Flares are back as Topman Design mixes 70s retro with 90s Britpop

The default rock'n'roll silhouette of the Topman look – which has its roots in rocker culture of the 60s – has been replaced at London's menswear fashion showcase by a hybrid of the 70s and the 90s. Doing away with the skinny jean, models wore Jarvis Cocker-esque tight flares in denim, cord and pinstriped wool. Some wore wigs designed to look like 70s shaggy cuts with chunky glasses and others had trainers that looked like the classic Adidas Gazelles favoured by Brit Pop heroes such as Verve's Richard Ashcroft. Pastel colours, tight T-shirts and even woollen tank tops featured.

Sunday was the first day of London Collections: Men– with Topman Design's midday show the highlight. Woodstock, parkas and Brit Pop all formed part of this collection. Designed for spring/summer 2015, this survey of festival fashion could be worn right now. With Glastonbury mere weeks away, it looked timely.

If towelling short suits in bright daisy prints were perhaps a retro step too far for the average 2014 twentysomething, the overall feel was zesty and fun, a palate cleanser from the more sober mood of some menswear in recent seasons.

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An Instagram-worthy film of nature playing in the background, and soundtrack that included Blur's Girls and Boys, Tame Impala's Elephant and Derrick May's Strings of Life all suited the fashion in a field mood.

After the show, Topman's creative director, Gordon Richardson, said there "was Brit Pop at one end and Woodstock at another" on the moodboard while designing the collection. Twin muses of Liam Gallagher and Jimi Hendrix added up to louche tailoring, flower prints and urban staples like a swagger-tastic Gallagher parka. Richardson's own adolescence was also in the frame. "I had these purple embossed paisley cords," he said. "I wore a lot of this kind of stuff when I was younger."

The demand for a flared lurex suit in pistachio green might be small but a high street brand sending this look out speaks volumes about where London menswear is going. With the menswear shows in the capital now on their sixth season, such trifles have their place even in the mainstream world of an Arcadia-owned brand. With menswear worth £26m to the UK economy and expected to grow by a third in the next five years, a bit of experimentation is perhaps warranted.

There was more of it later in the afternoon – as the current generation of young designers presented their collections. MAN, the new talent showcase run by Lulu Kennedy and Topman, featured newcomers Liam Hodges and Nicomede Talavera along with Bobby Abley, who has previously shown with the initiative. Hodges' Boy Scout-influenced collection was particularly intriguing, with versions of the badges collected by scouts dotted over simple sweatshirt shapes that grown-ups would want to wear.

Christopher Shannon, who was announced as winner of the first BFC/GQ Designer Menswear Fund last week – and the recipient of £150,000, plus business mentoring – was another highlight. The collections continue on Monday with JW Anderson, Alexander McQueen and Moschino on the schedule.

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Observer Ethical Awards 2014 winners: Beyond Skin

Beyond Skin has been trading for more than 10 years. In that time, Natalie Dean, 40, and Heather Whittle, 32, have weathered a few storms. "We've had our factory shut up shop, boutiques that supply us close down, and a lack of our own funds to buy eco-friendly materials, which have always been – and still are – expensive," says Dean.

Perhaps most remarkably, the vegan shoe line has survived the recession – something Dean believes wouldn't have happened if the brand didn't produce shoes that look good, regardless of their ethical values. "I think that's where a lot of eco fashion brands have gone wrong," she frowns. "You can have as much integrity as you like, but people have got to want to buy you because they're going to wear you."

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While other eco fashion lines floundered post-2008 ("Ironically, the recession came just after fashion magazines began to really support ethical"), the Brighton-based brand flourished, thanks in part to strong celebrity support. The first champion of the original line was Chrissie Hynde, who bought pairs for herself and Beth Orton. Shortly afterwards, Natalie Portman wore Beyond Skin to the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway has frequently requested the brand for fashion shoots.

