Shannon

Yesterday, I lingered around the grounds of Somerset House - feeling rather peasant-like in the grace of several well dressed young men and women. It didn't matter how much I tried, I was never going to outdo the man in the kilt, gold and oxblood shoes, full beard and tweed jacket...so I just stood there like a lemon and waited with the others to be let into the Christopher Shannon show.

First thing that I noticed was how busy it was inside, there was a lot of attention this year, menswear is finally getting it's rightful appreciation, and London really is the best place to see it. Secondly, the music - oh it was like being thrown back into the 90s, but to a club scene that I was too young to have been involved in. Some of the songs I had never heard, but then there was a Talking Heads mix that sorted me right out, but it all managed to feel so familiar, and nostalgic - something at the age of twenty-three is quite a new idea.

Out came the looks - greys, white and navy, jeans and bomber jackets, duo-shaded shirts and jacquards. I've read the inspiration behind the collection relied a lot on the french boys' world film 'La Haine', and that was luckily something I understood - the thuggishness of the collection was very European, compared to his normally Anglo leanings - all the while these boys were made up with 'pretty' eye makeup. There were jeans emblazoned with Shannon's logos, all very Moschino, and bomber jackets coated in zips and lace parts. The highlight for me was the shirt and jacket with a large illustration of a male, much like a young Gallagher brother with their bowl cut, but drawn in a similar hand to Mathias Augustyniak - who it might've even been.

I had high hopes for this show, as CS is a label I really look into wearing but often feel is a bit of a push for my personal aesthetic (jeans and a tshirt...) but this show had me mentally organising my wardrobe at near enough every look.