Show Report: Craig Green A/W 16 Menswear

Those who felt wistful for knits at today's Craig Green show would have to make do with the invitation - a slab of black card with a circular hole right in the middle that immediately called to mind the 'hole jumpers' of A/W 15 that proudly displayed the wearer's sternum. Across the weeks that followed that show, Instagram was full of images of models larking around on set, one wearing the jumper, the other pushing his face through the hole. They were a hit. There were no knits on show today, but it felt like Green was looking back to old successes. One gets the sense that he is always revisiting past work and rehashing or re-writing old ideas or notions. There are cycles and constant patterns within his work - things feel constant, even if they have been subverted. So the straps that had previously functioned to shape and tie his clothes to the body, allowing for adjustment to nip jackets in to the waist, were used today also to de-construct pieces in a more abstract fashion. It was as if small hand-stitched swatches had been blown up to giant scales, straps snacked through oversized eyelets, holding together garments that were hard to define - a jacket? Or dress? Trousers? A skirt? These pieces may have been complex but the ethos of the collection as a whole felt remarkably straightforward. Green is not a seasonal designer, nor one who shapes himself to fit with wider movements, he experiments within the parameters of his own aesthetic. Today he consolidated these trials, offering a focused collection that perhaps will appeal to buyers first and press second, given the propensity of the latter to demand constant change. Green had offered some surprises in his use of leather, and his stripes will grab the attention of those who, thanks to recent seasons, see him a designer who favours monochrome tones, forgetting the bold tie-dyes that initially won Green fans. The sense of looking back and cherishing past designs and ideas, ran through the garments themselves - they felt worn and lived in thanks to intricate quilting, which suggested wear and tear, and other tarnishing and washing techniques. Presented as if old, rather than box-fresh. Apt, given that many have come to see Green as one of fashion's great, a designer who'll transcend this current moment.