Craig Green takes his menswear show to Paris and continues to make London proud

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

For the first time, Craig Green brought his A/W20 collection to Paris (embedding himself within the assemblage of seasoned fashion veterans) but his usual transformative hand and raw intuition blew London into the venue.

‘It started with this idea of packaging a person,’ the designer explained backstage. And it did evoke notions of packaging, in a manner synonymous with what Green is best known for — creating an idea of protection, through seductively artful and visually varied layers built around the body.

We saw the classic puffer and workwear references that Green does so well, mixed with tiny amounts of knit or satin smocking. Sculptural mesh created from rubber tubing (one recalls the absurd foam mesh found around supermarket fruit) bounced when the models walked.

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Splintering and delicate drawstrings ran through Green’s signature padded structures. Removing the padded structures would have left the models with some great staple jackets and pairs of trousers, but done in Tyvek (often used as housewrap, or used to protect buildings during construction).

Splintering and delicate drawstrings ran through Green’s signature padded structures. Removing the padded structures would have left the models with some great staple jackets and pairs of trousers, but done in Tyvek (often used as housewrap, or used to protect buildings during construction). 

Splintering and delicate drawstrings ran through Green’s signature padded structures

Perhaps the lineup’s most poignant juncture was the introduction of the enlarged monochrome flower motifs (which traversed both the torsos and legs of the models). Yes, they were flower prints (albeit cleverly done, some were patchworked on and padded like the rest of the workwear) but the timing of their presentation semi-late into the lineup turned them into an introduction to a further narrative. The flowers foreshadowed the excellence that was to come.

Chiffon prints featuring both organic and graphic interpretations of nature draped almost lazily over wire foundations, visible through the transparent fabric.

Chiffon prints draped almost lazily over wire foundations

They enveloped the entire form, eventually trapping themselves in suspended structures that almost certainly replicate household blinds. The clothes could be pulled up like blinds too, adding to Green’s repertoire of ‘protective layers around the body.’ 

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Credit: Regis Colin for NOWFASHION

Via the trapped prints, the shadows, sceneries, organic colours and textures, and seemingly the sun itself submitted themselves to the position of the blinds  — how open or closed they were. The designer tested the will of the audience in how much we allow ourselves to dissolve into the sentiment and vulnerability that is inherent to human nature.

First came the protectiveness, then came the vulnerability, caught in the blinds. AW20 went full circle in looking at ‘love, human relationships, different types of intimacy and our reactions to them.’