Displaying items by tag: Revolver

Maybe it was the summer season, or a sign of the times, but Copenhagen was noticeably quieter in terms of visitors and brands. Both major trade shows, Revolver and CIFF, felt emptier than previous seasons with many brands, both large and small, missing.

Regardless, there was still plenty to take note of and get us excited for the SS20 menswear season. So, here goes:

Trends

Strings Attached

A womenswear trend from a few summers ago, there’s been a distinctive uptake by guys on social media of the humble string bag. Despite all your worldly goods being on display, the string bag is the cool reusable shopper. These from Danish brand, Épice, are the designer version with the price to match. Established in 1999 by the Danish designers Bess Nielsen and Jan Machenhauer, it offers also a range of printed bags and knitwear made in Italy. Around €70 for a bag.

Left - Épice string bags

Real Fun Fur

It was inevitable that the fun fur movement would touch menswear at some point. But, for those worried that fun-fur/vegan just equals more plastic in the world, new Scandi coat brand, Bobby Rocky, uses woven wool - no sheep were harmed in the making - to create a range of coats. This full shaggy overcoat retails for around for a reasonable €600.

Right - Bobby Rocky wool fun fur

Brands

Freiknock

Wishful thinking, designer, Joohyung You, looks at peace between North and South Korea for the SS20 season. This former footballer, who played for German teams, launched his label Freiknock in 2013. This season sees cute peace bears, North Korean propaganda imagery and tailoring inspired by the wardrobe of Kim Jong Un.

Left & Right - Freiknock

Maium

The Dutch slang for water or rain, this raincoat brand has ingenious side zippers that allow the jacket to go up over your bike. Maium’s rainwear is produced from recycled plastic bottles, does not contain any harmful substances and is said to be manufactured under fair, safe and healthy working conditions. Around €135 for a coat.

Left - Maium raincoat

Agent

The third season from this New York based menswear brand. Creative Director, Terrence Williams, previously a shoe designer with Creative Recreation, with experience spent at Thom Browne, teamed up with English designer, Joshua Fronda, “to develop a playful modern adaptation to subculture classics which became Agent”.

Left - Agent

Ejder 

Based on Old Street roundabout, this multi-brand retailer is pushing its own brand label of  £60 tees and tops amongst its list of independent designer brands and trying to keep up with the ever-evolving streetwear consumer.

Left - Ejder 

Pseudonym 

A graduate of Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Singaporean designer, Zheqiang Zhang, won the ‘Euro Fashion Award’ in 2018. His label, Pseudonym, is a mix of stunning silk scarves and trench coats incorporating further striking designs.

Right & Below - Pseudonym

Uncle Bright

With a store in Copenhagen, Uncle Bright mixes 50s Americana with the philosophy that all garments are created to be worn with a functional yet stylish purpose

Uncle Bright says it is happy to wallow in nostalgia and never looks forward for inspiration. Most worthy of note is the handmade footwear. Manufactured in Spain at a factory with more than 100 years of experience, every single boot goes through minimum 200 different stages in production.

Left  & Below Left - Uncle Bright

Collaborations

In our modern age you have two hipster artistic choices; Van Gogh or Frida Kahlo? Well, Amsterdam based brand, Daily Paper, has teamed up their Dutch icon, Van Gogh. Knowing their irises from their sunflowers, this capsule collection in collaboration with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is a painterly hit on shirts, jackets and jeans.

Left & Below - Van Gogh Museum X Daily Paper

See Paris Menswear Trade Show Report - Here

I saw these this time last year at the Revolver Trade Show in Copenhagen, and I made a desired mental note to watch out for them. I clearly forgot… So again, I saw the same shirts just last week, at the same fair, and they still look just as good. It turns out they’re a best seller having already sold out in Liberty.

These thick towelling summer shirts are almost a shacket and perfect for straight out of the water. The OAS brand is named after the Swedish founder, Oliver Adam Sebastian, and was born as a result of his numerous trips to the family’s summer house in Barcelona.

These are currently sold out, but Oliver informs me they’re going to be delivered in October and you can register on the website to be notified.

It looks like we’re already planning summer 2020 or a maybe perfect excuse for a winter sun break?

Left - OAS - Banana Leaf Terry Shirt - €99.90

Below - OAS - Palmy Terry Shirt - €99.90

Depending on how you look at it, Copenhagen's shows are either late or early. It’s the end of the men’s calendar and the beginning of the women’s. Copenhagen has two main trade shows: Revolver and CIFF. Revolver is more condensed and in the upper mid-market of men’s and women’s brands, while CIFF runs the full spectrum from East London’s finest to affordable and wearable mainstream brands and designers.

