: on the first day of Pitti Uomo, Herno unveiled L.I.B.R.A.R.Y. – an installation inside the Leopolda Station that explored two important anniversaries for the brand. It is 70 years since its inception and half a century since it has been in Japan. Conceived under the creative direction of Anomalia Studio, the exhibition presented pieces from the archives stored at the factory in Lesa – from the double-breasted coat added to the line in the late 1950s to a whole section dedicated to Japan, which included a white cashmere coat worn by Princess Masako in the 1960s. Herno started with the raincoat; fittingly guests first hear and then see Studio Azzurro’s installation: a drop of water drips rhythmically into a container at the centre of a 10 by 10 meter space, falling from an upturned cap of a silk parachute suspended from the ceiling. As you stop each drop with your hand, you interact with one of the eight surrounding screens. Later on, unpublished clips from Istituto Luce in the 1950s show founder Giuseppe Marenzi launching his first collection as he wins the Rally della Moda at Saint Vincent – his car taking pride of place in this story of dynamism, vivacity and elegance. Here, in an exclusive film, you can see the exhibition coming to life.

Z Zegna: tennis may be emerging as a micro-trend for S/S 2019 – is it a key inspiration for Z Zegna’s chic summer wardrobe. Where Bally honoured the retired Swiss tennis stars Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek, Z Zegna announced the appointment of its first ever official face for the brand: Alexander Zverev, the youngest tennis player in the ATP top 20 and currently ranked number 3 in the world. Game, set and match. The collection offers a range of practical, smart sports tailoring in the brand’s trademarked TECHMERINO textile. From classic navy and grey, to the more seasonal spearmint and pale pink, a wash and go wardrobe of deconstructed jackets, technical blousons and tailored joggers work for both on and off the courts

Birkenstock: For its second fully fledged catwalk show, the German footwear brand pitched up at the Giardini Torrigiani, taking over the 16th century garden with a collection chock-a-block with updated classics: the cross or double strap Siena and Malmedy reimagined in khaki and with gold closures, the introduced of leather soles into the women’s ranges, the thick upper Zurich upgraded in green and brown camouflage. The label has been going from strength to strength, and bolstered its fashion credentials earlier this year with its launch of a Rick Owens collaboration. For spring, it also showcased the ‘Summmer Stride’ collection, a series of closed-shoes in unlined leather and with a cork sole.

Moncler: In February, the prominent outerwear and lifestyle brand announced a brave new communication and business model: the Moncler Genius project. Periodic collaboration with designers and artists across disciplines is now creating a laboratory of innovation and technological research. ‘We have overhauled everything, by overcoming the very concept of seasons. Our approach is monthly, weekly, daily. An approach which considerably reduces the time that elapses between the collection presentations and when they actually arrive in the stores,’ Remo Ruffini, Chairman and CEO of Moncler said at the time. At Pitti, the label unveiled a two-part project with Japanese polymath Hiroshi Fujiwara, whose fashion work is always centred on streetwear and music. His 7 MONCLER FRAGMENT HIROSHI FUJIWARA collection fuses the weatherproof DNA of Moncler with a hip-hop, urban sensibility. Jean jackets are in the iconic padded fabric in a military palette of white, fatigue green and black.

Brunello Cucinelli: there is a reboot of Riviera chic happening at Cucinelli – the customary pastel pinks and blues have been replaced with earthier deeper colours such as caramel, off white, brown and radish. The collection takes inspiration from the Roaring Twenties – a time when formal elegance collided with the sporting world. (The golf and tennis motifs writ large across so many of the collections at Pitti each summer owe much to this phase of the American Dream). The mood here is prim. Linen is key. A white one and a half breasted suit in dry cotton and linen mix is worn over a denim shirt with pearl buttons, exemplifying the coming season and a fittingly summery mood

Band of Outsiders: the fourth collection by design director Angelo van Mol and brand director Daniel Hettmann was shown on a post-rain patch of grass inside the grounds at Palazzo Forteza, scattered with broken columns and statues. Models arrived in a giant golden yellow school bus and sauntered across the square one by one in easy separates inspired by varsity vacation to Italy. Cue wide-leg Bermuda shorts worn with windcheaters in sugary pastels and boxfresh trainers in collaboration with Sergio Tacchini, lightweight tensile shirting and unstructured tailoring in plaid (worn with matching bucket hats). The mood was summery and fresh despite the added quirk of the rain-drenched setting. Whimsical cartoonish prints are by Brooklyn based artist Amit Greenberg. Inspired by childhood excursions to Roman ruins, his drawings are repeated over boxy, boyish shirts and shorts.

Corneliani: ‘silk is the cashmere of summer,’ creative director Stefano Gaudioso said when introducing his latest collection. The focus for the coming season is on silk and streetwear; a trio of raincoats, from a 1950s classic egg-shaped belted mac, to a sharp, laser-cut nylon style exemplify the tension at the heart of so many classic tailoring brands. How to do modern without abandoning heritage? In a time where Off-White styling and Supreme sweatshirts rule, Gaudioso is busy giving the classic sprezzatura of a fifty-year-old company subtle upgrades. S/S 2019 brings with it a more extensive range of athleisure in the finest fabrics – zip up jackets in stretch suede, lined in jersey with an elasticated membrane give luxury a new mood. ‘I am already working on a concept of street tailoring for next winter,’ Gaudioso says. ‘I want the suits to become less stiff, I want to work with different materials, maybe inserts, to do things that are a little more edgy. The suit is our heritage, sure, but in order to keep up with how the world is changing, you need to move with the times.’

Parajumpers: the label, which derives its name from the vigorous pursuit of parachuting is all about functionality before form. Inspired by a chance meeting between founder Massimo Rossetti and a serving member of the 210th Rescue Squadron in a bar in Alaska, Parajumpers has become known for its rugged, technical styles. The latest collection features high performance outerwear in vibrant, crinkle-effect washed nylon; generous cargo pockets at the chest are shaped for iPads and maps. Packable jackets come with taped seams and zippers. But it isn’t all about the rugged outdoors: the Limited Edition by Yono line (made in collaboration with Japanese designer Yoshinori Yono) introduces leisurewear made from three layer laminated fabric both stretchy and waterproof. It works just as well at home or at sea.

