For Fall 2024, JW Anderson Embraces the Pragmatic, and the Grotesque
LONDON — Jonathan Anderson has turned down the volume for fall, swapping his theatrical shows at Camden’s Roundhouse for a more low-key affair at a community gym near Marble Arch.
Last year at this time, Anderson and his team were sending out invitations that featured big, green Pop Art penises; setting up glittering stage sets, and drawing inspiration from the work of the pioneering dancer and choreographer Michael Clark.
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For spring 2024, he doubled down and sent out models wearing brightly colored plasticine “Wallace and Gromit” style clothing. His cartoonish proportions included giant portrait collars and long, fat drawstrings on hoodies.
By contrast, Sunday’s show at Seymour Leisure Centre will be stripped back. “There are no bells and whistles. I don’t want there to be an hysteria, although this is not about quiet luxury. It’s more about how we feel about clothing,” said the designer in an interview.
Of late Anderson has been feeling overwhelmed by the constant stream of noise and image from digital screens. He’s also wrestling with modern problems of overconsumption, the speed with which trends come and go, and people’s shrinking attention spans.
It’s not just fashion he’s talking about. “We’re seeing it at the moment in music and film. We’re in a moment where we OD on something and consume it so quickly. And then we’re over it before it’s even got to the store, or before you’re able to see the film,” he said.
Anderson sees his fall collection as a response to that speed and excess. He describes it as “a bit like the fantasy of what could come,” said the designer. “The most amazing thing about fashion, and the fantasy of fashion, is about future-predicting.”
Looking ahead, he sees duality, a separation into two camps — the grotesque and the pragmatic.
For fall, there are oversized button-front overcoats with outlandishly long sleeves and giant pointy collars. They rub shoulders with more fitted, sculptural jackets, some of which are adorned with double belts or zips.
The duality extends to knits and woolens: Sweet and skinny camisole-and-underwear combos mingle with bulbous hourglass-shaped minidresses.
He’s also paired sensual and spare V-neck sweaters with long skirts made from brightly colored ribbons and bunches of waxed flowers.
The designer already dropped a few hints about this interplay between the pragmatic and the over-embellished in his women’s pre-fall collection, which showed in Milan last month.
That lineup featured terrific mini trenches, T-shirt dresses with lopsided skirts, and cocktail numbers with deep-V necklines and sleeves with built-in gloves. There were also homely wool cardigans with satin linings puffing out like whipped cream from an overstuffed profiterole.
Anderson, who splits his time between his signature label and Loewe, where he is creative director, said his customers are always looking to make an impact and expect him to deliver thought-provoking designs.
“They’re wanting fashion and something that’s ‘out there.’ And JW Anderson is a lab where I’m delving into characterization, and exploring new materials. When you see this collection on the girl, it looks stranger, younger. There’s something slightly off. And there is a kind of rebellion to it,” said the designer.
It’s not just his clients who are hungry for creativity and innovation. He believes “there is a need and a desire for fashion right now. And I also think people want authenticity and originality.”
That desire, he believes, stems partly from the homogenization of the industry.
Anderson believes there is so much oversaturation right now — of similar looks and logos — that people can easily get bored.
If people already have everything, he asked, “then what are you giving them? What are you challenging? It’s like if I were still doing surrealist collections.
“You can give people what they want, but then they’ll get bored anyway, so you have to keep trying to evolve,” said the utterly pragmatic designer.
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