The menswear designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver have a reputation for frivolity and humour on the runway. They like colour and odd fabrics and the aura of eccentricity. They haven’t lost their good spirits, but they are stripping down their fall 2015 Duckie Brown collection, getting rid of the gimmicks and holding on to the substance.

“There are cardigans without buttons and jackets without collars,” says Silver. “For me, I think we’ve done a collection based on where we are. It’s a challenging time; creatively, financially … But it’s a positive collection.”

Instead of focusing on dour aesthetics and hiding their models under countless layers of buttoned-up frocks or championing the balaclava, as they have before, they are opening up. They aren’t talking in aesthetic riddles. They’re even tearing down the wall that typically separates the audience at their runway show from the goings-on backstage. ... Read more »