Woolrich: In October 2017, the heritage American company Woolrich International announced an alliance with Goldwin Inc, the Japanese experts in technology for the outdoors. Their debut collection Woolrich Outdoor, unveiled at Pitti is said to explore the balance between humanity and the natural world, which translates as super desirable, lightweight, functional, youthful clothes designed to adapt to the demands of active pursuits. The collection features a new curvier logo for Woolrich, which acts as a preview of the brand direction to be rolled out in A/W 2019. Stand out are a series of lightweight seersucker outdoor pyjamas, cut wide they come folded up in their own little cross body bag. The mood is lively and light. Let’s go outside!

MCM: for the last few years, the MCM logo backpacks have become omnipresent on city sidewalks around the world. Founded in 1976 in Munich, the brand was acquired by the Seoul based Sungjoo Group in 2005 who had worked with the brand as a distributor and licensee from the early 1990s. The label chose to debut its first full ready-to-wear and accessories collection at Pitti Uomo. Under the direction of Mrs Kim, founder and chief visionary officer of Sungjoo Group and owner of the MCM brand, the proposed ready-to-wear was aimed at the ‘21st-century Global Nomad’, striding alongside the signature backpacks, leather goods, eyewear and footwear. ‘Millennials have less need of leather goods than previous generations, because they can basically do everything with just a mobile phone. So the need for multiple bags and large bags is becoming less important’, Mrs Kim said. The performative, immersive show opened with a tropical storm and was punctuated by the landing of a skydiver down the catwalk. Metallic and holographic textiles reflected the light. Outerwear was functional and free.

Pringle of Scotland: the collection for S/S 2019 takes its influence from photographs in the Pringle archives from the 1980s. The label’s iconic argyle sweaters were worn in and out of sporting circles for much of the decade. The look for the coming season is relaxed and playful as knitted pyjama shirts have matching wide cuff joggers. In the archives too are the many logos and iterations of the lion motif, which the designers have hand-embroidered onto the front of a classic golf jumper. The distinctive diamond argyle graphic appears on slim-fit jumpers and as texture on a sleeveless style made from recycled yarn.

Doucal’s: there is a discreet elegance and confidence about Doucal’s – the anglophile shoe label established in 1973. Avoiding fashion’s roundtable of trends and seasonal collections, the core styles are modestly updated with new details and colours each season; this is where Italian classics and sustainable sprezzatura come together. The signature flexible shoe comes this season with a double buckle; a tassel moccasin in red suede has a soft insole, giving the shoe a unique flexibility. Elsewhere at Pitti there’s has been a proclivity for terry towelling; at Doucal’s, pastel suede high-top sneakers come with natural sponge laces mimicking the feel of a foamy seashore.

Fanatic Feelings: when Nigeria’s World Cup 2018 Kit went on sale at Nike Town in Oxford Circus last month, queues formed around the block. It had received more than three million pre-orders after it was first seen online in February. Football is big business and fashion’s relationship to the sport can be seen in the hip clothes of Gosha Rubchinskiy and Martine Rose. This week, Fondazione Pitti Immagine Discovery presented a pop-up entitled Fanatic Feelings – Fashion Plays Football. Curated by Markus Ebner – founder of German fashion magazines Achtung Mode and Sepp Football Fashion – and art critic Francesco Bonami, the project threw a spotlight on the impact of football on the world of men’s fashion. This is most notable in the pervasive fusion of tailoring and sportswear. The duo handpicked a team of designers to make one-of-a kind football fashion pieces, which will be on sale for a limited time only. Christelle Kocher of Koché Paris designed a special World Cup limited edition capsule using vintage national football jerseys; Alessandro Sartori, who continues to champion active wear at Z Zegna, has designed a striped polo with football crests in superb, user-friendly TECHMERINO. Part of the proceeds from the sales will help to support the activities of Centro Storico Lebowski, a Florentine amateur sport’s association.

Bally: the value of designers’ archives is well known today as young designers seem self-consciously wedded to the idea of permanence in a digital age. Yet, the real value is in archival clothes that have a bigger story to tell. The Bally company has a vast archive of around 35,000 pairs of shoes in Schönenwerd, Switzerland – it is a constant source of inspiration. There, the design team unearthed the battered white sneaker with pink and blue rubber sole worn by the Swiss tennis stars Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek throughout the 90s. For S/S 2019 the designers looked to Bally’s sporting heritage, reintroducing the Champion style in soft calf-skin, fixed to a multi-component rubber outsole with herringbone mould for all-surface endurance. It has been reissued in the original colour way endorsed by Jakob Hlasek during the ATP World Tour in 1991. The nineties are still in.

Fumito Ganryu: Ganryu has been a pioneer of the hybridised approach to menswear since launching his eponymous cult line within the Comme des Garçons stable in 2007. A graduate of Bunka Fashion College in Tokyo, he started as a women’s pattern maker for Junya Watanabe in 2004 and so naturally his work fuses innovative pattern making with archetypal casual wear: ‘I do not consider my work as streetwear’ he says. ‘If people see the element of "street style" in my design, I assume it has come from what I have taken from skateboard culture. I focus on making garments that I think are necessary for the 21st century.’ In 2017 Ganryu separated from Comme des Garçons and Pitti marks his return to the spotlight. His S/S 2019 debut was futuristic and functional. Clothes were to be carried or worn as accessories, used when the need arises; shorts double as swimsuits. ‘What I would like to do is to create ‘non-sex’ clothes – garments without gender,’ he says. For summer this translated into garments attached to the body on silicon belts. ‘Transported rather than being worn, this would give the garments the sense of object, without being about sex.’ This is what Ganryu coins ‘conceptual casualwear.’

Margaret Howell: there’s a breezy nonchalance to the latest collection from MHL. Wool suiting is featherweight – cut in light Fox Brothers & Co cloth – relaxed shirting has big wide collars and long short sleeves, based on classic formal pyjama styles. Jogger trousers are hacked into shorts in lightweight cotton. New desert shoes are in suede with seamless backs and can bend in half for ease when packing. Blazers take inspiration from a woman’s style and are oversized and exaggerated in their slouch. A pioneer of anti-glitz, Howell’s suiting for spring is merrily sombre. Unlined and unstructured, it’s easy, sexy, cool.

