Shop spring/summer fashion now at MATCHESFASHION

From spring cleaning our homes and wardrobes to reconnecting with the tender buds and blossoms of nature, spring is always a time of new beginnings and fresh starts - so it's little wonder that there's a new, optimistic mood sweeping through the new fashion season too, especially at one of our favourite retailers, MATCHESFASHION.

In the words of Simon Chilvers, creative director at MATCHESFASHION: 'One of fashion’s many functions in our lives is to offer us not just fantastic things to wear but also to inspire us with new ideas, concepts, stories. For our spring/summer 21 collections story, we felt at this particular moment that many people would also be looking to designers for optimism, things to wear that make them smile.'

Viewing the new season edit, a riotous clash of colours, textures, prints and pattern it's near impossible not to smile, a challenge further aided by the joyful styling of the new campaign featuring a group of smiley, happy (gorgeous) people, in closer contact with each other than most of us have experienced with anyone outside our own bubbles for the best part of a year. Thanks to the route out of lockdown it feels like a promising glimpse of what's to come.

As ever, the buying team at MATCHESFASHION has scoured the (virtual) showrooms and collections of some of the hottest emerging and established designers, in order to bring an injection of the new and the now that perfectly rounds out its more timeless offering.

The brands the team are most excited about for the new season include old favourites such as Marni, Margiela, Loewe, Bottega Veneta and Jil Sander alongside new-establishment names including Simone Rocha, Molly Goddard, Shrimps, Wales Bonner and JW Anderson. Rounding out the offering are pieces from more nascent names such as Ahluwalia, Ludovic De Saint Sernin, Bianca Saunders, Nodaleto, and Rave Review.

That theme of emergence continues to the campaign imagery, explains Chilvers: 'We worked closely with photographer and artist Pablo Di Prima – a fantastic emerging talent. The idea was to bring to our audience a mood that would encourage a sense of self-expression through clothes, the idea of dressing for yourself but also for your friends, and ultimately to find all the pleasures that when it’s at its very best fashion should bring.'

With real life socialising tantalisingly in reach once again, it's inevitable that the anticipation and joy of getting dressed up to go out - rather than for the half-life of Zoom or the strange spotlight of social media - will return anew too.

And while we might feel a little rusty at first, the mood of self-expression behind the new season theme at MATCHESFASHION is too inspiring to ignore, especially for those who've had a lockdown-induced change of heart about saving things for 'best' and dressing for your own delight.

But make no mistake, yes these pieces are perfect for park socials come mid April and pub gardens in May, but they're also right for right now, for strolling the same streets you've been exploring for the last year, for staying in with a meal kit and a movie, for however you celebrate making it through another week.

Because now, it seems, it's time for the return of joy - you just have to jump for it.