Winnie Men’s Spring 2024

Alex Wynne
·2 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

After showing on the runway last season, Winnie’s Idris Balogun chose a scaled-back showroom setting, aiming to focus on his designs and offer a one-on-one approach for his spring collection. “No music, no craziness, just me and the clothes,” summed up the designer, one of the winners of the runner-up Karl Lagerfeld Special Jury Prize at the LVMH Prize for Young Designers last year.

The lineup was inspired by the German expression “Sehnsucht,” which Balogun described as “like the opposite of nostalgia, a longing for something that you can’t identify.” Likening this feeling to his creative process, and not knowing his aim until he achieved it in his designs, he looked to the work of artists he admires, including Edward Clark, with Impressionist motifs informing the pastel hues that peppered his color palette this season.

More from WWD

An ultra-soft silk shirt was hand-painted in pale blue with touches of pink, and the former hue softened a double-breasted satin evening jacket. The latter, meanwhile, was worked as a super-soft suede jacket or shaved terry cloth joggers and matching sweatshirt.

Balogun had wanted to play with notions of masculinity and femininity, he explained, building on his solid experience of tailoring — many of the silhouettes were otherwise reworked versions of his tried and tested forms — with softer touches. These also included a teardrop-shaped pearl button, a subtle detail at the neckline of a classic trench.

Elsewhere in the lineup, standouts included a tailored coat made from rewoven rubber-coated cotton, a sheen on its ribbed surface. The innovative fabric reminded Balogun of a mat in his grandmother’s home in Nigeria, he said, proving nostalgia also has its place after all.

Launch Gallery: Winnie Men's Spring 2024

Best of WWD

Click here to read the full article.