Fratelli Rossetti: in 1968, as the world was ablaze with the vivacity of student protests, Renzo Rossetti developed the smart Brera tasselled loafer, inspired by the kids hanging around the historical artist district in Milan. On its 50th birthday, the brand is celebrating with a collection that has the same nonchalant poetry of youth in revolt; calf-skin loafers have soft suede backs so they can be folded down and worn as slippers. Classic woven styles have a bold graffiti snakeskin patina. A small showcase of work created by BA Students from the NABA Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti in Milan was on show too. Invited to reinterpret the loafer, Arianna Monticelli proposes an idiosyncratic take on the tassel, mixing woven leather, suede and rope.

Tiger of Sweden: Pitti Uomo 94 marked Christoffer Lundman’s second collection for the classic menswear label. The head of creative and design, who cut his teeth at Burberry, Tom Ford and Acne, was fascinated by the spirit of adventure for spring, presenting versatile crease-resistant travel suits, short suits and tactile woven tote bags. Details that reflect a lifetime of travel populated the collection, like Asian prints, shirts with Cheongsam fastenings and stripes neckties, inspired by Sweden in the Seventies, naturally.

Colmar: Outdoor exploits are essential to the renowned Italian outerwear label, which pushes its own sense of adventure each season with the development of fabrications and finishes. For S/S 2019, Colmar looked to the endless promise of America, from the East to the West Coast, incorporating Pop Art-centric prints, madras fabric and colour blocking into its silhouettes. A women’s highlight was encompassed in a water-repellent jacket with a semi-shiny yarn belt bag attached at the waist, and a men’s was an ultra light version of the brand’s down jacket, imagined in super shiny ripstop fabric.

The British designer Margaret Howell is the maker of beautiful but discreet clothes, with a strong sense of purpose and sensible proportions. This April, Howell will bring that understated aesthetic to London’s Tate Modern, as she becomes the latest guest curator of the Tate Edit shop, a bright and tidy retail space tucked to the right of the museum’s riverside entrance, and designed by Jasper Morrison in collaboration with architects Herzog & de Meuron.

The store, which opened in November 2016, is stocked with limited editions, objects for the home, and artists’ products, as selected by an in-house team and temporary editors, including Morrison and, most recently, Momoko Mizutani, of Dalston homewares boutique Momosan. It is a merchandising dream, offering picture-perfect retailing with a view of the Thames, and soon a showcase of Howell’s favourite things, from an Irish linen tea towel and a simple wire tea strainer, to an Anglepoise desk lamp and Robert Welch serving spoons.

‘I was asked, quite simply, to choose pieces I loved,’ says Howell of the brief, ‘and the selection ended up being a lot of what I sell in my own shops, not out of principle, but because those are quite personal items that I have a strong relationship with.’

At Howell’s spacious Wigmore Street store in London’s Marylebone, the clothing and accessories for which she is best known are sold alongside a revolving selection of vintage stoneware and expertly restored Ercol furniture, iterations of which Howell grew up with. Other domestic titbits – many of them brought over from Japan, where Howell, now 71, has a significant cult following and more than 100 retail outposts – further underscore her affection for fine materials and impeccable craftsmanship.

‘We like well-designed and good-quality things, but they’ve got to be useful, and they have to work. It’s like the clothes, really: I design clothes to wear for a purpose, rather than an outfit to be seen in just one evening. My clothes are meant to last. And all that applies to objects, too,’ says Howell.

Across categories and price-points, Howell’s Tate Edit – which also includes a few of her own designs (sunglasses, an apron, and silk scarves among them) – presents a snapshot of the appealing pragmatism that, alongside rigorous quality control, have come to define her eponymous lifestyle brand. In a noisy retail landscape, Howell’s edit trains our attention on the appeal of quiet, tactile objects, and the simple pleasures that can be found in taking a moment to examine, appreciate, and maybe even covet them.

‘I just don’t know how people can buy without seeing something. To make a purchase, whether it’s furniture or clothing or a teacup, I have to see it and feel it,’ says Howell. ‘It must be inherent to the time I was brought up in: one had to be quite careful, and look after things, mend them, and make them last. The few things I do choose to buy, I want to be able to keep them for a very long time.’

As originally featured in the April 2018 issue of Wallpaper* (W*229)

Items from Howell’s Tate Edit collection, photographed in her London Wigmore Street store. From left, sunglasses, £195 each, by Margaret Howell. Half zip wallet, £125; hinged coin wallet, £65, both by Margaret Howell. ‘Concentric’ chopping boards, from £35 each, by Asaf Tolkovsky. Stackable glasses, £24 for four, by Toyo-Sasaki Glass. ‘Concentric’ trays, from £20 each, or £130 for five, by Asaf Tolkovsky. Tea strainer, £45, by Kanaami-Tsuji. Butter dish, £65, by Noda Horo. Salad servers, £40, by Robert Welch. Tea towel in Irish linen, £12. Glass bowls, small, £42 each; large, £80, all by Fresco. Tablemat, £22, by Mourne Textiles. Stoneware beakers, from £44 each, by Keiko Hasegawa. Glass vases, £120 each, by Fresco. Table brush, £35; keyboard brushes, £20 each, all by Geoffrey Fisher

INFORMATION
Margaret Howell’s Tate Edit collection will be available in store and online from 27 April to September 2018. For more information, visit the Tate website and Margaret Howell’s website

ADDRESS

Tate Modern
Bankside
London
SE1 9TG 

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Mood board: on the British fashion scene Margaret Howell has become a well known stalwart in expertly crafted utility dressing, building on workwear codes, organic tones and a touch of the school boy or girl in her repertoire. But it was new proportions and prints that got front rowers talking as they filed out of the brand’s regular show space at Rambert’s headquarters. Amongst well loved men’s and women’s classics in organic hues, like trenchcoats, mélange knitwear, plaid shirts and tweed tailoring, there came paisley prints in antique shades of pink, ochre and blue, baggy drop crotch trousers and outerwear in new proportions.

