Make Way for the Gothic and the Grungey

McQueen made the case particularly well in London. Seán McGirr’s latest collection returned the house to its home city with all the requisite darkness. Volume, sharp tailoring, leather, lace. Drama. All staged inside the Gothic arches of Lincoln’s Inn Chapel. It was a show of clothes that felt designed to be lived in after dark.

And across the Atlantic, Coach took a different route to reach a similar destination. Stuart Vevers has been steadily picking at the edges of American youth culture, and this season that meant messy hair, tailoring in states of undress and slouchy layers with a distinctly grungy nonchalance. All topped off with a knowingly ironic party hat. Nothing looked particularly precious or refined, purposefully undone.

The appeal of grunge and goth right now isn't really about dressing like a teenager in a 1990s club. It is about looking a little less put together. A scuffed boot. An undone shirt. A leather jacket that has actually seen some things. Black worn with black until the distinction between pieces becomes meaningless.

After so much of fashion has been concerned with looking expensive, polished and correct, it’s refreshing to see clothes that look better when they’re a little bit battered.