For the second consecutive season, Samuel Ross has presented his latest vision for A-COLD-WALL* through the medium of film, this time shot by promising UK filmmaker Will Dhorn and starring a new collaboration with Mackintosh. Cut with fervent intensity, ‘Untitled’ oscillates between moments of monochromatic anxiety and vibrant interludes of calm, offering a dramatised version of our own emotional volatility over recent months.

Traversing emotional boundaries is nothing new for Ross (just watch his previous film for SS21), but there’s an ominous undertone to Dhorn’s camerawork that feels different here. Interspersed among the film’s more serene moments are flashes of surveillance images – long-lens shots, body-cam night vision and snippets of what appears to be thermal imaging, that provide the film’s fleeting moments of unease.

These visceral polarities are transposed onto a collection that equally shifts between moments of trusting openness and threatening defence. Indulgent knitwear pieces, sensuous tailoring and knee-length scarves (all executed with Ross’ unique sense of sculptural proportion) reflect the growing trend for comfort without compromising the utility we have come to expect from A-COLD-WALL*. Providing contrast are the padded outerwear pieces in subdued tones, the seamless, face-covering waterproof jackets and one particular vest that looks capable of stopping a bullet. Even the bucket hats look uncertain of our current predicament, with one taking a conventional form while the other comes fitted with protective flaps to shield the back of your neck – this is truly a collection of and for our times.

Watch the A-COLD-WALL* FW21 film here.