Set in London Fashion Week’s new home in Brewer Street car park, Gareth Pugh’s Spring show was an ode to Soho nightlife and the wild creatures of the night that prowled the scene before rapid gentrification began reconfiguring the neighbourhood.

Working only with red, white and black — and real copper coins made into a kind of chain mail — the silhouette was slim but not straight. Large bows and big collars, latex and towering hair were all crucial elements of the look, as was the makeup, featuring extraordinary eye treatments rendered on fetishist gimp masks.

The whole effect was not only empowering but also intimidating. And, as always with Pugh, there was delicacy and experimentation.

It has become customary to call Gareth Pugh the wild card of London fashion. But having won the Andam Prize and come under the wing of Rick Owens and Michèle Lamy, he has learned that line, balance and shape are the essentials of fashion.

Gareth Pugh is exclusive to 4.

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