There are so many details in menswear that have all the practical use of an appendix: vestigial organs whose use has long outlived their original functional purpose, and which are only retained out of habit, nostalgia and ceremony. In his collection shown this afternoon, Neil Barrett applied his eye to some of these overlooked hand-me-downs and then freshened them up through recontextualization. The key example was the white pocket square that poked forth from pec-zone pockets on his laser-sharp leathers, taffeta-tech four-button jackets, T-shirts and sweats. “It’s just such a signifying element, an iconic sartorial iconic detail. So it felt right to me to use it,” he said.
Barrett’s itch to stretch context was further scratched through the elastic shirting garters used to secure sleeves at elbow length on jackets, sweats and knits. These were encased in identical fabrics to the garments they were applied to “so it’s giving you an attitude, but it’s also practical and functional,” said Barrett. Moving beyond details and into materials he also incorporated taffeta (touched with technical fabric) into super-light blousons, sports shorts, jackets and topcoats. Heavier duchesse satin provided gleam and stiffness to finely structured double hem pants and shorts. As Barrett added: “it’s looking at staples in the men’s wardrobe and bringing in fabrications that are more luxurious and more used in womenswear.”
Handsome heavy indigo pants came with pleats that reached around to obscure the pocket, creating the sense of a furled wing plus providing a great option for gents with substantial quads. As well as those double hems, also a feature on sweatshirts, Barrett’s pants sometimes came with velcro cuffs at the ankle. These echoed the velcro fastenings on chunky derbies and sandals which, teamed with gray or black knit socks, gave even the sleekest looks a slightly schoolboy air. Sartorial patterns including microchecks, shirting stripes and pinstripe were applied on top-to-toe short sleeve shirt and medium-short shorts looks: this was another recontextualization in a collection which, like last season’s, gently and intelligently created fascinating frictions between genres and periods of taste in menswear.
