Boys, it's time for bustles and nail-covered balaclavas

(GETTY IMAGES)

London Fashion Week's experimental edge was in evidence at the event's first full day of menswear. Any one missing the week's usual quota of gimp masks could sigh with relief at the Hellraiser-meets-Leigh-Bowery, nail-covered leather balaclavas by Jaiden rVa James, part of the Fashion East exhibition.

Daring designs for men included bustles of peacock satin or stiff red ribbon by Lou Dalton, or haunting skeleton masks and body jewellery by Katie Eary, a designer to watch. Inspired by William Burroughs's books Junky and Naked Lunch, her collection offered tights painted with bones, jeans shredded to suggest ligaments and gold rope necklaces swathed across the chest like a jewelled ribcage.

For the man wishing to make a less radical statement, there was the sharp, minimalist tailoring of Topman Design: narrow suit jackets and ankle-length trousers in shiny silks; T-shirts with abstract patterns worn under jackets and jersey trousers with tapered legs.