It was all about elegance
The wave of quiet luxury and general thirst for elegance washing over our wardrobes at the moment has Givenchy’s name written all over it. As fashion history’s house of sophistication, it never feels more at home than in a smart silhouette and an aura of formality. As a member of the streetwear generation, Matthew M Williams approaches the classic men’s wardrobe in a theoretical way: how can we tailor a genre of clothing so tied to the values of the past to our own generational mentality, and make it work for us? On Thursday afternoon in the arcade of Les Invalides, he presented his research – and findings – in a collection focused on the idea of a new formal.
It was new generations claiming the sartorial wardrobe
Our current appetite for sophistication is pocket psychology. In uncertain times, dressing and feeling elegant provide a sense of calm, but in the midst of the chaos, it almost has a non-conformist edge to it, too. From tailoring to savoir-faire and the idea of heritage, younger generations are approaching elegant dressing in ways liberated of the conservative values of the past. Williams illustrated that through the relationship we form with tailoring growing up, before our associations with it are invaded by ideas of conservatism. The collection reflected a free-spirited approach to the traditional elements of the gentleman's wardrobe; one that didn’t feel preoccupied with the loaded dress codes of another era.
The schoolboy took centre stage
To illustrate the point, Williams put teenage sartorialism on a pedestal. “It’s the schoolboy who’s growing out of his uniform, who wears it in a wonky way, or customises it to suit his self-expression. To students and teenagers, the suit and the neat knitted jumper are just garments waiting to be tailored to their own personality,” he said. He expressed it in tailoring, knitwear and sweatshirts that played with proportions waiting to be grown in and out of, and undertones of schoolboy customisation. In the process, he created a sophisticated, elegant look that felt bespoke to the young men who were wearing it. They looked comfortable, confident, and cool.
Williams riffed on school uniform styling
Williams is no stranger to school uniforms. His children go to school in London, and he observes the way kids instinctively and functionally style their suits to suit their everyday lives. It was clear in the way he layered tech jacket (some made entirely in lightweight leather but posing as nylon) over schoolboy tailoring, and in nylon and cotton outerwear and hoodies – all double-face, by the way – that underlined his plays on proportions, sometimes nipped-in with micro backpacks. He emphasises that sense of functionality and adaptability with bags belts, utilitarian takes on Givenchy’s current trademark Voyou bag, and shoes imbued with hiking codes.
It made a case for the regular cut
“On every level, it’s about re-appropriating the notions and functions and associations of the things we’ve always worn and reclaiming them for a new mentality,” Williams reflected. You could feel a sense of a blank canvas in the tuxedos, hand-made suits and tailored jumpsuits that intercepted the schoolboy looks: clean and uncomplicated – in appearance, but definitely not in construction – they had a back-to-basics sensibility in their cut, which was also reflected in the collection’s military denim pieces. Not too formidable in silhouette, and not too cinched-in either, they embodied a rare regular-cut, something that almost feels rebellious on today’s sculpt-tastic tailoring scene. And somehow, that transition felt quite sophisticated.
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