Wonder Kinder

Kinder Aggugini's design C.V. is pretty impressive - Vivienne Westwood, Paul Smith, Calvin Klein, John Galliano and a hefty seven year stint at Versace - but for me his solo own label workhas never properly clicked. It could well be the case that Aggugini's ghost designing prowess at so many houses, has meant that finding his design niche with his own label has been more of a slower burner. That could just be me though. Still, eight or nine seasons for a designer is still a relatively short period of time and finally, there has been some clicking action going on between my brain and Kinder Aggugini. Alright, so I am a sucker for print but it's how he combined his cowboy motifs with A-line school uniform-type silhouettes and traditional Savile Row fabrics that really propels this collection. On his press notes Aggugini cited "appropriation" as a theme for the collection. To be fair, what collection ISN'T about appropriation these days? At the very least, Aggugini is brazen about it and comes up trumps with a print motif that reminds me of blue and white porcelain, vintage 50s cowboy wallpaper and old Hermes scarves all at once. Weirdly, for a collection that's about appropriation, there's nothing here that feels tiresome or hackneyed. Apologies if I'm late to the Aggugini game but if it means that he'll be creating more unexpected sartorial mixes like this cowboy winner, I promise I'll be deathly loyal. Ten points for collaborating with Stephen Jones on the Stetson hats (Jones is determined to see us all obscuring our faces under big hats next season) and another ten points on creating these loafers with Dr. Martens that come with a splay of gold tassels.