Craig Green S/S 15 - London

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photography by Philip Trengove for Dazed.

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photography by Philip Trengove for Dazed.

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photography by Philip Trengove for Dazed.

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Why everyone was crying at the Craig Green show
Tears in the front row? It happened at the London designer's first solo show this morning
text by Zing Tsjeng

Tears aren't often shed at London Collections, but Craig Green's show this morning proved to be the exception. The London designer's first solo show outside of MAN saw audience members in the front row crying over his stunningly poetic SS15 collection, with more than a few watchers describing how uncommonly "emotional" the show was.

"You have moments in fashion where you think, this is what it’s about, this is why you do what you do," Dazed editor Isabella Burley describes. "Everyone was taken out of their reality and pulled into his world."
 
Green sent down barefoot banner men in what he described as a "silent protest", layers of fabric serenely rippling in the wind to "Caribbean Blue" by Enya. (You can read the full show report here.) As he took his bow, the audience erupted into cheers and applause. "I've never heard clapping like it," one watcher tweeted. "One American store buyer's hands nearly dropped off."  

Green graduated from Central Saint Martins under the tutelage of Louise Wilson in the same year that LC:M began and has ridden the new wave of menswear since, with the occasional hiccup – in an interview with Walter van Beirendock, he recalls how his first SS14 show for MAN became fodder for "trashy newspapers" (one of which labelled the collection "Vivienne Waste-wood"). 

But Green transcended to another level with today's show. "It's hard for any independent designer in London," Burley says. "But something like today is what London menswear is about – it's about having people like Craig, supporting them, and letting them come into their own."
 

source: Dazed

[duranduranduranduran]

Is there a thesis for the collection that I can read?
Because honestly I don't understand why this deserves tears- needs more context.

Edited June 21, 2014 by duranduranduranduran

[ProfMonnitoff]

1. theres been some cynicism lately that you cant make it in london without the backing of one of the major fashion incubators like fashion east, newgen, etc. as many designers do their 3 shows with one of them and then just fade away, instead craig's first show on his own was by far his best ever, people were worried that he was gonna run out of ways to dye/paint fabric and instead he showed he can just make great clothes. before this the consensus on him was that he did good stuff and not much more, after this show he has pretty much established himself as one of the best in london.

 

and along the same lines, you kind of have to become more refined after "graduating" from these things and that often leads to stuff becoming much more boring, but this didnt lose any of the playfulness of his previous collections.

 

2. for all the rep london gets as the world capital for innovative fashion, most of the young designers are actually doing really bad/boring stuff without much care for creating anything thats of quality. basically the path london fashion (and menswear in particular) has gone down lately are basic streetwear shapes with a strong focus on graphic/print type stuff, look at bobby abley's most recent collection for example, the whole thing looks like it was designed on cafepress.com, before this show i think the ratio of shows this season that featured lame basics with embroidered patches on them to shows that didnt was something like 2:1. liam hodges did black basics with embroidered patches, christopher shannon did windbreakers with embroidered patches, i forgot who did those "when youre hot youre hot" patches but jesus christ this shit has been eating its own tail.

 

its just nice to see a young designer go the opposite way, successfully. i guess aitor throup did as well, but he was never really a london designer i think, everything he did was distanced from that entire circus.

 

there wasnt a single other show this season that was really exciting, nicomede talavera was pretty good, jw anderson was alright i guess, most of the others don't even need to be mentioned.

 

3. a lot of people who have gotten buzz in london the last few years are douchey jackasses and craig is the exact opposite of that, nicest guy ever, its cool to se a guy like that succeed

 

4. all that aside its just a great collection

Edited June 21, 2014 by ProfMonnitoff

[madame twerq]

Is there a thesis for the collection that I can read?

Because honestly I don't understand why this deserves tears- needs more context.

"thank goodness helmut lang retired and left all this market space for me to occupy"

[Trouble]

.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Trouble

[duranduranduranduran]

1. theres been some cynicism lately that you cant make it in london without the backing of one of the major fashion incubators like fashion east, newgen, etc. as many designers do their 3 shows with one of them and then just fade away, instead craig's first show on his own was by far his best ever, people were worried that he was gonna run out of ways to dye/paint fabric and instead he showed he can just make great clothes. before this the consensus on him was that he did good stuff and not much more, after this show he has pretty much established himself as one of the best in london.

 

and along the same lines, you kind of have to become more refined after "graduating" from these things and that often leads to stuff becoming much more boring, but this didnt lose any of the playfulness of his previous collections.

 

2. for all the rep london gets as the world capital for innovative fashion, most of the young designers are actually doing really bad/boring stuff without much care for creating anything thats of quality. basically the path london fashion (and menswear in particular) has gone down lately are basic streetwear shapes with a strong focus on graphic/print type stuff, look at bobby abley's most recent collection for example, the whole thing looks like it was designed on cafepress.com, before this show i think the ratio of shows this season that featured lame basics with embroidered patches on them to shows that didnt was something like 2:1. liam hodges did black basics with embroidered patches, christopher shannon did windbreakers with embroidered patches, i forgot who did those "when youre hot youre hot" patches but jesus christ this shit has been eating its own tail.

 

its just nice to see a young designer go the opposite way, successfully. i guess aitor throup did as well, but he was never really a london designer i think, everything he did was distanced from that entire circus.

 

there wasnt a single other show this season that was really exciting, nicomede talavera was pretty good, jw anderson was alright i guess, most of the others don't even need to be mentioned.

 

3. a lot of people who have gotten buzz in london the last few years are douchey jackasses and craig is the exact opposite of that, nicest guy ever, its cool to se a guy like that succeed

 

4. all that aside its just a great collection

While that helps some, I need more. This is very referential work, but what is he commenting on/building off of? Without his explanation it's bullshit. Motherwell, Rothko and Tracey Emin's works are nonsense without reference. From the universal response this has received from so many respectable sources, this is obviously a beautiful well thought out collection. but without proper explanation from the designer himself there's no way to know why it's so great. This leaves room for an infinite number of explanations. The times review likened the padded disjointed jackets to armor, saying that the undone lacing carried "tones of fragility". At the same time, one could surmise that the same jacket was commentary on the impracticality of runway design. The times review of the show is more likely, but without Green's input both have equal standing. Maybe his lack of explanation was to show us the futility of guessing intention? Hell, without his input that's also a possibility.

It's a personal problem, I know, but the fact remains that his lack of explanation leaves room for a multitude of bullshit response. And that is troubling. 

 

I like the collection, but without a reason I'm no different from a pretentious fuck who hangs around galleries just for the status of it. 

Edited June 22, 2014 by duranduranduranduran

[froople]

Do you need the fucking artist to tell you what to think about their art? Why would they even make art if they could/would just tell you what they're thinking and who they're referencing?

 

Although I initially thought the padded stuff was stupid and unwearable, upon second and third review I can appreciate it. Very monochrome samurai shit, especially with the banners on some of the models' backs. I agree with the armor sentiment.

[ProfMonnitoff]

its just clothes

 

ive explained the circumstances

 

beyond that it speaks for itself, or doesnt

 

nothing worse than a designer talking about their work too much

[demeulemeester]

What's the source of the runway images and are they creative commons?

[ProfMonnitoff]

 

[Fuuma]

woah! I didn't even know who this guy is as I tend to forget London designer names cause they do the same streetwear shit season after season. No need for a long comment, this is nice. No footwear takes the cake, it's supposed to be a fashion suicide cause everyone wants their stupid designer kicks nowadays.