Available at the Wonderland pop-up shop, Christopher Shannon’s creations range from multi-textured shirts to fun re-imaginings of iconic branding. Innovative, stylish and full of surprises, Shannon’s collections are always eagerly-awaited at fashion week. His unique takes on sportswear, casual silhouettes, technical fabrics and modern finishings stand him apart from the rest of the fashion week schedule, and maintain Christopher Shannon as a cult label.

For his AW17 collection, models wearing flags concealing their faces (inspired by football fans who paint flags onto their faces) stormed down the runway in bold patchwork pieces and a plethora of denim delights manifesting in button-seamed jeans and ultra-distressed denim shirts.

Following the launch of his major AW17 collection and on the back of the official launch of our Wonderland pop-up shop, we sat down with Christopher Shannon to find out more about his creative process.

Tell us about where the inspiration for your AW17 collection came from.

I wanted to work in a really limited palette and just in cottons and denims. I just went back through piles of research and pulled all of my favourite denim refs, some were quite tight and disco and others quite frayed and oversized, it became a challenge of playing with those elements and making something cohesive and also wearable. I don’t like awkward design for fashions sake.

What is your favourite item from your AW17 collection and why?

I do like the LOVERS DIRECT bags, I was so bored of all these leather ‘luxury’ bags everywhere, in place of any ideas. The bag is such a simple statement which I like, and practical! They’ve been selling so well through our online store and I love seeing people around London with them.

Talk us through your designing process. Once you have an initial concept – what is the process of bringing it to life?

Just a fresh hell everyday of seeing whats possible, who says yes, which factories say no. I’m really trying to simplify the process for myself, I like starting with quite tight limitations and seeing what I can achieve within that.

You’re known for your re-imagined sportswear, do you think this is something that you’ll continue to build on or do you see yourself taking an entirely different direction in the future?

I never really think about it as sportswear, it’s just the clothes I see and relate to. I guess I will always be inspired by street wear or casuals or however you want to define it. I can’t see myself suddenly getting into tailoring but I don’t make any strict rules.

In general, what do you think makes London Fashion Week so amazing?

I’m not sure it is always amazing! It’s great to see people travel in for it and such high attendance at our shows. I guess menswear is a bit less uptight cliche than womenswear so it feels a bit more relaxed and people enjoy it, it doesn’t feel so catty.

Tell us what you have lined up for 2017.

I’m trying to stay consistent which has been a weakness of mine, really refining our offering and developing it which I’m enjoying. We are working on a performance technical range which should be launched in June, we will continue to work with HI-TEC on footwear and now bags too for next season, our first scent is ready which I’m really excited about, we are just working on the packaging for that and I still don’t have a name. Just so many things as always and a real focus on the online store which is really busy, it’s really easy to find yourself obsessing over packaging options.