Yahoo Lifestyle John Alexander Skelton Danced the Night Away for Spring 2025
By now, John Alexander Skelton is a master of drumming up Dickensian scenes, whether in his gloomy look books or last year’s Gothic runway show at the haunting St. Bartholomew’s Church.
His spring 2025 show had all the makings of a standardly spectacular — but somber — Skelton show: an East London church, air clouded with incense; weathered wooden banquettes piled with verdant vines and candles and carafes, and the stirring wails of live violin.
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But then things took a turn.
Violins swelled, and suddenly began churning out foot-stomping renditions of folk songs. Models walked out wearing silly and slightly outrageous woven wicker face coverings, ceremoniously removing them before continuing down the runway.
Rumpled linen jackets in mottled greens and khakis, creased silken suiting with whirling floral motifs and high-waisted plaid pants that billowed with each step — it was a joyful story of clothing shaped by life, bidding farewell to winter and ushering in spring.
Guests gripped onto their mulled apple cider as they processed the unexpected scene in front of them, one that discarded the somber for smiles.
It was a response, in part, to Christopher Woods’ “Paradise Lost: Paintings of English Country Life and Landscape 1850-1914,” an examination of how the hardships of rural life were lacquered over by pretty, but inaccurate, portraits.
“The criticisms in the book were that the painters of the day were making work to please the populace rather than actually represent what was happening at the time, but I thought it was equally important to take them to a different place,” Skelton backstage explained.
Weathered waxed cotton satchels, jauntily tipped hats and charming smoking slippers were so merry they bid gloomy England goodbye, if only for a moment. Still, there was something for everyone, even Skelton’s more austere acolytes, among them his classically smart woolen waistcoats, jackets and overcoats in black and white.
If at first caught off-guard by the jovial scene, by the show’s finale guests were all warmed up. They roared with delight at the model’s final walk, raucous dancing with spins so dizzying that raw-edged coats risked catching fire on the candles.
Launch Gallery: John Alexander Skelton Mens Spring 2025
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