JW ANDERSON Menswear 2023

It’s guaranteed that Jonathan Anderson will deliver a memorable show, but yesterday evening’s JW Anderson Spring/Summer 2023 collection might have stolen the limelight at Milan Fashion Week. As crowds clambered into the warehouse space, fairy tale tunes filled the room that was soon to become Anderson’s stage — a place to explore nostalgia, childhood, conceptual wearable objects, Rembrandt and more.

The collection was a commentary on what is wearable and what isn’t, a clash that comes abruptly together for both progressive think-piece fashions and more conventional looks that are down to the wearer and viewer to decide how “fashion” it actually is.

Backstage, Anderson spoke to the international press to declare that “Fashion is a very modern device. But it is not a modern act,” which encapsulates the designer’s latest work. Per the press release, “[It's] a collection that asks to be looked at in perspective: from the peak of the selfie stick,” and capturing this is Anderson’s Rembrandt reference. Across trousers, knitwear and printed sneakers is the artist’s 1630 work of art titled Self-portrait in a Cap, Wide-eyed and Open-mouthed, a self-portrait by all means but perhaps a 400-year-old selfie, too.

This tongue-in-cheek attitude continued with further clashes on the runway: a skateboard snapped in two crisscrosses through a gray mohair sweater, handlebars from a BMX act as a harness for striped long-sleeve T-shirts, and a selection of tees are fitted with metal can ring tops, crinkled and bent open like a looking glass into the wearer.

Images courtesy of ACIELLE / STYLE DU MONDE.