The duality of British clothing cultures, from Country House to Acid House, comes to the fore in this season’s Dunhill collection. Embracing both tradition and subversion, the field and the street, codified notions of taste and aspiration, crossing British cultures and class boundaries, the collection wryly looks at and celebrates this duality.
The Dunhill Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion show was held during Paris Fashion Week on January 20 in Paris, France. The show was also attended by Oscar nominee Rami Malek who had a few words to say about the collection.
“For me, duality is the recurring theme of Dunhill – it’s one of the defining elements.” – Mark Weston, Creative Director of Dunhill
“This season I wanted that rediscovery of sophistication, of having the confidence for quietness and discretion. It is the attraction in looking at someone who understands a certain aesthetic language and style, but they’re not shouting about it. At the same time, there is still an idea of playing with the parameters of taste and the recontextualization of menswear cultures, which is something very British. It’s where eighties Sloane Ranger, terrace casual and Japanese austerity intersect, in that dramatic subversion of city and country attire. Yet it is not about looking back, it is a fluidity in menswear that feels right for today,” says Mark Weston.
The subversion of country living for city streets, so beloved of eighties Sloanes and their Casual counterparts, finds new form in this collection, together with an element of modern Japanese classicism and volume.
The classic double-breasted jacket morphs with relaxed wrapped tailoring and a “kimono approach” to cutting to produce a new, sinuous sort of elegance. Split hem trousers and the gaiters of the country gent give a nod to an eighties casual code. Evening-wear fabrics find more utilitarian form with silk faille while moire takes the place of the traditional on-field jackets and informal tailoring. Sturdy British corduroy is fluidly cut to fall with slouchy elegance, its grooves echoing through luxurious leather bonded knits and the subtly expanding pinstripes of engineered cloth. Traditional wools are coated or twisted, with the addition of cashmere, to elevate the rough and rustic, to the quietly opulent and extravagant.
Accessories include, among other things, a hybrid deerstalker baseball cap, a sinuous mohair suit, and a nylon walnut dash shirt. The conventional and iconoclastic sit comfortably side by side in this collection as it pays homage to British men and their innovative menswear.
