There’s a knowing irony to Jawara Alleyne titling his latest collection Construction, given that his designs—with their safety pins, tendrils of fabric, and racy cutouts—are usually identified by the way he subverts traditional garment construction. But as Alleyne summarized it, “Deconstruction is the way I construct.” And he didn’t just mean in terms of the garments themselves. “I’ve also tried to deconstruct my process a bit this season, and the system around me,” he added.
Take the looks made of knotted jersey, which were a deliberate effort to go back to his roots. The pieces were inspired by one of the first objects Alleyne remembers making as a kid growing up in Jamaica: a kite. “There’s lots of kite flying there, because it’s so windy,” he said. “When I was reflecting on the collection, it was really interesting to me that a lot of the same rules still apply to my work, especially when it comes to the simplicity of the material and connecting it at specific points.”
This season, however, Alleyne made an effort to elevate his usual style, primarily by working with a richer variety of fabrics. There were corduroys, wools, taffetas—often in stripes recalling those you might see at a construction site—but this time they had been ruched, folded, and pressed together to make theatrical gowns and floor-sweeping skirts that wouldn’t look out of place on the red carpet. Or, more likely, in a pop star’s tour wardrobe: Alleyne’s many vocal fans within the music world include Rihanna and Charli XCX, and his most recent gig was designing an extensive number of outfits for Shakira and her dancers for her current world tour.
There were also plenty of Alleyne’s typically cheeky details in the mix. Elasticated bands that cinched the stomach and were worn around the neck as chokers brought to mind heavily logo’d underwear waistbands, but instead of a printed sans serif font, Alleyne’s name was scrawled in marker pen. For the closing look, he constructed (yes, that word again) what appeared to be a kind of corseted bustier from crisscross strands of T-shirt jersey, then paired it with a dramatic tucked-under skirt and woolen stole-cum-headscarf—a neat summary of Alleyne’s philosophy of deshabille elegance.
Just as notable was the feeling you got watching the show—held in an expansive industrial space in Shoreditch and accompanied by a booming soundtrack of reggaeton and heavy metal—that there was a more commercial offering in here, without compromising on his chopped-and-screwed DIY vision. A series of fabulous men’s tops consisted of two polo shirts in contrasting horizontal stripes fused together, with the top layer slashed vertically to create an almost lenticular effect as they swished over models’ torsos. You could also see a number of fashion editors zooming in to take pictures of his safety-pinned jeans made from layers of flared denim—with his name scrawled in colorful splodges on the rear—with an intensity that suggested they were destined for their own wardrobes.
“I was thinking a lot about this collection as the beginning of a new era—for my brand and in general,” said Alleyne. “I was trying to return to where I started and recapture the emotion that got me interested in fashion as a kid.” His work has always invoked a sense of childlike wonder, with a playfulness and tactility that makes you want to reach out and turn every item of clothing in your hand. With the more luxurious takes on his staples this season, he proved he can do grown-up just as confidently.
