London Collections: Men – Opening breakfast

The eagerly anticipated fifth London Collections: Men AW14 was launched by chair Dylan Jones, editor of GQ, with a helping hand by British style icons, Dermot O’Leary and David Gandy. The notion that British menswear was heading towards a spiralling decline was dismissed as effectively as the battering winds from outside Bloomsbury House on “Blue Monday”, as Jones emphasised “quite simply, we have the best menswear designers in the world”.

With the focus soon starting on Lou Dalton to open London Collections: Men, there were stands looking to showcase their products, keen not to be outdone by the bigger brands. Alice Walsh had a range of intricate and interesting cufflinks on show. Her AW14 season draws inspiration from Celtic designs along the more traditional stopper knot collection. Alice strictly uses methods more commonly seen in the aerodynamics and engineering industries to provide a precise and polished look and feel to her cufflinks.

Another brand to have caught our eye was London-based designer Tomasz Donocik. The former Central St Martin’s student has quietly placed himself in the company of esteemed men’s luxury jewellery brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Stephen Webster and Missoma, currently being stocked at Fortnum & Mason. Tomasz breaks from traditional jewellery process making by creating unconventional and androgynous designs. The stand-out pieces for the AW14 collection includes a gold star bracelet which has a secure twist magnetic clasp for ease of use and a beautiful wrapped finger ring made from white gold and finished with Swarovski crystals.

With similar upcoming shows planned in Florence and New York, London has raised the bar standard very high on an eventful opening day.

Shoaib Salam
Photos: Shoaib Salam