Patrick Michael Hughes Senior Fashion Editor -Men's Fashion Writer
Photographs by Isidore Montag/ Gorunway.com
LONDON: The first thoughts that spring to mind when viewing the Stefan Cooke collection F/W 2022-2023 is lean, approachable with distinguished youthful vibe.
Stefan Cooke and his partner Jake Burt presented a polished forthcoming fall/winter season for a client with an affinity for slender tailored pieces, whimsical tutu cummerbunds, highly innovative knitwear and textiles. Sexy styling with a certain level of bare is part of the brand's identity. They are also brand hallmarks connected to the use of non-conformist materials such as industriously crafted metal, plastic, channel beading and new for this season rope embroidery.
The silhouettes have a familiarity. Trousers and jeans were slim fitting with a full break at the ankle. Jackets varied form trucker jackets shapes to fully tailored with cardigans plackets. Cooke's take on skin baring eyelet geometry was also seen in the brand's innovative knitwear. The open weave knits for fall were shown layered in vivid colors was well as gray, navy, white and striped. Basic functional and even proudly boring clothing has always been a fascination for Stefan Cooke who completed his MA collection at Central Saint Martins as a celebration of ‘boring’ clothing an exploration of the possibilities for expressions of peculiar and unpretentious.
Textile manipulation and technique exploration were fully present this season. Trompe l’oeil embroideries on denim were inspired by research done in a theatrical costume archive. The embroidery is achieved by arranging cord on fabric in this case rope and covered in fabric in this collection denim. The technique has been around for centuries and has a number of names from gimped to bullion often seen in military and formal court fashions during the early nineteenth century. The effect in the Stefan Cooke collection was quite striking on pockets and all over denim jacket styles. The cuts of knee grazing outerwear are also worth taking note of. The collar-less line and the simplicity of the covered button, front placket line shows that Cooke's tailoring is also truly modern and breaking into new territory and visions of menswear.
Technique and skill was also a highlight in a white pleated shirt where a pattern had been hand-cut into the pleats, The theater archive also inspired the floral mail tops seen in the collection
Stefan Cooke's Fall/ Winter 2022/2023 collection was a lovely gathering of approachable, sharp and modern looks. There is a reality to the youthful, Stefan Cooke's lean, London look is a developing brand to note .
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