The handsome guy with short black hair wore mid-heel black court shoes, a tailored collarless jacket of ivory silk, white pants, and a white shirt. The ensemble was completed with an Italian tricolor belt upon which was embroidered “AK.” The look was a fit but also a clue. As Andreas Kronthaler said backstage: “We definitely want to start showing menswear in Milan again, and if we can be ready, the aspiration is to be there as early as June.”
The last stand-alone Westwood menswear show was under the MAN label and happened back in June 2016, before it merged with the old Red womenswear label and moved to London: Thus, VW menswear has been all look book/video/whatever since 2019. As Kronthaler observed, “We don’t show it enough.”
The codes of traditional British menswear evolved as beautifully rigid signifiers of class and status. Tearing those codes apart with wit and gusto was always a key part of Vivienne Westwood’s irreverently anti-authoritarian practice. She also often transferred those hacked codes to womenswear, something Kronthaler reveled in doing today. He said this was in part an ode to Englishness—he specifically hailed the inspiring light of Clapham South—and there were studies in character archetypes cast across a collection that was also bristling with witty worn one-liners: the leash ties, the ready-lifted skirts, and the man in moleskin pants tight enough to make Slimane wince.
As one necklace declared it, this was “Chaos,” but there was great consideration at play too. Kronthaler cut many gorgeously unorthodox tailored pieces from heritage fabrics including Harris tweed. Knits with boob- or butt-placed patch pockets were machine fashioned but looked handmade. A section of astrology-print skiwear presaged a schuss away from tailoring toward dresses that included a regal mini crini, a twisted-strap brocade minidress, and a crazy carpet cowl gown with matching thigh-highs. Familiarly Westwood, but no less lovable for that, this was a strong AK collection. And for lovers of Westwood menswear, the Milan news is exciting.