Here are the trends and brands to know for AW19:

Left - A display at CIFF AW19

TRENDS

Practical Harnesses

Seen on the red-carpet thanks to Abloh’s Louis Vuitton, the harness, with attached pockets, is the natural successor to the bum bag. The cross-body straps and practicality, makes it look fresh and incorporates better into an outfit. This is about sports and travel while being hands-free. New brands offering these styles are “BumBumBag” from France and “Taikan” from Canada.

Right - New affordble accessories brand from France, BumBumBag

Recycled Cashmere

This was a trend that I noticed at Pitti Uomo. The economics of recycling relies on the material having a higher monetary value and cashmere is one such raw fibre. Danish brand Pullover, www.pullover.dk is collecting old cashmere knitwear, taking it to Italy, removing all buttons, care labels and necklabels and separating into colours.

They then shred the fibres, mix with virgin cashmere to spin new yarn. The final garment contains 70% recycled cashmere and 30% new.

Left - Danish brand, Pullover's display of the different cashmere makers going into its recycled cashmere jumpers

The Cool Quilted Slipper

The Millennials and Generation Z aren’t leaving the house, so the cool slipper is where the money is in young footwear ATM. Something fun and affordable, these quilted versions look young and comfortable. Brands such as Woolrich, The North Face and Crocs each showed their versions.

See new brand “Coma Toes” in Berlin

From Left - Woolrich, The North Face

Return of the Brogue

If minimal Scandi footwear brands like Vagabond are reintroducing the brogue then you know it’s the direction footwear is going in. As we see a contraction in sports shoes, we’ll see a swing back to leather shoes and in particular brogue styles.

Left - Vagabond brogues

BRANDS

Sneum

Christian Sneum worked at Valentino for 12 years before launching his own, eponymous label. New for AW19, it’s a dark take on western/army wear including accessories and footwear offering exaggerated details in classic menswear styles.

Left - Sneum, new brand by a former Valentino designer

Dear Vanessa

This Dutch label is inspired by the name Vanessa. Interestingly, the name was invented by the author Jonathan Swift for Esther Vanhomrigh, whom Swift had met in 1708 and tutored. The name was created by taking “Van” from Vanhomrigh's last name and adding "Essa", a pet name for Esther. A soft palette of pastels comes in waisted coats, knitwear and trainers in this feminised feeling men's collection.

Left - New Dutch brand inspired by Jonathan Swift's invention of the name Vanessa

Asportuguesas

The vast majority of wine bottles no longer contain a cork, so what has happened to that centuries old Portguese commodity? Asportuguesas is a new footwear concept using the harvest from these oak trees. The world’s first cork flip-flops brand, it uses a 100% natural raw material that is born in a tree and is retrieved every nine years, without the tree ever being cut.

Left - Cork soles giving Asportuguesas a sustainable base

Haervaerk

Meaning “Vandalism” in Danish, Haervaerk is a Gorillaz-type, gaming looking label of brightly coloured unisex clothing. Their uniform is metamorphorsed by the oil sea, wet asphalt and the rusty containers that litter the Danish seafront. 

Niels Gundtoft Hansen, the lead designer, grew up in Denmark and is imbuing the collections with a Nordic identity. Originally hailing from Copenhagen, Hansen studied at London’s prestigious Royal College of Art. His 2016 graduate collection won the Only the Brave award at ITS – the International Talent Support contest in Trieste Italy. Marie Munk, as well a Danish graduate from the Royal College of Art, became partner in Hærværk in spring 2017.

Collaborations for AW19

Nicholas Daley for Fred Perry

Rising British menswear star, Nicholas Daley, has been tapped up by Fred Perry for this first collaborative collection. As well as working with adidas Originals for AW19, Daley offers his mixing of styles influenced by his Caribbean and Scottish backgrounds. Think madras camp collar shirts and bold tracksuits inspired by his father’s nightclub.

Cottweiler for Reebok and Allegri

Matthew Dainty and Ben Cottrell of British brand Cottweiler have worked with the Italian outerwear maker, Allegri, and Reebok for two further collaborations, this season. This is a continued relationship with Reebok featuring a new slip-on loafer and the 10 raincoats with Allegri are inspired by the deep sea and its underwater world using their respected fabrication.

From far left - Cottweiler X Allegri, Cottweiler's loafer for Reebook