Long before there was preppy, there was the English schoolboy look — tailored wool jacket, striped tie with club or house colors, gray shorts for summer, and trousers for winter.
When those boys cast off their uniforms at university, the look was much the same, but scruffier. It was a wardrobe of woolen knits (holes preferable) slipped over undone dress shirts, often with the tail hanging out of the trousers; tennis and cricket sweaters, and hand-me-down tweed jackets and trenches.
Daniel Kearns’ coed runway show offered a polished take on that look. The venue, Westminster School, was ideal, with models parading past historic crests and heraldic symbols in a hall off the cobbled Dean’s Yard.
Women wore short princess coats with contrasting velvet collars — a style based on Kearns’ own daughter’s school uniform — and ribbed knit dresses with swingy skirts. Coats resembled artists’ smocks with pleats at the back inspired by the details on academic robes.
Roomy cropped trenches with high collars were fit for the day of the show, which was chilly and drizzly.
Accessories included dangly earrings inspired by the fringes on loafers, while clutch and shoulder bags were shaped like rugby balls. Front row guests — including Hero Fiennes Tiffin, who stars in the hit TV series “Young Sherlock” and Xin Liu, the singer, dancer and Kent & Curwen brand ambassador — each got a blue necktie marking the brand’s 100th anniversary.
Menswear had more of an historical bent, with short ruffled capes inspired by Lord Byron’s hell-raising years at Cambridge, a show-stopping red top coat that nodded to Kent & Curwen’s tradition making school, club and military uniforms, and trenches, some with double wool collars for extra warmth.
Even the collegiate looks had military rigor.
Kearns paired slim, cropped trousers with colorful woolen sweaters that sparkled with brooches resembling military regalia. He also teamed those trousers with car coats and check shooting jackets with patch pockets.
The pieces should play well with the brand’s fan base, because some people just can’t get enough of British tradition.