Best in show: For women, a wax jacket came cropped and with a cinching narrow silhouette, and for men windbreakers came oversized and with loose collars or folded across the body with a utility belt. Think Margaret Howell for camping trips to outdoor pursuits. Howell also updated her kilt signature for women, printing her pleats with paisley, offsetting her colourful tones with a black roll neck jumper.

Finishing touches: there were navy-inspired berets and sailor-friendly bobble hats. There was a touch of teddy boy to the collections styling too, with looks paired with white ankle socks and groove soled lace up shoes and boots.

Left, scarf, £350; roll-neck, £355; trousers, £595, all by Pringle of Scotland. Earrings (used throughout), £111 each, by Maria Black. Right, coat, £1,305; sleeveless coat, £1,080; trousers, £325, all by Max Mara. Shoes, £110, by Geox. Fashion: Lune Kuipers. Writer: Laura Hawkins

Fashion’s answer to weathering winter chills with style this season is the sleeveless over-layer. At Max Mara, creative director Ian Griffiths was keen to put a new spin on the house’s signature camel coat. ‘I wanted to find a way to wear two at once, without cooking yourself. This sleeveless style works perfectly over a neat mannish overcoat, or brilliantly by itself,’ he says of the Italian label’s camel hair and silk version. At Pringle of Scotland, womenswear design director Fran Stringer was inspired by féileadh-mór, the wrapping and draping element of Highland dress, creating an asymmetric cashmere ribbed scarf that twists itself around the body. Margaret Howell, meanwhile, was inspired by playground apparel. A dress by the British designer, worn open, takes its form from school pinafores. And Italian brand Brunello Cucinelli riffed on the concept of the female explorer, creating a soft, sleeveless trench coat, in a classic city shape, that is completely water repellent.

As originally featured in the December 2017 issue of Wallpaper* (W*225)

Left, gilet, £5,850; trousers, £930, both by Brunello Cucinelli. Jumper, £725, by Oyuna. Right, wrap dress (worn as gilet), £495; trousers, £395, both by Margaret Howell. Jumper, £295, by Oyuna

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Max Mara website, the Pringle of Scotland website, the Margaret Howell website and the Brunello Cucinelli website

The autumn fair season kicked off in Paris with Maison et Objet and Paris Design Week, welcoming the European design community back from its summer holidays. It was a well-padded schedule, both at the Parc d'Exposition and around town, where galleries had mounted fresh shows; and at the Cité de la Mode, buzzing with emerging talents showing at the Now! Le Off space.

In the exhibition halls, the ‘Objet’ component of the show was strong. In particular, desktop paraphernalia was imagined in many different ways, with exhibitors from Taiwan and China (Yen Objects, TA&D, Ey Products and Kimu, for example) dominating the offering. Established companies such as Hartô and Pulpo bolstered their collections of furniture with small-scale products – lamps, hooks and trays at Hartô, and glassware and carafes at Pulpo – while Minimalux, specialists in perfectly pared-back small-scale accessories, showcased a host of new items, created since recent investment reinforced their hand.

Tinted glassware seemed popular in launches at Pulpo, Tom Dixon and Ichendorf, while new ceramic offerings seemed to favour mid-century colours and forms – as seen at Rig-Tig, Namhee Kim, Zens and Nicola Tassie, who launched her ceramic lamps at Margaret Howell in town.

The cooking section was on fire, with multiple launches from Merci, who teamed up with Serax to produce tabletop ceramics ideal for bringing a touch of refinement to desk lunches; with Paola Navone on a collection designed for cooking pasta; and with Emile Henry on a set of stoneware cooking pots. While many companies were prosaically exercised in their quests for the perfect take-out lunch and drink containers (see Black+Blum, Eva Solo and Acera), others focused on gilding their table offerings. Almost literally in the case of Alessi, who produced a collection of their iconic bowls, dishes and trays in a special punched brass finish, using an ancient goldsmithing technique called Etruscan granulation. The effect is to transform pieces we know well, giving them deserved new life.

The standout offering at the fair was that of Giobagnara and sister brand Rabitti 1969, which, with Stéphane Parmentier newly at the creative helm, exhibited a whole new collection of leather furniture and accessories, from consoles to poufs, trays of all sizes and a memory card game.

There was plenty to see around town. At Now! Le Off it was an exhibition by Atelier Synapse – a newly merged group of craftsmen, comprising members of design studios Ateliers Seewhy and 13douze – that caught our eye. Sponsored by Laverdure, the collection used epoxy resin as a key material. More fresh talent from around the world was on show at Galerie VIA. Stand-outs included an innovative dimming wall light, dubbed ‘Binomios’, by Mexican design group Comité de Proyectos; and an essential oil distillery by Tiffany Lei.

Staple design/art galleries like Tools Galerie, Gallery Bensimon, Pouenat and Carpenters Workshop were all ready with arresting new collections, with charred wooden pieces at Bensimon courtesy of Roberto Sironi; spraying and stencilling by Katia Jacquet at Tools; and original sculptural pieces by Sybille de Margerie at Pouenat, and ‘Furnification’ by Atelier Van Lieshout at Carpenters.

INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Maison et Objet website

Tracey Emin once said that art is for everyone. The sentiment still resonates with British fashion designer Margaret Howell, who feels passionately about public sculpture. ‘It’s a gift to us all,’ she says. ‘It’s a pleasure to see art become part of a location, it really can enrich people’s lives.’

Last year, Howell took a trip to London's Courtauld Gallery to see an exhibition called ‘Out There: Our Post-War Public Art’. The show charted the conception and conservation of public artworks created in England between 1945 and 1985, and featured sculptures by the likes of Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Elisabeth Frink. ‘It was just so impressive,’ she recalls. ‘That was a brilliant era, when modern pieces were more commonly commissioned for communal spaces.’

‘Out There’ inspired the concept behind Howell’s new exhibition, ‘British Post-War Public Art’, which is now on display at her brand’s Wigmore Street store. ‘I had seen some fantastic photographs that Simon Phipps had taken of British sculptures,’ she explains. ‘So, we asked him to document even more, especially for us.’ Above Ercol furnishings and small ceramic displays hang 18 of Phipps’ bold, texture-rich photographs of some of Britain’s most renowned public works, which remain unspoiled and in their original settings. ‘It’s a celebration of these wonderful sculptures as they are now,’ she affirms.

