January 10, 2015
"I'm a bit older," said erstwhile wunderkind Shaun Samson following today's show, which marked his return to the London catwalk after two seasons away. "I'm looking at things differently." On a personal level, that means he's settled down. Samson has found himself a place in L.A.'s Koreatown, he's got a dog, he's even thinking of starting a family. And that new interest in domesticity filtered into this collection. According to the designer, his fascination with the swagger of SoCal street culture has shifted into an interest in the architecture of the place. He claimed you could find echoes of Charles Eames in the linear, graphic quality of his clothes, with the panels of transparent fabric, for instance, representing windows.
That was way too abstract in the face of the more immediate impression of fundamental peculiarity. "Delusional radical bliss" blared the backdrop, which seemed like a pretty accurate summation of a particular L.A. state of mind. Shirts and shorts in Woolrich plaids paired with Timberlands were grungier than the precise minimalism of Eames. They were incongruously sported by all-American hunks straight out of a Bruce Weber shoot, Hulk-like abs bulging. "Gnarly dank dude" declared the top that one hunk was wearing. No contest there. But the testosterone was undercut by faux mink collars and cuffs, those sheer insets, and extended sleeves that tied into foppish bows at the wrists. Samson envisioned the aprons worn by some of the models as his take on the halter top.
The ambiguity was welcome, because it encouraged a second look. Samson's worth it. He didn't quite find his sweet spot with this collection, but the story he's telling can only get better.