But Dean also believes information about the use of suede and leather in fashion is powerful. "Most people are surprised to discover that agriculture uses 70% of the world's fresh water or that livestock creates more greenhouse gas than transport." In using faux leathers made from PU (polyurethane), and Dinamica (a faux suede using polyester taken from recycled bottles) the brand's alternatives are both cruelty-free and sustainable. Production is now based in Alicante, Spain, where fabrics are locally sourced.

The launch of a diffusion line six months ago has also made Beyond Skin more affordable. "We had to start with a higher-end line because we needed to be able to wholesale," says Dean, "but our intention was always to deliver high-street price points that would make the brand more accessible. One day, we'd love to have our own boutique."

For now, the focus is on trading online, where prices for the new diffusion line currently range from £60 for a pair of heels to £130 for a pair of boots. The higher-end Beyond Skin line retails at £115-£250.

The diffusion line marks a huge move forward for the company, but with plans to launch menswear, accessories and bridal all on the horizon, 2014 is set to be a big year for Dean and Whittle. Helpfully, it's also the year of the vegan. "It's funny," smiles Dean, a former make-up artist, "because when we first started we would try to avoid the term 'vegan shoes'. It didn't sound very sexy. But now everyone seems to be turning vegan. There are vegan restaurants opening every month in New York and tons of celebrity vegans, from Beyoncé to Bill Clinton. The great thing is that it's no longer being seen as a cause but a lifestyle choice."

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Summer Friday: From the Farmers' Market to the Beach With A.L.C.'s Alex Basch

Like the George Gershwin song goes, “Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.” Especially if your workweek is cut short thanks to “Summer Fridays.” The extra hours go a long way in making every weekend seem like a holiday. If you’re short on inspiration for your own Summer Fridays, just look to our new season-long series where we ask industry people with cool jobs to share how they’ll be spending their free afternoons.

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If you’re a fan of A.L.C., the sleek, modern line from celebrity stylist Andrea Lieberman, whose prior claim to fame was dressing J.Lo for the Grammys in that Versace dress, you should get to know the brains behind its marketing: Alex Basch. The 26-year-old, who started out as an intern in 2008 while majoring in art history at George Washington University, is responsible for producing the label’s lookbooks and videos, coordinating its shoe collaboration with Robert Clergerie, and occasionally assisting Lieberman in her stylist duties—like helping Gwen Stefani get ready for the Met Gala. When she’s not working out of A.L.C.’s downtown L.A. studio, Basch takes advantage of the city’s proximity to the beach. Here’s how she’ll be spending her Summer Fridays:

“I’m a California-born-and-raised girl, so Summer Friday is synonymous with beach weekend. There is a crew of us who go down to Newport Beach a few weekends each summer and stay at a friend’s place by the beach—it’s become a tradition. Saturday starts with a bike ride to the farmers’ market, which is generally followed by homemade breakfast and mimosas. The rest of the day is spent relaxing at the beach. The day ends with a bonfire and great dinner. It is the perfect escape—close enough where it’s easy for everyone to get to, but far enough away where it feels like a vacation.”

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Too tulle for school: how the prom crossed the Atlantic

For anyone who turned 16 in the days before social media, leavers' ball was probably a sartorial nadir. At mine, boys wore ill-fitting suits and disgusting amounts of hair gel; girls were resplendent in lilac chiffon and diamante shoes. Thankfully – pre-Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram – the only photographic evidence is a few blurry snaps, curling at the edges, hidden away in a box under the bed.

Leavers' ball 2014 is a very different proposition. Now more commonly known as prom, the event has become an industry worth at least £80m a year, with students and parents shelling out for dresses, suits, accessories, limousines and corsages. There are dedicated prom fashion shows, pre-and post-prom parties, and prom has muscled in on the wedding fayre market, too.

From Carrie's blood-soaked prom massacre to Molly Ringwald's satin halterneck in Pretty in Pink, Hollywood prom scenes have long inspired British-based designers – as seen, most recently, at Ashish. But it has only been in the past decade that this aspect of US culture has seeped into the real lives of teenagers in the UK. "Ninety-five per cent of schools have a major summer party or prom now," says Monique Wyatt, co-founder of prom "one stop shop" Myschool Proms. "Students get summer jobs and start saving for their dresses anything up to two years ahead. Some spend £1,000 on their dress alone. We meet teachers who say students – and their parents – are pushing for five-star hotel venues, and boys who pay to hire fire trucks or milk floats so they look unusual when they arrive."