In one image, Phipps has lensed Richard Serra’s Fulcrum (1987) from the ground upwards, in order to emphasise the scale of the imposing, wigwam-like structure that’s nestled between skyscrapers in London’s Broadgate. ‘That’s one of my favourite shots, Serra’s sculpture looks so powerful,’ notes Howell. Another photograph depicts Lynn Chadwick’s The Watchers (1969–70) in the leafy grounds of Roehampton University. The set of three bronzes was famously stolen in 2006, before being found and re-installed in its original location last year. ‘It’s such a shame when public sculptures are vandalised, it changes the landscape completely,’ she says. ‘I believe that all sculptures, no matter how surprising, can grow on you and become familiar.’

Howell also regards Phipps’ portrayal of Barbara Hepworth’s abstract Four-Square (Walk Through) (1966) at Churchill College, Cambridge as a focal point. The striking photograph, together with 11 other images from the show, also form the label’s 2018 calendar of the same name. ‘A calendar is great because it allows people to incorporate these works into their daily lives in a more causal way,’ she says. ‘Because art really is for everybody.’ 

INFORMATION

‘British Post-War Public Art’ is on view until 22 October. For more information, visit the Magaret Howell website

ADDRESS

34 Wigmore Street
London
WIU 2RS

Scene setting: Located near the National Theatre and Hayward Gallery, Rambert’s minimalist dance studios on the South Bank have formed the setting of Margaret Howell shows for several seasons. The brand’s men’s and women’s offering was showcased in a clean white interior, lined with rows of gleaming benches.

Mood board: Margaret Howell is heralded for its expertly crafted timeless classics – wardrobe staples fitting for a 25 or 65-year-old. Drawing from its practical, utility-focused aesthetic, the brand presented a neutrally toned collection, which riffed on 1940s sailing garb. Striped polo shirts, sweet knotted scarves and wide collared shirts were paired with voluminous high waisted shorts and loose blazers, suitable styles for a stroll along a pebbled beach or a boat ride in the Serpentine lido. Elsewhere, checked kilts, shift dresses and sleeveless knitted vests layered over shirts had a wartime aesthetic, while dark wide legged denim played on American workwear.

Best in show: A sophisticated take on summer dressing, the high-waisted shorts in Margaret Howell’s collection were a standout silhouette. Worn by both men and women, their pleated volumes were nonchalant yet elegant – the perfect pieces for summer by the sea or in the city.

Influential textile designer Lucienne Day was known for her love of patterns based on plant forms. A passionate gardener, her work drew flowers, grasses and shoots from nature, and transformed them into abstract designs for wallpapers, textiles, carpets and ceramics.

To celebrate the designer’s centenary year and to mark the relaunch of Day’s ‘Flower Brick’, London furniture showroom Twentytwentyone conceived an exhibition entitled ‘Day for Flowers’.

The ‘Flower Brick’, originally introduced by Day in 1966, is a contemporary interpretation of the decorative Delftware produced during the 18th century to hold ornate floral displays. While the originals were produced in England by Bristol Potteries, Twentytwentyone has teamed with British-made ceramics brand 1882 Ltd to produce a limited edition of 100.

‘Lucienne Day responded to the decorative potential of a rectangular ceramic form by designing three quite different surface patterns for two sizes of flower brick,’ explains Twentytwentyone, which invited ten creative individuals from the worlds of fashion, design, interiors, architecture and journalism to design a floral display using a ‘Flower Brick’.

The floral displays, created by Michael Anastassiades, Barber & Osgerby, Paula Day, Max Fraser, Suzy Hoodless, Margaret Howell, Philippe Malouin, Alex Mowat, Nikki Tibbles and Faye Toogood were showcased at the ‘Day for Flowers’ exhibition.

While some went for crisp architectural statements – à la Barber & Osgerby, who filled Day’s black-and-white ‘Triangles Flower Brick’ with a regimented arrangement of dried bulrushes – others chose more wild and natural compositions, such as Margaret Howell, who created an arrangement of meadow flowers and grasses in the ‘Papercut Flower Brick’.

Paula Day’s arrangement included buds from her mother Lucienne’s favourite rose, New Dawn, while Max Fraser’s explosive arrangement of grasses, aliums, craspedia globosa and poppy heads was inspired by fireworks.

‘The arrangements illustrate the versatility and enduring appeal of the Lucienne Day’s design,’ said Twentytwentyone. ‘We are certain that the creative wealth and spirit of those involved will provide a dramatic and inspiring summer show of floral creations – and a fitting tribute to Lucienne Day.’

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Twentytwentyone website

ADDRESS

twentytwentyone
18c River Street
London EC1R 1XN

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Mood board: A/W 2017 marked the label’s blend of its womenswear and menswear offerings, with the label presenting both collections together in its usual South Bank location. Androgyny is integral to Margaret Howell’s consistent aesthetic, and models sported timeless pieces, from oversized mackintoshes to cord trousers, tweed overcoats to pinstripe shirts, in a natural colour palette of navy, brown and green, with flashes of orange and neon yellow.

Best in show: Preoccupied with workwear silhouettes, Howell sent a series of women’s aprons down the runway, layered with shirts and trousers, with ties that trailed loose around the leg. For men, this workwear focus was seen in high-waisted trousers hoisted with braces, and brown leather waistcoats, offset with more city-focused paisley and plaid ties.

Finishing touches: Models sported bucket and bobble hats, and short scarves jauntily knotted off-kilter around the neck. Black trainers also came with retro ‘M’ logo detailing.

Like the striking starling murmurations that regularly dominate the city’s sky, so did the menswear fashion industry again descend upon Florence for Pitti Immagine Uomo, populating the streets around Fortezza da Basso with sprezzatura-practicing professionals. The 91st edition of the famous fair invited Paul Smith as special guest and Tim Coppens as menswear guest designer, two practitioners who share a similar outlook: both are concerned with loosening up tailored menswear and giving it a spring in its step.

