Nasir Mazhar at London Collections: Men

You could hardly close the London menswear collections with a whimper: into the brink stepped Nasir Mazhar, until recently known as a milliner with a penchant for JD Sports, a wicked sense of humour and great taste in underground MCs. Doesn't sound very Ascot, does it? 

Mazhar has expanded his offering to sportswear, the kind feasibly sported by said MCs - that is, brash, body-baring, and boldly logoed. Mazhar's interpretations had an extra dimension, patchworked from odd, arcane materials like terrycloth towelling, faux fur and sequinned jersey and zig-zagged with elastic proudly proclaiming his name, just like Calvin Klein did before him. There was more than one ode to a Clavin-clad Marky Mark, trousers slung so low below a Nasir Mazhar-ed hipbone that the entire rump jutted out. But that's the way MCs wear these kind of trousers.

That was the advantage Mazhar had over the other designers purveying this kind of urban streetwear throughout London Collections: Men - authenticity. Mazhar sports this sportswear everyday. Despite the humour (today, a bucket covered one model's head with a fun-fur tongue and ears attached. You honestly laughed, but with not at Mazhar), there's no irony, and no sarcasm to what he does. Mazhar would genuinely love to collaborate with JD Sports. And it would probably do a roaring trade.