“Most people, when they get to 20 years, do a celebration—a best of—but I’m the type of character who looks to push on, to take a step forward.” So said Neil Barrett after this 20th anniversary show that absolutely wasn’t.
Instead of getting all misty-eyed and wrapped up with himself, Barrett celebrated this anniversary by exploring a theme—punk—that he has never got into before. Tim Blanks (an elephant never forgets) immediately reminded Barrett that he had once explored “Amish Punk”: “Wow, you get 10 points for remembering that,” said Barrett.
This collection was more postcolonial punk than anything else. As Barrett rightly observed, the original strain of this all-influencing youth culture was a mash-up of biker, school uniform, and military, which first expressed itself in Britain in the late 1970s. Tonight the designer internationalized the concept by mixing printed neon signage from London’s Soho red-light district and Tokyo’s Shinjuku. Eco-fur collars and hoods on ostensibly classic topcoats—so beautifully cut—and overprint tiger stripes on check separates further emphasized the clash he was getting at.
In construction, this collection felt too clean-cut—way too luxury—to be even vaguely punk. But Neil Barrett is punk—just with a personal trainer and a share portfolio.
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