Describing the process of the Topman Design team, creative director Gordon Richardson said it was all about the 180: going in the opposite direction of last time. So, if there were skate-y shorts and surf-y prints for Spring 2013, there d be none of that this time around: no shorts, no prints, no hybrid tailoring. For 2014, Topman decided to focus on the shirt, using embroidery for decoration. And, there being no embroidered shirt more iconic than a cowboy s, a story naturally evolved. But given Topman s natural inclination toward the poppier end of the fashion spectrum, this cowboy was of the urban variety, more glam rockabilly than noble frontiersman. Though Richardson mentioned Robert Altman s Nashville in passing, it was Robert Mapplethorpe and his photos of Levi and the Rockats that rang truer as a reference.
Accents of gold and silver, and intricate, delicate embroideries on black silk jackets suggested gilded youth—less home on the range, more night in a club—an impression that was heightened by the masterful styling. But on close inspection, those embroideries seemed to be coming apart. "Beautiful decay," Richardson called it. The show offered a few dozen iterations of that single notion. There s always a risk when you place all your eggs in one basket, but Richardson and his team artfully hedged their bet with a veneer of dark, decadent glamour, the appeal of which will linger long after the last cowboy heads to the last roundup.
