Phoebe English’s first menswear presentation debuted a perfect clean cut and simple collection for SS/17 that did not disappoint. The designer’s third menswear collection is made from entirely natural fibres which prides itself on being easy to wear.
We spoke to designer Phoebe to find out a little bit more about what inspired her line – “It is inspired by my boyfriend and my male friends… this is Sam’s (Phoebe’s boyfriend) style that I have stolen and turned into a collection”.
Part of Phoebe’s ethos is to always use ethical materials, so carrying on our conversation she went into more detail about specific materials used – “It’s all natural fibres which is what we always work with for the menswear. So its linen, brush cotton, shirting cotton and drill cotton”.
Models were sat in front of a linen backdrop, each of them stitching embroidery in keeping with Phoebe’s established image of focusing on quality materials. Models wore crisp shirts, long shirt dresses and smocks with abstract tie detailing on the back and shapes were an oversized relaxed fit. Keeping things simple and classic, almost utilitarian, the only pattern was a washed out blue and white stripe featured on a long coat and shorts.
Every look was complete with black socks and chunky boots whilst punk band Siouxsie and The Banshees blared out, giving the collection a rebellious adolescent feel. The colour palette consisted of white, black and a dusty blue and this is what makes the collection so accessible.
Further on in our conversation with the designer, she discussed how designing for men differs from designing for her women’s collections – “they are really approachable, very wearable clothes that are more straight forward products than our womenswear which is sometimes a bit more challenging and conceptual”. We think Phoebe English has created a really innovative yet wearable collection.
Words by Paige Dempster
Images by Rob Parfitt
