It's very fitting that, with the new stretched out London Collections: Men schedule - previously everything was crammed into three manic days - Topman now open the whole shebang with their Design show. After all, Philip Green's dosh is the reason so many of our bright young stars - the ones that have put LC:M on the map - can show at all. It's Topman that fund MAN, so we have a lot to thank them for.
As for the fashion they're peddling under their own name - well, it's as fast as you would expect. Topshop and Topman are at the centre of the fashion speed wheel, knocking off high fashion collections and making us want more more more. So it's little surprise if that filters up to the Design show - it's always fun, it's always energetic, it's never slow, it's never cerebral and it's always a bit of a smash and grab affair featuring the greatest hits of all the more conceptual designers from last season. So the great roomy denim everyone went mad for at Craig Green was there, as was the fuzz, fluff and fun fur that was on all the runways (see Fendi, Dries Van Noten, Astrid Anderson).
They'd dubbed this collection Bombay City Rollers, a nod to the fact it married vaguely oriental elements - ponchos, carpet coats - with retro hits copied from vintage stores - tartan suits, shrunken bombers, aviator jackets. The Bay City Rollers famously once sung about Saturday Night and aptly this was a collection all about going out. It was built for new peacocks; those skinny, stylish boys who like to pose and pout on the dance floor in slim tailoring, kick flares and eye-popping vintage-look patterns, while waxing lyrical about the modish style heroes of days past and casting disparaging looks over the normcore brigade in their tracksuit bottoms, normal shaped denims and marl t-shirts. The clothing itself had party spirt - those furs bounced to the beat as they moved down the runway. This was fashion for dancing.
The Bay City Rollers also split opinion. You either love them and could listen to Bye Bye Baby 'til the cows come home or you want to smash your head into something each time you hear the opening bars. This collection was equally divisive. That doesn't mean it's controversial, or shocking, more that it's for a certain breed of man. You get him or you don't. You are him or you're not. But if fun fashion and nostalgic frivolity is your thing then there's not much better out there.
