London Fashion Week - Days 1 & 2Fashion experts have arrived to Europe to attend the fashion

London Fashion Week - Days 1 & 2

Fashion experts have arrived to Europe to attend the fashion weeks opening with London, and I’m excited to see some old friends among the designers as well as some new talents. Let’s start the show.

Day 1

J.Js.Lee(photo 1) was a good start for London with a little bit of minimal directly from Asia. I loved all the shades of grey in this collection - cannot talk about it without referencing ‘50 shades of grey’, it’s becoming a joke - and the concept of the thread crossing the fabric and linking all the looks together was a nice, subtle feel rough putting together the whole collection.

LFW is always a great container of new talents, and Manuel Facchini (photo 2) debut on the catwalks was really one of the most promising I’ve seen recently. Facchini does very feminine silhouettes using bold and even aggressive patterns in a palette which is basically black and white, but the pops of colour weren’t missing: it’s only little touches, like the fine line bordering a jacket in red, or the yellow interior of a black and white dress skirt. Graphic and vibrant, I can’t wait to see more from this designer.

Paul Costelloe chose very bon ton shapes, with round skirt dresses inspired by the 50s. Chanel-like tweed jackets were mixed to brocade opulent fabrics and maxi shoulders to ironise. Very sleek and young silhouettes came from Fyodor Golan (photo 3), even if I still don’t understand what 'My Little Pony’ is doing there, but it added a touch of irony and thoughtlessness which is very in the mood with London Fashion Week. Towards the end the exaggerated proportions and the even more flamboyant colours made everything crazier but definitely more fun.

If there’s a place you’re sure you’ll find some great new artists, that’s Central Saint Martins. In this MA runway show fashion was art at its highest. It’s incredible to think that these designers were only fashion students until now. Among others, my favourites were Hayley Grundmann and Krystyna Kozhom, with their sculptures stating that basically every kind of material can be knitted, and also Beth Postle, with a very visible nod to the art of Keith Haring.

Day 2

Every time an African designer sends his creations down the runway I think that they all know how to deal with prints. Duro Olowu (photo 4) wasn’t different, and he definitely knows how to translate their traditions and aesthetic into beautiful feminine clothes which women from all over the world will definitely find as desirable items. 

Mother of Pearl had a collection where innocence exuded from every single garment, inspired by a sort of children-like fashion - vichy checks, knee-high coats and jackets, styling to the minimum, everything looked really natural. Bon ton is the thing at London Fashion Week, and Orla Kiely went all the way about it. Little cute dresses for extremely feminine women in pastel tones, sometimes paired with a silk foulard tied around the model’s neck. Someway there was space for slightly more alternative options, like furry long-sleeved dresses in warmer tones.

Faustine Steinmetz (photo 5) is a designer I put my eyes on last year for her debut at LFW, and now she’s one of those I wait for their collections to be shown, because I know there will be something amazing going on. Denim is her signature piece, and she manipulates it in ways still unknown to the fashion world. This time paired with hyper-white tops, the blue of the denim looked unusually bright and sparkly. It was minimal, yet had the impact of an avant-garde collection.

You can’t think of anything more minimal than Ports 1961. The clothes were cut to perfection, most of the collection was realised in black, white and nudes, but the touch of colour that every collection needs came toward the end, especially with a lovely very simple multi-coloured lace little dress which I adored. Softness everywhere was the first think I thought watching Emilia Wickstead’s collection (photo 6). Comfortable wool wrapping the body in soft coats and amazingly cozy sweaters in pale shades of pink, sky blue, nudes, were just lovely. Some concession to brighter shades in the last looks. Effortless atmosphere.

Sibling delivered a visionary collection, even if maybe more toned down than usual. Three-dimensionally graphic, loved the late embroidered with wool. Markus Lupfer (photo 7) was geometrical under every aspect: from the optical prints to the shape of the pieces, with perfectly tailored raglan sleeves, sharp edges and straight lines. Loved the variety of fabrics.

Contrasting feelings were featured in Danielle Romeril’s collection: every piece could be associated to the idea of strength as well of decay. Deconstruction, with clothes looking like they were falling apart, but never looking weak, everything looked stable somehow. The contrast was also given by the structured quality of quilted leather mixed to the fragility of lace.

The detail I liked the most from Lucas Nascimento’s collection was the extra thin straps in some of the dresses and tops, which made me think of 90s but in a cooler way, in contrasting colours, a little bit of bling and long silhouettes.

There was a lot going on in J.W.Anderson’s runway show, so you had to figure out what you were looking at. After all, Anderson has established himself as one of the greatest - and surest - promises of fashion. The thing I liked the most about this collection was that proportions were asymmetrical - sometimes the focal point was underlined with a belt, or with a simpler knot - and materials were really diverse, from leather to fringes. 

I don’t usually like only gown collections, but Marchesa (photo 8) always knows how to sell it in the best way possible. This special line is really a jewel in Marchesa maison, with gowns made of the finest materials and sewn by the most expert hands. Loved the ethereal chiffon and organza which looked like made of nothing, as well as the golden lace. It exuded perfection.

Black velvet was one of the most luxurious materials you could get during the Italian Renaissance. If Simone Rocha wanted to start her runway show making people think about opulence and luxury, well, that was the right thing to do. To translate the message into modern language then, taking brocade was a great choice, a fabric which managed to go beyond time differences and kept its appeal nowadays. The last looks were the extreme consequences of such a passage, looking much more modern than the previous ones, but still nodding to the past from where they came from.

I didn’t expect such an exciting runway show from Henry Holland for his House of Holland (photo 9) - don’t know why, in my mind his designs were much less bright than these ones. I loved the puzzling effect of prints creating new patterns and I loved the happiness coming out of them. And Henry Holland, running down the runway with a big smile on his face after the show, was definitely happy as well.

Total black, as many designers chose to do for this season, was the perfect choice for Gareth Pugh (photo 10). This time he really let his fantasy run wild and free, and the result was amazing. His creations are definitely sculptural: you see it in the duvets covering the body in shapes that made me think about Japanese warriors; but also in the structural shapes of the leather or the fringes made of only god knows what material was that. Experimental.

xxx