Somehow it is almost too easy to understand why images of choreographer Michael Clark often appear on Jonathan Saunders' moodboard. Clark's pieces always had a playfully irreverent twist about them and the choreographer tends to inject in them new dynamics and styles. Saunders does the same with his clothes with traditional stripes, checks and graphic patterns often mixed together in a subtly irreverent way to suggest a way towards innovation.
In his Autumn/Winter 2014 menswear collection Saunders tried to combine his inspirations with street styles and sportswear, hinting at Clark and his collaborator Leigh Bowery in the freedom with which he approached his themes and moods.
The result was a combination of separates such as the tracksuit-inspired trousers with coloured stripes down the side. The trousers fused together '80s tracksuits and the training attire donned usually by dancers during rehearsing time. The pants were matched with luxurious elegant knits in contrasting shades, optical harlequin patterns in black/white or red/white and short cashmere felt jackets.
Elegance entered the collection via above-the-knee coats; tackiness was intoduced via Lurex bands, while research came in a wallpaper print in William Morris-style used for a baseball jacket and a pair of trousers that Saunders created himself almost by chance. The designer hand-coloured the print in felt-tip pen, then bleached it, altering its shades.
The silver leather jacket matched with a long orange and aqua scarf was the final piece that left many wondering if that was another hidden reference to Clark: orange and aqua were indeed key colours in "Come, Been and Gone", the performance that celebrated the 25th anniversary of Clark's company.
Other A/W 2014 menswear collections focused on punk moods to convey feelings of rebellion and anger; in this case instead clashing prints and unlikely colour combinations were employed to hint at rage and aggressiveness. Hopefully, a bit of colourful anger will also enter Saunders' Pre-Fall collection for women.
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