Lou Dalton’s range of men’s fashion for Spring/Summer 2012 was,
without a doubt, one of the most successful and balanced menswear collections presented
during London Fashion Week in September 2011. Dalton’s display of garments was
highly accomplished and well-edited, and grabbed the attention of viewers from
the moment the first model entered the runway with clothes that embodied the
dynamic attempt to resolve contrasting influences, a theme that was very successfully portrayed as
the show progressed.
Dalton claimed that the collection found inspiration in
two seemingly opposing sources: the socio-economic harshness and emotional
upheaval of the 1984 miners’ strike in the UK, and Matthew Bourne's menacing
male ensemble in Swan Lake. Even though it was hard, at times, to identify where
the inspirations from the former theme materialised in the clothes, the contrasts
from the latter were clearly evident in the colour and material combinations,
as well as in the distressed white denim shorts and jackets that evoked the
texture and look of swan feathers.
The colour palette for the collection carries the influences
chosen, as black, white, navy, salmon and cream are combined with flashes of
emerald green. Conversely, some pieces were more subtle in revealing how they
were inspired by colliery and countryside attire, namely the outerwear pieces
that incorporated details such as shoulder and sleeve panelling typical of donkey,
bomber, and hunting jackets.
The fabrics chosen also play
the notion of combined opposites by blending hard-wearing denim and Macintosh
with delicate silk, cotton voile, cotton anglais, and sequined fabrics. In
addition, original details stress the importance of dual worlds as sources of
inspiration, namely in the patchwork applied to blazers or the trim detailing used
in cargo shorts.
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