Walking in a Wintle wonderland

Jsen Wintle's designs: fitted pastel jacket and voluminous shorts

10 April 2012

Scott Schuman, an American blogger whose website, The Sartorialist, features pictures of people he's spotted on the street that he believes dress well, accompanied by a few anodyne comments, was in Liberty this week signing copies of a book he has put together.

Not a huge crowd-pleaser, you might think, yet on Monday a queue of fancifully dressed male fans snaked around the store waiting for his autograph.

The capital's streets are acting as a playground for a new generation of young dandies happy to experiment with the way they dress: head up Kingsland Road from Shoreditch to Dalston, and you will see everything on show from the ironic, and now ubiquitous, butch combo of jeans, checked shirt and waxed Barbour worn with full moustache, to the more effete ensemble of skinny suit with ankle-skimming trousers and tiny bowtie.

More pictures: The Jsen Wintle men's wear show

This resurgence of style-conscious male dressing has earned men their own day of shows on the London Fashion Week calendar. Yesterday saw everything from metallic camouflage pants to fox fur capes on the catwalks at Somerset House for next spring/summer.

The two big presentations were from the Man show, curated by Topman and Fashion East, and British-based designer Jsen Wintle's eponymous collection.

At the Man show there were striking offerings from Katie Eary and JW Anderson. Eary's models looked like Bodyworlds cadavers sporting bruised leather jackets, gold bone and pearl ribcages and brass sandals. Anderson's collection had a big emphasis on bomber jackets, with a selection in towelling, silk crepe and nylon.

Topman's own collection also featured bomber jackets but these were less successful — the unstructured, Nineties shapes seemed lacklustre. More tempting was the label's tailoring: fitted silk jackets and slim-cut trousers looked modern, deceptively expensive and perfect for office or club.

In contrast to most of the show yesterday, Wintle, who also designs a covetable men's range for M&S, sent out a collection for fashion-forward grown-ups. Here were clothes for the man whose social media might be LinkedIn rather than Facebook.

The beautifully cut jackets, elegant trousers and voluminous shorts — nearly all in pastels and creams — were presented with such lightness of touch they practically floated down the catwalk.

Although the energy and talent of the new generation of designers is to be applauded, it is always a relief to see something put together with the skill of an experienced designer who, until this week, has shown in Paris.

Wintle, who had David Walliams, Richard James, Evgeny Lebedev and Joely Richardson in his front row, is a name to watch. If we can persuade him to continue showing this side of the Channel, Wintle might be a label of which London could become increasingly proud.

More pictures: The Jsen Wintle men's wear show

Jeremy Langmead is the editor of Esquire

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