Give me five: the best 5 moments of London Men's Fashion Week SS18

Each fashion week reflects the atmosphere, the mood, the air you breathe in the city where it takes place. The first dedicated to fashion man throws in itself London, the cosmopolitan city, the one wounded by the recent attacks, the one where the punk was born, the multicultural one that has just left the European Union, the one where the most trendy, the most interesting fashion flourishes, the one in which different and often dissonant cultures coexist and inspire artists of all kinds. Fashion calls and London responds by donating a piece of herself, the beautiful and the ugly, but always in style. Here are the designers that have best interpreted it in the last week.

#1 Xander Zhou

Mermaid Puddle Dock. Xander Zhou presents his menswear collection for the next spring-summer, a reworked proposal in futuristic wardrobe style. In his hands garments designed to dress the ordinary, a certain atmosphere of boredom and softness, are transformed into hints of tomorrow, in the ideal wardrobe of supernatural, extraterrestrial creatures. The classic shirt and tie of office uniform evolves: shirts take abstract cuts that highlight naked flesh, denim trousers or padded heavy cotton, black rubber sections sewn on trenches and jackets, synthetic gloves, underwear worn over clothes, belts full of pockets, layered garments worn one over the other. The Chinese designer takes on the uniforms of our everyday life and gives them a sci-fi, robotic touch, but without excessive drama. Just a hint of batik, a bit of color, a wrinkled fabric to return humanity to the entire collection.

#2 Martine Rose

The name of Martine Rose is one of the most hot of the last seasons. In a few years, she has brought her label to success and has been awarded a “small” job as a consultant for Demna Gvasalia from Balenciaga. For her second time at the London Fashion Week, the designer has chosen Tottenham as a climbing center. A set deep in North London for a collection that, in spite of the above, not rooted in the counterculture of the English capital. The inspiration comes from Toronto, from the underground scene of the '80s and' 90s, from electronic music and the city's love for the outdoors, immortalized by Canadian photographer Trevor Hughes. In front of a small crowd of fashion enthusiasts Rose shows her version of the perfect outfit for cyclists, golfers, runners and bicycle enthusiasts. Sportswear and tailoring combine, such as lycra and fleece, funky jumpsuit and t-shirt logo, double belts and marsupiums, cycling shorts and oversized parka. Martine Rose plays with the athleisure is a sure winner, measured, portable, vitamin.

#3 Matthew Miller

The St. Sepulcher Church in London is filled with thin and dark figures. They are the “degenerate” of Matthew Miller with smeared black lipstick and greasy hair black lipstick wearing the garments of his SS18 collection. It is a hymn to black, darkness, fragmented by hints of red and white, which, like a long shadow, wraps everything up: tuxedo jackets, tanks, trousers, outwear garments full of giant pockets (probably the true trend of the summer season), trenches, bio-hazard straps, tulle and jacquard fabrics. What is the idea behind a series of so dark, anarchist clothes that have the flavor of a measured work in progress? The English designer confesses that he wanted to explore: "the process of degenerating, the condition or state of being a degenerate". A difficult theme for a collection that fascinates effortlessly. Someone has called it brutal elegance. We agree and you?

#4 Cottweiler

The Marathon des Sables is one of the most fascinating and challenging races in the world, so much so that it is called “The Toughtest Footrace in the World”. Six days to cross 156 miles in the south of the Moroccan desert dunes of the Sahara. It is an activity that drives the human body to the absolute limit, in which the participants must run, carrying on their shoulders their rations of food and water, in absolute autonomy. Practicality and functionality are paramount. Ben Cottrell and Matthew Dainty, Cottweiler’s designers, have been keen on this famous ride so much to dedicate a whole collection and move to Desert Hot Springs Californian city to design it to the fullest. The result is a series of looks that takes on the sportswear and it clashes with the one typical of the berbish tribes. Not forgetting the contemporary street style. So here's a gangway with caps, caps inspired by sand and lava shades, jumpsuit trousers, sports shorts and technical fabric tops. It is a well-made, functional and interesting collection, fitted with shoes, resulting from the new collaboration with Reebok, a hybrid of moonboot and yoga style with decorative belts and XL silhouettes.

#5 Kiko Kostadinov

Evil and clinic. Surgical and spectral. The collection presented by Kiko Kostadinov during the last London Fashion Week is in balance between precision and sobriety and uneasiness mixed with a repressive sense of fear. The designer, also creative director of the British label Mackintosh, explores criminal transgressions and, by doing so. He shows the dark side of humanity or, at least, of fashion. How? Subtracting, embracing a certain sterility made of silver-tone tailoring blazers, coats that evoked old school dental uniforms, thin pants, shorts from precise cut, extra sleeves worn around the waist and nylon stockings to cover the face. A little first Raf Simons, a little nightmare that hides around the corner.