Hed Mayner has a rare mastery of silhouette that few designers could hope to ape. His seasonal collections, perfectly styled by master Samuel Drira, are perpetually one of my personal Fashion Week highlights.
Heck, there's a Hed Mayner shirt hanging next to me right now (shout out Colbo NY).
Despite Mayner's resilience to conventional delivery schedules — his Spring/Summer 2022 collection was only just delivered to stores in early June, mere weeks before most brands begin delivering Fall/Winer 2022 items — is an amusing contrast to his Fashion Week presence.
The Karl Lagerfeld Prize winner is always punctual in Paris, never not showcasing his perfectly massive menswear that's almost impossible to find if you aren't based in Korea or Japan.
Spring/Summer 2023 makes it especially frustrating that Mayner's garments aren't as accessible as they ought to be, as it takes everything that he does so well and amps it up to 11.
Massive, floor-scraping coats, shoulder-shaping blazers, and billowing trousers (with deceivingly tiny waists!) are all present and accounted for as usual, imagined in Mayner's preferred fabrics: summer wool, crisp cotton poplin, washed denim.
Garments are also as distressed as ever, with Encens cover star Suzi de Givenchy almost entirely shrouded in a pockmarked XXL chore coat and loose-knit sweaters rife with dangling threads.
But there's a delicate edge, too, with crinkle-edged shirts, tunics, and trousers occasionally affected by doily-like cut-outs that demonstrate a softer side to Mayner's theatrical shapes.
Matched by glass earrings and the occasional daring cut-out, Mayner made a compelling argument for the sensitivity in oversized silhouette.
