Brand review: LaneFortyfive

LaneFortyfive is a UFO brand. And without remembering precisely when I discovered it, I know that it immediately made a strong impression on me.

The kind of discovery that makes you love fashion.

Only for me, at first, it was too much. The volumes, the silhouettes, I couldn't access them right away. I found them beautiful without completely understanding them.

And perhaps this is the impression you will have when you discover the pieces I have selected.

When you take a look at the brand's website, you immediately realize that something different is happening. First of all, the site is more like a photographer's book than an e-shop. That already says a lot about the vision of Tanmay Saxena , the founder and himself a photographer (he is the one who shoots the brand's campaigns).

I won't dwell here on Tan's influences and his career because it tickles the eye ) but that's what I wanted.

And Tan, faced with this rather unreasonable request, said to me: “ok, very good choice.”

Set No. 1

How to tell you.

What I liked from the outset comes down to a single idea, which may surprise you but: it's as if the clothes were emerging towards us .

We reach a whole new dimension of ourselves with these clothes. They are in relief, they give a dynamic look. They don't just clothe your body, they put it in motion.

I grant you, it is difficult to see in the two clinical photos of the clothes placed on a table. So I'll put you right away, a photo of the whole thing right here.

If these clothes emerge, it is thanks to several elements:

• First this extreme clamp which takes three-quarters of the leg
• Then these bellows pockets which extend onto the sides
• And then the thickness of this denim which gives body to the lapels and the rest of the outfit

It's amazing. For me it is proof of everything that real design work can bring .

A garment is not simply a material, it is not simply a color, the fact of putting patches, adding things to stand out. Before all that, there is the work of cutting and styling the piece. This is the true foundation of good clothing.

Since ultimately, the other elements of this set are quite neutral : the material is wise, the color is usual (besides the fact that a white suit is not seen every day) and there are not many ostentatious details (pockets, buttons, seams, zippers or others).

It's all about cut and design.

And from this point of view, the pants particularly stand out.

Of course what stands out is the fact that the fabric is pinched dramatically over almost the entire leg. This immediately brings to mind India. I tell myself that these must be cuts that have been worn or perhaps still are worn. But my research doesn't provide anything specific on this subject. I contacted Tan to enlighten me on this subject and I will be sure to post his answers here.

As you can imagine, these are comfortable pants . I could do capoeria with it without any problem. If I knew how to do it.

These are the kind of pants that I imagine are closer to the feeling than making a skirt. If I stand straight without moving, not a single inch of my skin is touched by the fabric. It's the definition of comfort. Total freedom to move as you wish.

I don't have much more to say than that. The rest, the details, I took photos of. But I find that they are of little importance. What you need to know is that it's well done. The details are quite crude and it goes exactly with what the brand conveys.

It's clean but no particular effort on the small details. Personally, I am much more moved by the way an item of clothing hangs than by the flashiness of a zip. And that’s exactly what the brand delivers.

The fabric is an ecru denim with beautiful little rough edges that always feels authentic . The diagonal lines typically found in twill reinforce the presence of the fabric.

By its color and its unusual use (it's still a costume), you don't realize that it's denim. And yet I find that it is the perfect fabric for this overall shape: relaxed with twists (spectacular darts on the leg and raised pockets at the top).

Speaking of pockets, let's take a look at the jacket.

Of course, we notice a simplicity in the form. Two lapels, two buttons and two pockets.

Things that are notable:

• The bellows pockets extend onto the side and back. This makes pockets much larger than normal and this little twist is enough to add a lot of charm.
• The placement of the buttons: the first goes high and the second goes low. This reinforces the relaxation of the room. And they are positioned harmoniously on the length of fabric remaining between the bottom of the lapel and that of the jacket.
• The cut of the jacket is boxy: short and loose. I don't know if you realize how short the jacket is. Frankly, I even sent an email to Tan expressing my doubts. But that was just reception because the more I wear it and see it the more I find it cohesive in the silhouette. Of course it goes with high waisted pants. Very high even. If you try to wear it with low-rise jeans, it's guaranteed to be a badass. Nothing will come of this attempt except desolation and jeers.

