Apu Jan spring/summer 2017 collection catwalk show for LFW

“Can the lady with the huge heels please move her legs… Yeah, the lady on the phone… Thank you!”

Fittingly, this grounding call came from a photographer to a front row guest at Apu Jan’s SS17 collection, An Ancient Summer Night’s Dream. Jan is a designer known for breaking down the pretention surrounding catwalk fashion, blending the surreal and fictitious into his collections so as to create comfortable, casual but high quality pieces. 

This season Jan has turned to his own reworked imagining of the Shakespearean play. Famously a story of fairies and magic, in Jan’s version the story becomes one of dinosaurs and fossils. 

This influence was echoed in this season’s prints. Woollen scarves, in mellow green and navy, were embroidered with small dinosaur skeletons. Monochrome coats, bedecked in lines reminiscent of map contours and fossil forms, appeared in conventional and unconventional shapes. In addition to the traditional trench, an off-the-shoulder version also appeared, worn with a high neck, crisp white shirt.
Following his introduction of knitted accessories in SS14, Jan has continued this into SS17 – albeit tweaked to fit with his Summer Night’s Dream aesthetic. Knitted hats, reminiscent of the upturned bluebell hat often perched on fairies’ heads in visual interpretations, finished outfits. Asymmetric Peter Pan collars touched on themes of distortion and the realm of dreaming. Jan’s collection often feature pieces that harmonise eastern and western styles. SS17 included cap-sleeved silk tunics and asymmetric magua-style jackets. The delicacy of such pieces was off-balanced with bold floral prints, again making reference to the forrest in which the original Midsummer Night’s Dream was set. The ethereal, mystic vibe of the collection was supported by a wonderful live duet. Slow Shudder provided vocals to DJ QuestionMark’s flute and electronic mix, lending a chilling musical backbone to the show and a dramatic accompaniment to the finale.

 

Katie Dean
Photos: Krish Nagari

For further information about Apu Jan visit here.