Cottweiler collection presentation A/W 2016 for LCM

In an underground car park in Marylebone, people push one another to try and get a good angle of the flawless models highlighted by dramatic lighting and sound effects by Niklas Bildstein Zaar, Richard Whittle and Alois Yang. Flash. Flash. Flash. Welcome to a world where tracksuits are chicer than suits: Cottweiler’s A/W 2016 collection.

Known for perfectly allying sportswear fabrics and traditional tailoring techniques, the British duo comes back with a fantastic collection set in the most surprising – yet believable – universe.

As an old friend, it’s easy to recognise their signature sporty look. Clean lines; strong silhouettes; a neutral palette of beige, light grey, dark blue and black. Although a bit darker than their two previous collections led by whites and pale blues, Cottweiler is faithful to its style.

In the agricultural post-civilised society depicted, the outfit is functional and has to play different parts: it’s half-warm, half-waterproof; it’s comfortable. Thermal, moisture-wicking midlayers and bi-material pants and coats are the star elements of the presentation.

It seems simple, but in the details, the collection is quite the opposite.

Faintly yet strikingly, the shell and plastic fabrics absorb the light in a specific way that gives us a second set of colours to admire. The collection is subtly structural in its cut, with the layering of different necklines, fabrics and heights; and in its presentation, with half tucked-in jackets or strap-like belts redefining the silhouette.

With the wheat as a discrete icon and only ornament – worn as a necklace, packed in a backpack, or embroidered in matching blacks on a jacket and sweater–- the shy accessories are practical. A black cap, mittens and gloves, a chavy man-bag hidden under a bicolour jacket: nothing’s left to chance.

Margot Noel
Photos: Sanjeewa Dias