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"Prom as a concept has 'crept over' from the US, just as Halloween did before it," agrees Melanie Berry of Claire's Accessories – a major player in the market. "The first proms started in UK senior schools six or seven years ago as a celebration of leaving school, but they are now becoming popular in primary schools, too. It's like a rite of passage, a chance to celebrate a key 'first' in their lives." From the schools' perspective, Wyatt believes that teachers use prom as a carrot – and sometimes as a stick, too: "They can say, if you don't work hard, you won't be allowed to go to prom."

Company magazine launched its first dedicated prom app this year, and editor-in-chief Vic White says the trend came from teenagers. "These are people who grew up with Hannah Montana and other Disney Channel imports." While there are plenty of specialist prom boutiques and bridal shops with prom ranges around the country, in the past few years, mainstream retailers have targeted the sparkly set in earnest. Last year, Topshop launched a "Topshop Prom Queen" competition, giving students the chance to win a bespoke dress – plus hair and makeup – by submitting a dress moodboard packed with fashion references.

Claire's Accessories launched its first dedicated prom catalogue this year, as well as opening a prom pop-up shop in London's South Molton Street in May. At Debenhams, sales of evening gowns costing more than £180 have risen by 250% from January to March compared with the same period last year, and the retailer launched its first dedicated proms section on its website in April. The importance of prom has spread to more alternative retailers, too, with east-London vintage mecca Beyond Retro holding its first dedicated prom night this year.

It is hardly surprising that prom is becoming an increasingly huge deal in the Instagram age, when every moment is captured and shared. Maaria Abbasi, 15, has already started thinking about her dress, though the big day is more than a year away. She says that outfit planning is not competitive: "It's the one day of the year that everyone goes to, there are no ranks – it's not bitchy, but you do want to look good because the photographs will be all over social media."

So what will girls and boys wear to the 2014 prom? "More is more," says White. "It's an opportunity to wear a big dress with sequins and tulle and flowers and pink. They might have pastel-dyed hair or wear pointy flats, so they don't necessarily look frou-frou, but this is still an opportunity to look quite girlie." For boys, it's all about "a fitted Arctic Monkeys suit with a thin tie and Nick Grimshaw hair". Style icons include Lily Collins, Elle Fanning, Chloë Moretz and, for the boys, Brooklyn Beckham.

As with a wedding outfit, prom dressing is a difficult task – many girls seem to want to look creative and alternative, but end up going full princess in peach tulle. Emily Sheffield, Vogue's deputy editor, who also edits Miss Vogue, the twice-yearly spin-off aimed at under 21s, suggests teenagers should look to designers including Simone Rocha, Marc by Marc Jacobs (whose new head designer, Luella Bartley, has "always had a rebel prom girl in her collections,") aand Meadham Kirchhoff for quirky inspiration, as well as to those who create more traditional gowns, including Dior and Oscar de la Renta. She hopes that Brits put their own spin on prom dressing: "Maybe chuck a leather jacket or an army fatigue over the top to masculinise it. The teens I know, that read Miss Vogue, are really into the androgynous look." Beyond Retro's Jenna Aarons says that key looks include "70s floaty chiffon with full skirts, classic 1950s prom styles with fitted bodices and circular skirts, 80s full-beaded dropped waists and 90s slip styles," for an undone prom look inspired by Kate Moss in the 1990s.

Whatever the students' personal style, individuality is a key concern; the fear of wearing the same frock as someone else is so entrenched that exclusivity is a huge part of prom dressing. Many boutiques promise not to sell the dresses to more than one member of the same school, while larger retailers like Topshop produce limited-edition runs of only around 500 pieces worldwide, with the prom market in mind. If it sounds like a fuss about nothing, says Wyatt, try to look at it from the students' perspective: "They say: 'You only have one prom – but you can have many weddings.' That's how they see it."

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