Magical Mystery Tour

Charlie Casely Hayford and his father, Joe (surely the coolest dad in the country?), looked to the “use of military uniform in British subcultures old and new” this season at their namesake brand. This meant a fairly wide, and occasionaly disparate collection that looked to a whole swathe of different cultural moments and styles. Most immediately obvious was the extensive use of Sgt. Peppers psychedelica, that was confined to fairly traditional coats and tailoring. Except in the case of a few looks featuring incongruous gilded tabbards with fancy epaulettes, there was a precision and a sense of good taste to these Sgt Peppers pieces (wearable and inoffensive) that was deliberately lacking from the gaudy uniforms worn by The Beatles on their iconic 1967 cover.

Well ‘Ard (sort of)

Elsewhere, beautifully cut brocade dinner jackets didn’t feel terribly subcultural (more something to be worn in the gentleman’s clubs of yesteryear than the underground scene), but were certainly elegant: and there’s nothing wrong with that. Then there were navy checked and khaki suits cut in hard woolens with a kind of severity – crisp white shirt; black tie tucked into high waist; sharp cropped hems – that recalled one of Britain’s most well plumbed and iconic youth cultures, the Mods. Hardly an original reference, but a perfectly understandable one for a brand with a strong tailored identity like Casely Hayford. Plus the super chunky Sperry shoes whose style have moved through decades were to die for.

Rave On

Things were a little more directional – a little more modern, perhaps – when it came to the duo’s take on Fashion’s currently fetishised era: 90s youth and ravers. For this collection, that meant army-green parkas blown up to inflated  proportions so that their fishtailed backs trailed behind them (presumably intended to be covered in the mud of a marshy festival field rather than sweeping the floor of a polished runway). All in all it was something of a jumble – but definitely one I wouldn’t mind raiding.

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