Paul Smith took that to a literal level when he launched his PS by Paul Smith autumn/winter 2017 collection by way of a dance performance at the Dogana. Acrobatics on and off bicycles, cloaked in a bold purple light, drove home the idea of ‘life-proof’ garments that are made for an active lifestyle: durable, lightweight, waterproof, reflective, breathable and packable pieces that are easy to care for, and, very obviously, highly yielding to move around in.

At the Ippodromo del Visarno, a racecourse venue, Tim Coppens staged a runway show while keenly making use of the television screens and a large screen outside to play a video montage that illustrated his collection’s mood. ‘The video is a fast sequence of images which has an apocalyptic energy to it,’ said Coppens ahead of the show. ‘It’s about this girl called Tequila who’s trying to make her way in life with her boyfriend Max, who rides a dirt bike.’

The New York-based, Belgian designer showed women’s looks as well, voicing that he doesn’t feel the need to separate the two – they are part of the same brand story for him. All of the fabrics Coppens uses are Italian, and he makes a point of rethinking the tailoring with technical details that add depth to the silhouettes, like layered trouser cuffs that put emphasis on structure.

‘Pitti is not usually a part of my schedule,’ he admitted. ‘The first time I was here was a really long time ago, so I was a little surprised to be asked, but as a brand, I feel we were ready to take it on. It’s an honour and also a big task. We’ll be introduced to a lot of new people and I want to make it worth their while.’

Coppens collaborated with Mykita for the eyewear, and Under Armour Sports for shoes (the brand he’s currently helming as creative director). He created athletic, hi-tech ankle boots that contrasted with the layered looks, and which, despite their streetwear origins, felt mature and deliberate – especially the coats and jackets that mixed materials.

The Pitti Uomo fair runs the gamut of new and established menswear brands, and this time anniversaries were being celebrated. Leather goods brand Furla showed its Modern Man collection while celebrating 90 years in business. Golden Goose Deluxe Brand pulled out all the stops for the tenth anniversary of its iconic Superstar sneakers with a skate performance (above) on circular ramps covered in a photographic lunar landscape print.

Outside the fort’s wall, at Palazzo Gerini, Kiton paid tribute to its founder Ciro Paone's lifelong vision with an exhibition curated by the fashion writer and illustrator Angelo Flaccavento. Six rooms symbolised the values Mr Paone has built his brand around: from his family ties to his Neapolitan roots, via his vital passion for tailoring and his obsession with quality. Shaped into striking abstract installations, ‘Two or three things I know about Ciro’ does what Mr Paone has always reached for – giving his all, plus just that little bit more.

Quality was ubiquitous, as can be expected from the country synonymous with the highest level of fashion manufacturing. Brunello Cucinelli displayed its collection against a backdrop of glass jars that illustrated the concept of alchemy: combining the finest leathers with soft padded down jackets and blending knit types and colours within single pieces. For his debut collection at Z Zegna, Alessandro Sartori explored retro colours within a functional skiwear collection, adding mustard yellow and faded burgundy to the brand’s classic sports repertoire, a theme consistent with other brands like Victorinox and Herno. At the latter, super thin and high-performing padded jackets drew loyal followers, with the Pierre Louis Mascia capsule collection prompting closer inspection as prints of floral embroidery proved a surprise element. Piquadro, a briefcase and travel items powerhouse, gathered its multi-pocketed tech design accessories (below) in all their multi-colour combinations.

In addition to the Italian brands that take inspiration from the Alps, British houses Pringle and Margaret Howell put out their finest wools and cashmeres to suit the northern climes, with Thomas Pink drawing attention to the local production of their ties – it can’t get more quintessentially English than London Bridge as a manufacturing base.

With the Renaissance city as a backdrop, brands have plenty of palazzos to choose from to showcase their menswear offerings, as Tommy Hilfiger did at Palazzo Corsini, where the best of the brand’s portfolio was showcased. The space hosted a curation that cherry-picked from the brand’s sportswear and tailored lines, heavy on youth-culture-inspired check patterns that brought out the rebellious side of the American original.

Equally grand as a venue was the Museo Marino Marini, where London's Cottweiler presented their collaborative collection with Reebok. Characteristically for the conceptual label, below-ground vaults were chosen to show a collection that explored sci-fi spheres without veering into the insipid. Super light synthetic fabrics and sturdy neoprene did equal duty for a line that was fascinating in its performance quality but still delivered deceptively minimal athletic wear.

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Pitti Immagine Uomo website

The name of Gerd Hay-Edie doesn’t quite illicit the same response as that of Sir Terence Conran or Robin Day, but the pioneering textile designer’s work became a staple of mid-century British design nonetheless. To celebrate the craft and heritage of Mourne Textiles and its founder, British fashion designer Margaret Howell is hosting an exhibition at her Wigmore Street store, launching three new exclusive products in tandem.

‘Mourne Textiles achieve the richness and depth of texture that has always attracted me to hand-woven fabrics,’ explains Howell, whom has become a patron of sorts for the manufacturer, providing the perfect platform for the revival of the Northern Irish brand since its relaunch in 2012.

This month the London store’s focus becomes Hay-Edie’s talent and lasting influence upon the world of weaving and mid-century design. Knitted amongst Howell’s garments, glass-covered cabinets contain trimmings, cutting and artifacts belonging to the Norwegian-born designer. To the right, the full length of the store’s far wall tells the tale of Mourne Textiles, from its founding in the 1940s at the foot of County Down’s Mourne mountains, to the unfolding of her relationship with furniture brand Hille – and thus the now iconic Robin Day chairs. Hay-Edie’s travels, including her stint in Shanghai, also feature. As do a selection of her most significant achievements: the rug she designed and produced for the 1951 Milan Triennale – which today is sold exclusively in Margaret Howell shops – and her couture tweeds for Sybil Connolly in the mid 1950s among them. 

In the far end of the store sits a full-size loom, built to the precise specifications of Hay-Edie. During its residence here it will spring into action making a lightweight tweed during live demonstrations; a tribute to the craft behind it all. ‘I love the process of hand weaving,’ explains Howell, ‘the sound of throwing the shuttle, raw beginning of countless threads transformed into complex cloth.’  

