As one of London’s marquee menswear designers, Craig Green’s is a success story loved by men of all ages for his romantic and pragmatic transformations of functionality and uniforms. His work has already been acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and the Design Museum in London, as well as winning best British Menswear Designer at the 2016 and 2017 Fashion Awards. Yet despite showing on the menswear schedule and initially selling predominantly in menswear stores, Green’s relaxed tailoring has won over a diverse range of female fans due to its generous sizing, courtesy of unstructured fits and judo drawstrings and quilted cricketing panels.
Yep, that’s right — women have been hopping over to the menswear section of department stores to get their hands on a piece of Craig Green since the launch of his label in 2014. Tilda Swinton and FKA are fans, and Rihannaeven got the award-winning designer to create custom looks for her world tour in 2015. It’s little wonder as Green is arguably one of the most talented designers of his generation, but it’s also because he’s one of the most considerate when it comes to making clothes that work on any body size or shape. And now, he’s finally being seen in womenswear departments from Matchesfashion.com to Selfridges.
Throughout his work, the use of low-fi fastenings and cords allows jackets and shirting to adjust to all bodies, especially perfect for women who want a waistline or slimmer sleeves. There are also never any shoulder pads or rigidly structured internal construction. “They’re kind of soft in terms of their internal structures or they’re structured through their seaming or layering a fabric,” explains Green. “That is maybe why a lot of women feel more comfortable wearing it because it kind of fits to your shoulder shape and your body shape a bit easier, rather than making a statement by wearing a man’s tailored jacket with big shoulder pads.”
For SS16, Green actually paid homage to his lady fans with a handful of female models in his show: “I’ve never been a designer who has a had a ‘Craig Green man’” he says. “It’s always been an idea or a visual or a feeling, which I think helps it be a bit more gender neutral.” However, it wasn’t until two seasons later — after he went back to showing purely on boys – that womenswear buyers came knocking. Rather than launching a line devoted to women, the adaptable menswear retains authenticity for a designer who addresses modern-day masculinity. It is also an antidote to the pervasive ‘boyfriend fit’ — menswear-inspired womenswear that often comes with contrived feminised details like an accentuated waist or bust, or tightened sleeves and lower neckline. “Maybe it’s that thing again if it looks like it’s specified for a female customer maybe it’s more contrived,” he continues.
Helen Price, Green’s right-hand woman, wears the label every day because it allows ease in her physical line of work, as well as a sexless kind of uniformity. “I’ve got big boobs and a big bum and I don’t want to feel sexy when I’m going to work. Some of the pieces I wear in the evening, like the kimonos, with cigarette pants and heels, but it’s generally more for when I’m doing active work and don’t want to feel fashion conscious.” Price and Green both point out that the womenswear market is much bigger than the men’s, and its custom can make all the difference to a fledgling business — JW Anderson is a prime example of a menswear label that exploded once it focused on womenswear.
This spring, the label has launched its first denim line as part of the SS18 collection — crafted from Japanese selvage denim and marked by Green’s signature punched holes and stitched quilting. True to form, the line is unisex. “There are two classic jacket shapes — one of them is a uniform jacket which is kind of a little bit more fitted and has a classic denim construction in terms of closure, and the other jacket is our classic worker jacket shape with the pockets on the outside, which we’ve developed based on it being relaxed.”
The approach goes back to Green’s perennial interest in uniforms. “I feel like with uniforms you do have a difference between genders, but a lot of them are very similar in terms of fabrications and cut and there’s this idea of one size fits all, which I find beautiful,” he says. Looking forward, womenswear may play a much larger role in Green’s business. “It’ll be interesting to explore in the way that we approach the menswear but completely differently in the way that we style it and trim it into womenswear. It’s like it’s got its own voice. It’s got its own strength — equal to the men’s.”
Yep, that’s right — women have been hopping over to the menswear section of department stores to get their hands on a piece of Craig Green since the launch of his label in 2014. Tilda Swinton and FKA are fans, and Rihannaeven got the award-winning designer to create custom looks for her world tour in 2015. It’s little wonder as Green is arguably one of the most talented designers of his generation, but it’s also because he’s one of the most considerate when it comes to making clothes that work on any body size or shape. And now, he’s finally being seen in womenswear departments from Matchesfashion.com to Selfridges.
Throughout his work, the use of low-fi fastenings and cords allows jackets and shirting to adjust to all bodies, especially perfect for women who want a waistline or slimmer sleeves. There are also never any shoulder pads or rigidly structured internal construction. “They’re kind of soft in terms of their internal structures or they’re structured through their seaming or layering a fabric,” explains Green. “That is maybe why a lot of women feel more comfortable wearing it because it kind of fits to your shoulder shape and your body shape a bit easier, rather than making a statement by wearing a man’s tailored jacket with big shoulder pads.”
For SS16, Green actually paid homage to his lady fans with a handful of female models in his show: “I’ve never been a designer who has a had a ‘Craig Green man’” he says. “It’s always been an idea or a visual or a feeling, which I think helps it be a bit more gender neutral.” However, it wasn’t until two seasons later — after he went back to showing purely on boys – that womenswear buyers came knocking. Rather than launching a line devoted to women, the adaptable menswear retains authenticity for a designer who addresses modern-day masculinity. It is also an antidote to the pervasive ‘boyfriend fit’ — menswear-inspired womenswear that often comes with contrived feminised details like an accentuated waist or bust, or tightened sleeves and lower neckline. “Maybe it’s that thing again if it looks like it’s specified for a female customer maybe it’s more contrived,” he continues.
Helen Price, Green’s right-hand woman, wears the label every day because it allows ease in her physical line of work, as well as a sexless kind of uniformity. “I’ve got big boobs and a big bum and I don’t want to feel sexy when I’m going to work. Some of the pieces I wear in the evening, like the kimonos, with cigarette pants and heels, but it’s generally more for when I’m doing active work and don’t want to feel fashion conscious.” Price and Green both point out that the womenswear market is much bigger than the men’s, and its custom can make all the difference to a fledgling business — JW Anderson is a prime example of a menswear label that exploded once it focused on womenswear.
This spring, the label has launched its first denim line as part of the SS18 collection — crafted from Japanese selvage denim and marked by Green’s signature punched holes and stitched quilting. True to form, the line is unisex. “There are two classic jacket shapes — one of them is a uniform jacket which is kind of a little bit more fitted and has a classic denim construction in terms of closure, and the other jacket is our classic worker jacket shape with the pockets on the outside, which we’ve developed based on it being relaxed.”
The approach goes back to Green’s perennial interest in uniforms. “I feel like with uniforms you do have a difference between genders, but a lot of them are very similar in terms of fabrications and cut and there’s this idea of one size fits all, which I find beautiful,” he says. Looking forward, womenswear may play a much larger role in Green’s business. “It’ll be interesting to explore in the way that we approach the menswear but completely differently in the way that we style it and trim it into womenswear. It’s like it’s got its own voice. It’s got its own strength — equal to the men’s.”
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