Lost & Found

Menswear has a degree of detention to it compared to womenswear, in that the retail silhouette is a little more stencilled in place with a shirt or t-shirt with jeans or shorts combo. The runway breaks down all the boundaries, but sometimes this doesn't always de-construct the typical frame. Which is why a designer like Nico Didonna was such a refreshing thinker to collaborate with. His tapestry is to play with structure and texture, making a simple and polished coat from afar look like a labyrinth of intricate design and possibilities up close. There is a structure that can be camouflaged or played with, like a jigsaw puzzle with countless ways of completing. Nico introduces the ability to interpret shape, with coats that are craving to be moulded around each man and every mood. Asymmetric straps dart across like weaponry that asks for a stylish attack on the eyes, or could simply be used to corset a coat into a polished presentation. It's the subtle curves and weave of the coats that take the aesthetic on an unexpected adventure, where the coat transforms and evolves dependent on where you look at it from. He makes a tamed tailored creature into a wild and eccentric beast.

One of the best spectacles is the dark olive coat that oozes Gothic warrior intensity when the hooded waistcoat is buckled into the look. Taken off it could be a Prada man about town, but with the hood up and aware it becomes a man of the shadows who disguises himself with irresistible impact. Showing Nico's art in construction and deconstruction, I'm wearing his clothes against the art of the countryside, showing how the adaptive clothes can fuse into any landscape. Starting off with the olive green coat that looks like a quirky gentleman from the manor house, I then become a mysterious figure from the enchanted and Gothic woodland.

Nico's boutique is situated in Soho, and his website can be found at http://www.nico-d.com/ And credit where due to my brother George for taking the photos.