As the sun was poking through the grey skies of London at lunchtime, Topman unveiled their SS13 collection as LCM kicked off. It was a case of life imitating art with a palette of muted greys sprinkled with bursts of neon in patterns and layered slouchy tailoring being showcased. Formalwear and sportswear fused effortlessly creating a boyish ‘East Coast meets West Coast’ vibe.

Underneath the colour and odd bursts of eccentricity in the form of a tailored grey ‘playsuit’ and cropped varsity tops, which should never be seen again on any males on or off the catwalk, this was a reasonably wearable collection. The grey tailoring, patterned t-shirts and leather cut-out brogues will no doubt be snapped up by the masses and the printed bomber jackets and matching shorts are sure to be a hit with the hipsters in the East. Neoprene running shorts cut lower than shorts nodded to the sporty summer upon us and the oversized knitted jumpers were an ingenious touch for the unpredictable British summer we’ve been experiencing of late.

The highlight? The prints which came from Gordon Richardson’s initial inspiration; the American graffiti artist Jean-Michel Baptiste which injected some much-needed interest into what was overall a reasonably tame collection. With men’s fashion in London ultimately aiming to compete with the big boys in Milan, one would have hoped for a slightly more inspired offering as it seemed the main talking point after the show was the giant rucksack-skateboard combo, not the clothes.

Words – Laura Grant-Evans