The exhibition also marks the launch of three new Mourne Textile products – two throws and one cushion – available exclusively at Margaret Howell’s stores. The Maldwyn Stripe design of the throws, available in a dusty grey and emerald green, harks back to Hay-Edie’s days as weaver-designer at the Rural Industries Bureau, while the Salthill Tweed fabric was originally created in 1957 for Galway’s Salthill Church. The designs themselves may be over 80 years old, but they appear completely timeless. It may well be that ‘sense of organic life in her fabrics’, as Howells puts it, that makes them seem so enduring, or perhaps it is simply that good quality and design never go out of style. 

INFORMATION

‘Gerd Hay-Edie – Evolutionary weaver’ is on view until 31 October. For more information visit the Margaret Howell website

ADDRESS

Margaret Howell 
34 Wigmore Street 
London
W1U 2RS

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Mood board: In the brightly lit Rambert space, Margaret Howell's models strolled past in leather and suede slingback platform sandals with such ease that it was hard not to imagine them simply on their way to a relaxed al fresco lunch.

Best in show: A monochrome look in a rich ruby red was a faultless exercise in Howell’s signature restrained femininity. The gleaming silk shirt tucked into a fluid pleated skirt was a ladylike look with just the right dosage of severity.

Finishing touches: Few accessories were added to the silhouettes in this collection, yet one look – a super simple linen shift dress with a loose tie at the back – was paired with a flat leather tote that blended in perfectly with the minimal ensemble.

INFORMATION
Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

Mood board: Margaret Howell’s spring show also tuned into an aviation vibe, opening with a series of navy looks that had a 1970s American Airways pilot spirit. Pants came cropped and cuffed, while Irish linen shirts were worn short-sleeved and smartened up with knitted two-tone ties. Shorts were another mainstay, and were teamed back with cardigans and white vests, all of which were tucked in with military precision.

Scene setting: Howell nearly always shows her collections within her white-washed Wigmore Street store space, so the soundtrack is elemental in setting the scene. This season music collaborator Paul Thomas sampled a softer, female vocalist version of the Eagles’ Hotel California, which cemented the presentation’s relaxed, West Coast feel.

Team work: When you unpack a Howell collection you are left with a lot of her signature pieces in new hues and materials. Enter stylist Beat Bolliger who remixed a fresh retro vibe for the separates based collection. Belts are always key to the mix at a Margaret Howell show, but there was an awful lot of tucking in this season – chunky knitted vests and cardigans included. At street level, the season’s boxer shorts and ankle-cropped pants also reinforced Bolliger’s somewhat controversial white leather lace-ups and dark sock pairing.

INFORMATION

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

Black looks: In the new season’s monochrome, Louis Vuitton, Jil Sander, and Kenzo (pictured clockwise from left) opted for sleek, jet-black invitations. Louis Vuitton’s was debossed with its iconic monogram pattern; Jil Sander sent a soft, matte invitation with the event details embossed in a contrasting shiny black; while Kenzo’s came in the form of a mock concert ticket

Antonio Marras: Like a paper matryoshka doll, the ever-playful invitation from Antonio Marras was a decidedly meta affair – an illustrated paper envelope within an envelope within an envelope and so forth eventually revealed show details

Dries Van Noten: London-based illustrator Gill Button hand-painted no less than 1,200 invitations for Dries Van Noten’s A/W womenswear show after being discovered by the Belgian designer on Instagram. The collection – and invitations – nod to Italian heiress and muse Luisa Casati

Pattern power: Fashion powerhouses Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace and Bally went big and bold for their womenswear outings in Milan, commanding our attention with a graphic array of patterned invitations

Iris van Herpen: On the other end of the spectrum, Dutch designer Iris van Herpen aroused our curiosity with a tiny, pea-sized glass vessel. With careful tinkering we were able to coax the presentation details out, printed inside on a thin, plastic tape

Dior Homme: This season, creative director Kris Van Assche dipped into Dior’s floral archive as well as a black-and-red plaid that wouldn’t go amiss on the hip skater crowd, who were foreshadowed on his poster invitation

Anya Hindmarch: The English designer announced her London womenswear show with a diabolically difficult, all-silver riff on a Rubik’s cube (a few frustrating/gratifying hours were admittedly spent attempting to solve it). Set designer Stuart Nunn later brought this motif to life on the runway, creating a backdrop of illuminated surfaces based on 8-bit graphics and Rubik’s cubes, of course

Gucci: We opened Gucci’s mysterious invitation box for its menswear show with baited breath. Inside, it revealed a striking trio of scientific glass slides each adorned with its own specimen from Alessandro Michele’s Gucci garden, including a snake and bumblebee (a nod to European nobility and Rome, where the Italian house is based and also where the insect is carved into buildings all over the city)

Monochrome medley: It was a simple matter of black and white for Salvatore Ferragamo, Margaret Howell, Neil Barrett and Aquazzura, who all posted boldly monochromatic invitations to our letterbox

Prada: As ever, the guarded Miuccia Prada revealed nothing ahead of her Milan show. Instead, we were left tantalised by an off-white paper booklet with a concertina binding, slipped in a ghostly, semi-translucent acetate envelope

Metal heads: A metallic trend emerged among this season’s invitations, including a delicate, gold foil iteration for Palm Angels’ menswear show (left) and a creased, silver foil backed by cardboard for jewellery label Ambush

Paul Smith: Keen-eyed, longtime followers of the eponymous British designer might have recognised the glossy, red apple motif that appeared on his womenswear invitations from London’s salon and Paris’ runway show. Sir Smith, in fact, had first used it in 1982 and his recent collection took a bite out of his past endeavours

Art and soul: The Technicolor brushstrokes were flying as Paul Smith, Marques’Almeida, Céline (poured tinted rubber technically), and Hermès all jumped on a painterly trend for their respective show invitations this season

Acne Studios: There was no telling what to expect from Acne Studios’ show thanks to its poster invitation, illustrated with two wildly different scenes. Were we in for a psychedelic romp in Paris or something more darkly seductive?