The jacket is completely deconstructed. How else can we do it here? It makes perfect sense with the register of this set. Besides, it's not so much a jacket, it's more of an overshirt . In any case, that's the feeling you get when wearing it.

The visual consequence of this is that, as there are no structures in the shoulders, they fall round. And it goes perfectly with the roundness of the pockets and the bottom of the jacket. L45 aims for harmony in details to create coherent pieces which, even if they are singular, present themselves in the most natural way.

Some other details:

Set No. 2

180 turn. This time, we plunge into the dark. I don't wear much black. Except for shoes and socks. I think it goes beautifully with green, brown, blue, white pants… all of them in fact.

The idea was therefore the same as on the first set: to leave room for the cutting work and the material.

The overall result looks like this:

It’s a complete look, difficult to surpass by adding complementary clothing. We can of course consider wearing the pants and the shirt, separate from this set, in everyday outfits but the coat is more complicated.

It’s a more image-oriented piece, let’s say.

That way if I had to take it to integrate it into another outfit, I wouldn't really know where to start. I would have to do some tests with the items in my wardrobe. If you have any ideas, the comment section of the article is your friend.

This is how the coat looks in detail.

And the material is a thick linen which can accompany us quite far into the mid-season . It's designed for a UK summer so perhaps a little too thick for a summer here.

I'm talking about the jacket and pants, which are made from the same fabric. The shirt is made of lighter linen. (I would like to point out that I expect more technical elements from the brand.)

The plain weave offers an authentic appearance . We feel that it is durable and breaks round. This is what they say for good quality linen. And especially quite thick linen in fact which will not crease too much and if it creases it will be less angular than what you can see on very fine linen.

Perfect for a coat, jacket or pants.

This thickness of linen is, I find, unfairly unused for winter clothing. While linen retains certain very useful properties in winter: its resistance, its ability to wick away moisture, its thermoregulatory force.

Which gives me hope of wearing these clothes longer in the mid-season. I'll see for myself.

I also pose this thought here but we tend to notice that the color black on clothes ages poorly. This obviously depends on the quality of these. But this mainly concerns cotton. And you can come across old black linen work jackets in thrift stores and their patina is sublime. I think these clothes will take the same direction.

Now let's take a closer look at the pants.

Small note: I find it a little too long on me. I usually wear shorter pants. So I will go to a retoucher as soon as possible. That said, I wore it with a baggy jeans t-shirt with light stacking and it wasn't so bad. It just makes my leg shorter and I want to avoid that at all costs. As you can read in this article that I wrote about the high waist. And I also don't like the feeling of having pants pressing too hard on my foot. I don't know.

The darts are less generous than on ecru. They are positioned rather towards the outside of the leg and are turned towards the outside too. It gives a little something different.

The belt is quite classic and the only other particularly (apart from its cut) is this seam which occurs at the bottom of the legs.

Now let's talk about the cut: it's always high waisted. A little less than ecru but in this day and age, it would make more than one person faint.

Leg opening: 23.5cm

Half thigh: 34cm

A beautiful straight and loose cut which gives body to the silhouettes.

And for those who like details:

We'll quickly finish with the shirt about which there isn't much to say.

Its three particularities are as follows:

• The right-angled mandarin collar: it gives a truly solemn look to its wearer, it's not for everyone.
• The single pocket, not on the chest, but on the left side.
• A hidden throat buttonhole which makes the shirt more formal and highlights the only button that we see, just at the base of the neck which then becomes more than a button but almost like a jewel.

The cut is straight, as I think you will understand if you start to look around Lanefortyfive.

Details of the shirt in the photo:

Some other photos from the shoot

The final word

The strength of Lanefortyfive is to offer silhouettes that you don't see elsewhere. The cutting and design work is extremely advanced and it could be a partner who supports you in the search for a new look.

I really invite you to get lost in their somewhat labyrinthine e-shop and let yourself be surprised by certain pieces. I'm also very attracted to big winter pieces with all-over prints. This is rarely seen in the men's wardrobe and it's truly refreshing to know that Lanefortyfive is still working to put a big kick in the anthill of our sartorial beliefs.