Oliver Spencer might be most readily associated with Britishness – his career began with a stall on London’s Portobello Market and his subsequent eponymous label is synonymous with British tailoring and craft – though a new summer collection sees the menswear designer look further afield, towards the colours and architecture of Cuba and Colombia.
Designed after a recent trip to the countries, Spencer looked towards Cuba’s distinct menswear culture as starting point – a longtime fascination of the designer – in particular, the pleated guayabera shirt and its mix of ‘decorative elements and utility‘. Here, riffs on the style arrive in the designer’s typically undone style, largely crafted from organic cotton and linen. ‘The shirt has become a national symbol of Cuba, so I’ve tried to honour it by creating a modern homage to it,’ says Spencer.
Travel diary: Oliver Spencer Summer Collection 2023
Tailoring is unstructured – worn in the accompanying images with Cuban-collared shirting – while pleated linen trousers and shorts are teamed with more vivid print shirts, from ochre checks to an array of striped motifs. Textures span super-soft slubby linen, lightweight pointelle jersey, and terry cloth, while colours meld an array of neutral tones – sand, stone, taupe, cream, and mushroom among them – with bolder hues inspired by those found in Colombian architecture, from sky blue and indigo to dusty pink.
The collection is photographed in Cartagena, a Colombian port city on the country’s northern coastline that Spencer had visited in the run-up to the collection. ‘I’ve tried to represent the bright sun-hit façades with slubby textural linens, while incorporating accents of vibrant colours, which is such a facet of Colombian style,’ he says.
The result is what the brand calls ‘an aesthetic that is steeped in classic summer silhouettes, cut with a relaxed and contemporary tailored approach’ – arriving in Oliver Spencer stores and online from 6 May 2023, in time for the warmer months ahead.