Rick Owens: The American designer announced both of his A/W Paris shows on matching, soft leather invitations

Givenchy: Riccardo Tisci heralded his show with a black-and-white poster pin-up, painted over with a powder pink hue

Material matters: Luxurious swathes of suede and felt won out many of the invitations this season, including (pictured, from top) Victoria Beckham, Marni, and Jimmy Choo

3.1 Phillip Lim: It was only fitting that the American designer would send out a boxed bamboo invitation with the show details printed inside on a glossy, lacquer-red duplex card, framed with a black border. As it turned out, his A/W outing was infused with plenty of references that included Japanese craft and kimonos

Fendi: The Italian house announced itself – quite literally – with a white duplex card featuring its name playfully adorned in a lemon yellow felt inside a comic speech bubble

1205: The elusive Paula Gerbase gave nothing away ahead of her menswear debut in London thanks to her minimalist acetate invitation

Zest sellers: Several houses heralded their shows with a bold tangerine or vivid orange, including (clockwise, from top left) Marques'Almeida's paint-streaked offering; MSGM's fabric-pressed card; Miu Miu's soft suede invitation; and Carven's graphic poster

Edun: The label adorned its womenswear invitation, the runway and closing looks of the show with a design from Ethiopian Grammar by artist Wosene Worke Kosrof. The Ethiopian sculptor/painter is best known for his interpretations of Aramaic script; here, he conjured a pastiche of phrases like 'mother love' and blended it with the Amharic alphabet on duplex card

Mood board: Margaret Howell took us to the dockyards for A/W 2016 with a polished spin on wharfie wear. Fisherman’s jumpers and ribbed knits were teamed with roomy waisted trousers, while duffle coats were left unlined and shirts notably unstarched, featuring larger collars than we’ve seen for a while. 

Best in show: Howell’s collections are always best viewed through a zoom lens and this season’s emphasis was on cropped trousers cut with such a baggy waist that thick knits were easily tucked in, some even sporting adjustable metal loops in the back. The Brit’s shows are always about the finer details and this season her tactile waffle weave knits and navy duffle coat lined with contrasting cream shearling earned our weekend worship.

Finishing touches: Sturdy boots, rib beanies and cotton drill backpacks finished the working man’s daywear look, while lace-ups and silk scarves dressed up Howell’s unstructured suiting.

INFORMATION

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans

Wind, water, rock and even dirt ruled the A/W 2015 catwalk. Stefano Pilati’s collection for Ermenegildo Zegna Couture, presented in a room with thick soil walls, featured traditional Harris tweeds glazed with a needle-punched recycled plastic coating.

Stone Island’s emerald green vest is water – and wind – resistant but reveals itself in new ways thanks to a reflective underlying material coated in thousands of glass microspheres. And Victorinox’s limited edition Gallen Parka is designed for country and city.

So this season, jackets are softly sculpted, padded and worn layered. Pockets are deep and tailored trousers are paired with rubber-soled Chelsea boots.

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The bucolic scene pictured was created by Matt Wright, one half of garden accessories brand Wright & Doyle, with partner Bella Doyle. Wright describes his design as ‘prairie planting on a small scale’, and explains that ‘I wanted to make a selection of plants that would complement each other in the studio but could also be found in a more natural environment.’ 

To create the natural effect, he used grasses such as Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ and Stipa tenuissima, along with a mix of herbaceous perennials including Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, calamint, valerian and Helenium 'Potter’s Wheel’. They brought an unexpected extra too: ‘They added a wonderfully sweet scent to the studio,’ says Wright. 

As originally featured in the December 2015 issue of Wallpaper* (W*201)

INFORMATION

Hair: Hiroshi Matsushita using Kiehl’s. Make-up: Rebecca Wordingham at Saint Luke using Shu Uemura. Manicurist: Saffron Goddard using Chanel Christmas 2015 and Body Excellence Hand Cream. Set design: Matthew Wright at Wright & Doyle. Model: Nathan Saignes at Established. Fashion: Jason Hughes

In her fashion, designer Margaret Howell is on a constant quest for functional simplicity, quality of craftsmanship and exquisite attention to detail. It is not surprising then that she finds her furniture equivalent in the timeless, modernist designs of the 20th century, and in British brands such as Anglepoise and Ercol, which she sells in her London shop alongside her clothing lines,

This month, the designer expands on this furniture passion, hosting an exhibition that celebrates modern design through the collection of Ken Stradling, patron of contemporary design and collector, who championed arts and design in Britain since joining the Bristol Guild of Applied Arts in 1948.

Fifty pieces from the Ken Stradling Collection will be on display at Howell's Wigmore Street store, complementing the designer's aesthetics while offering an overview of mid-century design in the country. The pieces on display will include glass and ceramics pieces as well as furniture, with an extraordinary group of designs by Bauhaus master Marcel Breuer, created for the home of Bristol furniture manufacturer Crofton Gane in the 1930s.

'The Ken Stradling Collection is as extraordinary as the man himself,' says Howell, who personally hand-picked the selection on display. 'A collector with an open mind and personal eye, his collection is open to all of us to see and even to handle – aware that feeling shape and texture are essential to fully enjoying the aesthetic of a piece of skilfully blown glass or hand thrown ceramic.'

Other items from the collection, now on display at Howell's space, include glass by Erik Hoglund and Per Lutken and pottery by James Tower, David Leach and Betty Blandino. Other pieces of furniture were chosen to show the incredible breadth and quality of Stradling's collection, which includes everyday objects such as Robert Welch hand-milled steel tea set from 1962 and dressing table mirrors designed by Colin Beales and Peter Cudden in 1960.

'For our exhibition the selection of pieces reflects my own aesthetic, choosing objects to compliment both the new and vintage products we source to sell in our shops. But for those who visit Bristol you will see much more,' explains Howell. 'The collection is unusually varied, eclectic and personal – often Ken’s sense of humour and whimsy creeps in.'

Mood board: A laid-back vibe permeated this collection. With a ska love song playing through the speakers, models strolled past, hands tucked into the pockets of loosely tailored linen suits, high-waisted trousers and voluminous skirts. 

Best in show: A translucent hooded parka – a nod to rainy English summers? – added a street-wise edge to an otherwise classic and crisp summer collection. 

Finishing touches: Polka dot scarves tied nonchalantly around necks toned down Howell’s usually structured style.

INFORMATION

Photography: Jason Lloyd-Evans