Frank Leder cannot adhere to conventional methods of presenting a men’s collection that season from season he shoots off into a tangent from a given point that questions the notion of what is tradition and contemporary. So often, tradition and classic is deemed as being old fashion, an antique tapestry maybe but given that as happy German men’s designer, Frank does not shy away from his own upbringing. In fact, it is what he has exactly experienced whilst living in his native country that really distinguishes his own collections from many other current men’s designers, of many are following a new order of British sartorialism that in some ways may confuse the act of dressing altogether.
Frank Leder doesn’t aim to design separates but he strongly conveys in his collections that a pair of trousers should signify its own signature and distinction. In ‘Holz’, a men’s range he has newly released, it anchors and is a physical capture of a boxer, a camerman and lumberjack. Frank communicates in this collection that it embodied the working class man, a strong wielded man who has firmly placed his strengths into action in the support for himself, his family and preoccupied civic duties.
We’re taken through a series of images that show the multi-skilled former boxer as a lumberjack in the forest woods of Germany, sawing wood and himself in-action chopping with his grand metal tipped axe. Organic wools have been sourced from a Baltic shepherd for the trousers and knitted garments, wood and metal buttoned enclosures for jackets and front pocket vests and rich vintage fabrics used for spread collar buttoned shirts.
The entire focus is not on Frank Leder’s new collection however. Primarily, it tells how one man has lived and the experiences he may express. You can see the harshness of his hands, his palm-lined face yet he will never lay down his essential working tools, only until he is unable to hold them up. In this old West Berlin cap, Leder succeeds in this collection for now just showing how he has managed to retain a contemporary wit and striving to source the most enduring fabrics but to represent a man, though having a tough working life can still have much pride in oneself.
