In her debut Tuesday column about all things stylish and British, Sarah Mower reveals what she’s most looking forward to from the London men’s shows—for herself.

 

 

 

 

Happy New Year to me! Here in Venice, the fates of fashion are lining up on my side. The London Collections: Men shows started yesterday—surely the earliest round of shows known to humankind, but never mind. As you read this today, I’ll probably be sitting at the Alexander McQueen show, or trawling along Savile Row, looking at young men and pondering whether I’d like to tear the clothes from their backs.

No, not like that.

The thing is, 2013 is shaping up to be a humdinger year for women who like menswear—or, more accurately, the adaptations of it we aficionadas feel good wearing. As you’ll have noticed, spring is already a bonanza for smart pantsuits: all that excellent tailoring from Raf Simons at Dior, Hedi Slimane at Saint Laurent, Phoebe Philo at Céline, and Jil Sanderat Jil Sander. I wouldn’t call it “mannish” or “androgynous” or “gender-bending,” or any of the terms we used to use. It’s more like a gentle blurring of lines; something that’s happening when designers like Jonathan Saunders, Christopher Kane, and Richard Nicoll, who design for women, start designing for men, and then switch back again. Somewhere in the middle, there are a lot of chunky, waffly, colorful sweaters; drapey T-shirts; sweatshirts; and hybridized biker and baseball jackets that could be worn by either sex.

It’s what Jonathan Anderson describes as “a shared wardrobe. I’m really designing on the same continuum when I’m thinking of boys and girls.” Actually, one difference between the two is that Anderson’s menswear can sometimes be more girlie than his girls’. He showed headscarves tied under the chin, Queen-style, on boys last season—a feature that brought out the best of British wit in Prince Charles. When the heir to the throne was presented with an Anderson model at a menswear designer reception at Lancaster House last season, he quipped, “That reminds me of someone.”

 

 

 

 

More seriously, tailoring for women—as done by menswear experts—is undergoing a London renaissance. Adrien Sauvage is a sparky 29-year-old British-Ghanaian creative director and with actor and actress friends aplenty. After opening his A. Sauvage store right next door to Charlotte Olympia on Maddox Street last spring, so many friends—Ruth Wilson andNoomi Rapace included—asked to wear his suits that he caved in and is now offering a women’s made-to-measure collection of sharp jackets, pants, and overcoats that intercut traditional cloths from Italy and his own tribe in Africa. The video he made to explain his “Dress Easy” design principles had me sold even before I walked in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over at Selfridges, meanwhile, creative director Alannah Weston has persuaded Henry Rose, the long-established Savile Row tailor, to do his bespoke magic in the store. He’s there on the revamped second floor, in a custom suite that cleverly houses Emilia Wickstead’s feminine made-to-order dress service on one side, and Rose’s menswear-inspired suiting on the other. Weston, who was off to Ireland for Christmas, was having a pair of plus fours (a traditional British cropped pant derived from hunting gear) made for the country.

As for me? My spring shopping list has lengthened dangerously since I ran across two more designers who have Savile Row training in their blood. Patrick Grant, an expert in the finer sartorial points of everything, owns E. Tautz, which is part of Norton & Sons on Savile Row, and happens to be the boyfriend of accessories designer Katie Hillier. Thanks to Katie, he’s just added crisp, gloriously made, immaculately finished cotton shirts for women to his repertoire that are manufactured in Northern Ireland to the beautiful traditional standards English gentlemen demand. Pink candy stripe with white cuffs: irresistible.

 

 

 

 

My other discovery—the one every fashion female I know goes crazy over on first sight—isPaula Gerbase, a young Central Saint Martins designer, learned the inner secrets of tailoring at Kilgour and then at Hardy Amies for five years, and then launched her own label, 1205. I bumped into Paula at a reception last fall. We were complete strangers, but after spending ten minutes compulsively envying the slouchy, roomily cut navy blue leather-and-suede biker jacket she was wearing, I was forced to go over and ask who designed it. She did. Her whole collection starts with menswear tailoring at one end and gently shades through coats, shirts, sweats, and knits that are graded to fit either gender. The menswear side of Gerbase’s 1205 was presented at Harvey Nichols in Knightsbridge on Sunday. In February, the women’s side will have liftoff during London Fashion Week, as Paula has newly qualified for the NEWGEN support scheme. Personally, I can’t wait.