London is in her blood and woven into her clothes. The coveted menswear designer, Martine Rose, never fails to embody the fearless spirit of self-expression through gender-bending ensembles and unconventional styling on any individual.
In a local club highlighted in hues of red, where indistinctive conversations over Stella Artois beers are being engulfed by the pulsing beats of the music, lies a fashion show — Martine Rose’s Spring Summer 2024 collection. The unassuming pub where a group of blokes would head out to on a Friday night, is what sets the tone for the runway. It was a glimpse into London’s utopia of subcultures which embraced a raunchy attitude with a nonchalant flair — exactly how Rose’s gained a cult following of young males on the periphery in the 2020s.
The British-Jamaican menswear designer, is regarded as one of London’s top contemporary designers today. Aside from achieving notoriety as a consultant for Balenciaga’s menswear collections, her eponymous label has no doubt made her a cult designer. Many were in support of her and Wales Grace Bonner as one of the contenders to succeed Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton, before Pharrell’s appointment was announced. Her accolades aside, observing a fashion designer create clothing for the marginalised, in an opulent system that runs on the next trends and on what sells, makes fashion aspirational for the underdogs.
The SS24 collection was a celebration of unconventional fashion styling that radiated a sense of hedonism. London’s creative subcultures came to life and relished in the joys that made up the city – parties, music, and sports, particularly football have always been key informants of Rose’s designs. Just take the hoodies embroidered with “Martine Rose Sports” on the front, and the yellow bomber jacket decorated with safety pins and beer can tabs as key exemplifiers of this ethos.
Rose’s unconventional notions of masculinity is also a repudiation of the high fashion bubble. Lace-trimmed boxers, corset tops and floral vests in menswear are not typical of high-brow fashion, but exudes a sexiness and confidence. While the use of pearl necklaces may be overdone, Rose’s appreciation of the individual is unrivalled. Consider Look 35, where men’s boxers are worn on top of thigh-length pantyhose to create an added element to what are just undergarments. Being anchored in style rather than fashion is what distinguishes Rose; it is how the bizarre can become the next ‘in’ thing. Hoping that others will “get it” is a challenge that Rose has continued to persist throughout her career.
Among the bold ensembles of oversized silhouettes and the mishmash of womenswear and menswear, there are hints of construction worker uniform influences — adding a touch of playful humour to the collection to dress up as fashionable garbage collectors. The safety vest for construction workers is transformed into more than just a piece of protective gear; it now doubles as a statement pair of pants and a long coat. It may not be politically fuelled, but workwear’s inclusion could also be a nod to the middle class echelons of society, who want to balance the mundaneness of manual labour with the pursuit of pleasures in life.
While fashions shows today feed the lens of the camera before the eyes, Rose’s show was held humbly in a bar furnished with small tables where attendees sat and watched the show. As the models strutted down the club, we saw a revival of the knee socks that harken back to British IT girl, Alexa Chung’s obsession with it in the mid-aughts (where Alex Turner of UK’s pivotal rock band, Arctic Monkeys, based their song, Knee Socks, of). Rose made more reiterations of the mule version of the Nike Shox’s, a bold statement that would continue to become the go-to trainer among the fashion crowd. The patina of her leather jackets and pants evoked gave it a sense of lived-in ownership, evoking a worn-out vintage charm. The spirit of London is echoed in this collection, and more significantly, it tells us that rejection of looking pristine is a way of living one’s truth —a zeitgest that resonates with the misfits.
Martine Rose is unreservedly a designer for the nonconformists — and this draws in the younger generation of designers and fashion lovers alike who aspire to understand the person behind the clothes. What informs Rose’s surroundings is echoed thorugh each thread, informed by her British-Jamaican heritage and inspired by London’s rich subcultures. Moreover, in an age where celebrity creative directors seep into the industry, she stands tall and unshaken by the pressure. She is a breath of fresh air and encourages us to embrace our own fashion choices unabashedly.
Once you’re done with this story about Martine Rose’s SS24 collection, catch up with the rest of our June/July 2023 issue here.
RELATED ARTICLES
Fourth and Gemini On What Lies Beyond a Dream
