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#SuzyLFW: JW Anderson’s Tequila Sunrise

Clusters of mushrooms as an installation on a podium was the welcome at the JW Anderson show. Real or conceptual? Who knew. But once it started, the collection was comfortably down-to-earth.

JW Anderson Fall 2018

There were long skirts swinging low, fungal tones, the inevitable bags, and footwear that had a colourful side. And, above all, both sexes were on the runway, although the male designs were nothing like the transgender looks for men that Jonathan Anderson started his career with.

JW Anderson Fall 2018

“I am re-configuring the way of shopping – a women’s and men’s continuation developed together for different looks, two different vibes that work together in a conversation,” the designer said. “We dropped a lot of waists: it’s the idea of suspension.”

JW Anderson Fall 2018

Nothing on the runway was as weird as that sounds. Nor as those mushrooms that I later discovered were part of an installation named Hors d’oeuvres by artist Martin Belou.
JW has a real skill for creating a modern mix, so that a paisley patterned top had the lightest wisp of history, immediately wiped away by the handkerchief hem skirt  and multi-tone high top sneakers. For an extra touch, the sports shoe crisscross laces were repeated on handbags.

JW Anderson Fall 2018

The strength of this designer is to grasp that clothes that were once gender specific are no longer seen that way by the millennial generation. Although I was surprised to find the menswear so relatively tame – a classic sweater with a fringe at hip level – while the womenswear broke out into vivid tequila sunrise shades.

JW Anderson Fall 2018

But for JW, who also designs full collections for LVMH-owned Loewe, this show was part of his impressive double act. For his own label, the clothes are less luxurious, but each piece seemed well worked out and put together – not least by the upper-thigh ties as a signature of the new season.

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