SHAUN SAMSON F/W 2015 MENSWEAR

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – Today’s show marked Shaun Samson his comeback to the London catwalk after two seasons away. “I’m looking at things differently.” On a private level, meaning he has settled down. Samson has found himself a place to be himself in L.A.’s Koreatown, he has got a dog, he is even thinking of increasing the family. And that new interest in domesticity filtered into this runway collection. In the designer own words, his fascination with the swagger of SoCal street culture has shifted into an interest within the design and architecture of the place. He claimed you may realize echoes of Charles Eames within the linear, graphic quality of his clothes, with the panels of clear material, for example, representing windows.

That was way too abstract in face of the more immediate impression of elementary peculiarity. “Delusional radical bliss” blared the scene, that looked like a fairly correct summation of a selected L.A. state of mind. Shirts and shorts in Woolrich plaids paired with Timberlands were grungier than the precise minimalist of Eames. They were incongruously sported by all-American hunks straight out of a Bruce Weber shoot, Hulk-like abs bulging. “Gnarly dank dude” declared the highest that one hunk was sporting. No contest there. however the testosterone was undercut by faux mink collars and cuffs, those sheer insets, and extended sleeves that tied into foppish bows at the wrists. Samson envisioned the aprons worn by a number of the models as his take on the halter top.

The ambiguity was welcome, because it encouraged a second look. Samson’s worth it. He didn’t quite find his sweet spot with this collection, but the story he’s telling can only get better.