London Fashion Week ss10: Lethal weapons




If you thought jewellery was big now, you’d better wait til next season. Jewellery is bigger, heavier and more fantastical than ever. At the LFW stands, I was scared to pick up Mary Katrantzou’s glass bracelets for fear of dropping them, so chunky and unwieldy they were. Fred Butler’s rainbow creations (above) were part jewellery-part art pieces with her trademark rainbow palette making them seem larger than life. Maria Francesca Pepe also showed gigantic 3-D sculptural jewels as did House of Flora with colossal hunks of clear perspex while Burberry Prorsum gave its approval with oversized perspex bangles. Why the big jewels now? House of Flora designer Flora McLean explained the theory to me, “it’s quite simple really, it’s all to do with the recession. People wear bigger jewellery when they’re feeling insecure. It’s a proven fact.”

[Fred Butler pic by Fashion156]

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London Fashion week ss10 – the round-up




I think we can agree that this season’s London Fashion Week was a huge eff-off success. We got the name designers, we got the Americans, we even got a pretty good helping of blog-loving as me, Discotheque Confusion, Coco’s Tea Party and I Luw Fashion all received the golden ticket to the gates of the Burberry show and after-party.

In terms of trends, it’s not easy to make bold proclamations quite yet, but filtering through are Dorothy-from-Kansas checks (at Christopher Kane and Peter Jensen – above), metallics and sequins (on the fashion press mostly but also at Sass & Bide and Ashish – duh), lots of white (at Eun Jeong and Osman) and more digital prints than you can shake a USB stick at. ‘Sculptural’ was a word I wrote down at nearly every show whether that came from undulating frills and pleats or a harder-edged aesthetic as seen on robo jackets and jutting-out heels at Basso & Brooke.

Commercial polish is something that our designers have pushed for several seasons now, each with their own funny little quirk but it’s safe to say I don’t think I can face another season of body-con minidresses and hobble-tastic plat-heels – change the record please now designers! Maybe we could see some casualwear next time?

There was a big collage-y, DIY story coming through from Louise Gray’s homemade shoes and spray-painted collection to the cut & paste aesthetic of Michael Van der Ham. It also made its presence felt in a couple of fashion films that were shown on menswear day at Sibling and E. Tautz. Quentin Jones who illustrated the E.Tautz film is a name to watch if you love collage and illustration.

Sibling

E.Tautz

I liked the ‘modern British’ trend emerging at Aquascutum and Paul Smith. Aquascutum’s Michael Herz told me that he was inspired by taking multicultural elements of Britishness and playing with them so a sari border was blown up into an oversized print and African beading was used as a trim. He was also influenced by the photographs of Malick Sidibé whose work I absolutely love, I was so glad when he told me that. I didn’t see the Paul Smith show – I was too busy ogling Scott Schuman and Garance Dore signing books at Liberty – but the pictures (below) showed a similar celebration of international Britishness with masculine shirting, African prints and layered dresses.

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LFW – Day three



Another day of running around and hitting the shows to ‘hoover up’ stories for The Daily. Betty Jackson was first where I snapped some cute little almost-flat shoes with fabric pompoms and tried not to stare at Peter Blake and Tracey Emin (two of my favourite artists). Mulberry at Claridges was a very classy affair but tempered with candy-coloured balloons to make it less formal and more fun. Clothes-wise is was very commercial. I’d say it’s all about those fringy boots…




Topshop Unique was also uber-commercial and very derivative. I saw shades of early Luella crossed with Bananarma and Courtney Love. There were so many ideas there though – XXXXL oversize mens shirts with the sleeves sliced off and fluoro spray paint as a print. And still the mega high heels continue. At Jasmine de Milo, I liked the simplicity of a long, eau de nil long-sleeved gown and the leather cocktail dresses with pockets. Why can’t all dresses have pockets? Tomorrow, the Americans arrive (by which I mostly mean, Anna W), although one American is here already. I made friends with Britt from Fashionista, who was also filing copy for The Daily. Britt loves London, having interned for Stella McCartney back in the day. I also caught up with a record number of bloggers including Frassy, Bish Shops, Magazine Machine, That’s Not My Age, Torfrocks. Wee Birdy, Aindrea, Susie Bubble, Rebekah Roy and Discotheque Confusion. Did I forget anyone? Crikey, no wonder I’m so zonked out and my eyes are closing as I type.

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Front row fix AW10



It’s day two of LFW AW10 and I’m already dead beat. Someone get me a stamina sandwich please! The good news is that there is a fantastic optimistic atmosphere. Whether it’s due to the weather or the new venue, everyone is in upbeat mode! Day one saw Joan Collins pitching up bright and early, obviously loving all the shoulder pad action going down in the collections. I was thrilled to see Yang Du (below) finally show on a catwalk – her cartoon stripy T-shirt dresses and knitted tiger bags were so graphic and poppy. I must say, it was bloody hard watching shows, getting designer quotes and filing copy for The Daily (practically all at the same time) but I managed to pull it off by the skin of my teeth.
Today was an easier ride beginning at Mark Fast. I’d heard a rumour that he would be sending out (gasp!) plus size models and he did. Opinion was divided on whether this was a good move. His original stylist refused to work with ‘big girls’ so he had to cast at the last minute. Unforch, size 14 models aren’t usual catwalk material so his girls weren’t brilliant at mastering the catwalk strut. Hey ho. That aside, the collection was brilliant and OMG, the suede ruffles were beauties.

Mary Katrantzou showed back-to-back with Mark. More cleverly thought-out shapes plus Mary had developed her glass bottle prints into something slightly more abstract and freeform. I loved the painterly eye make-up too.


The Kinder Aggugini show was the big WOW. I earwigged on a post-show conversation with Hilary Alexander and set-designer Michael Howells as they each took turns to say an exclamatory line.
“Sensational!“
“He’d be perfect for Ungaro!”
“Haute couture!“
“If he’s not snapped up within the year…”
“…you’ll eat your cigarette!”
I can never quite decide about Kinder Aggugini (OK, I didn’t like it) but I loved the Louise Gray presentation. There was collagy layering and art-school patchwork, hot pinks and blues, more colourful crayon make-up and DIY accessories fashioned by Judy Blame. And the DIY aesthetic extended to the decoration of the space – fluoro spray paint (a la Madonna’s Borderline video), gaffer-taped signage and even Louise’s own grafitti’ed laptop.











Ashish as usual was a riot of sequins and colour, this time with a holiday theme. Nike tick sequin tees, flamingo motifs and the Beach boys all added up to vacation, vacation, vacation.

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