A-Cold-Wall*, the label by 27-year-old designer Samuel Ross, has become one to watch. Ross used the spotlight on him at London fashion week men’s to show a collection which took its starting point, in part, from the migration crisis and the movement of people across bodies of water in Europe.

This was more of a statement than a straightforward presentation of clothes to wear next season. There was an oppressive atmosphere throughout. The show took place in a blacked-out warehouse with bass-heavy music.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Samuel Ross with daughter Genesis. Photograph: WWD/Rex/Shutterstock

Performers clung to a life raft in water close to the editors in the front row; models walked slowly, stopping to look over their shoulders. At one point, a dog appeared and barked ferociously. A bite of sweetness came at the end – when Ross appeared on the runway, carrying his one-year-old daughter, Genesis.

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While the garments that A-Cold-Wall* produces are ostensibly wearable and simple – hoodies, macs, backpacks, trainers – the ideas behind them are far from it. Backstage, Ross explained that “the pool closest to the audience represents the pool of fear and preservation in the age of nationalism, the pool further away is the human pull to progression … I was alluding to movement of people but also the depths of fear of a bottomless pit, and the bravery and the triumph that is required to move through to the future.”



Ross began A-Cold-Wall* in 2015 and has explored themes of race, class and various architectural movements. One of the few non-white designers in the industry, his grandparents came to England on the Empire Windrush. Ross is a protege of Louis Vuitton designer Virgil Abloh, and he also worked at Kanye West’s label, Yeezy.

Recognition for him is growing – he won the emerging menswear talent award at the British fashion awards in December. He has the ambition of another British gamechanger –naming Alexander McQueen as an inspiration for his dramatic staging. “That’s a huge part of this for me,” he said “bringing in the age of McQueen again with expressive runway design.”

Earlier in the day was the turn of Craig Green, a designer so influential that he has won menswear designer of the year at the British fashion awards three times.

This season, his futuristic take on workwear turned to plastic. The material might be the subject of environmental campaigns but Green brought it to the catwalk in an appealing way. Six models wore bright pink, yellow, green and blue trousers and T-shirts made from bin bag plastic. This was the a household essential as never been seen before – smocked with elastic to form outfits any enterprising club kid would be proud of.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A model in a plastic creation by Craig Green. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images

As well as that smocking, Green used medieval textile techniques on harness-style tops and tassels that covered models’ faces. The plaid of a lumberjack shirt was reworked into long kaftan-like garments with slits across the middle of the body. Soft tailoring and outerwear were more wearable. A grey mac with a fuchsia back print, based on a painting owned by Green’s mother, was much admired.

Backstage, Green – surrounded by well-wishers – said the collection was “about a man made of glass, and that idea of fragility and how emotion doesn’t mean weakness, it can also mean strength”.

He shared some of Ross’s preoccupations – he was also thinking about vulnerability in the modern world. “It’s just bin liner [plastic] but obsessively elasticated so it looks like bubble wrap,” he said of the plastic pieces. “ I like the idea that something so light and throwaway is so protective.”