It's goodbye to the '80s and hello to rosy days
London Fashion Week has long set the tone for the year's must haves. Ciara Elliott guides us through the trends to adopt and ones to drop as well as where different celebrities went and how they looked
Costelloe - Numbers 4, 8 and 9
Rocha - Numbers 10 and 15
Topshop - Numbers 5 and 8
Westwood - Number 2
Kane - Numbers 7 and 8
Luella - Numbers 8 and 13
Burberry, Numbers 11 and 13
Basso and Brooke, Number 12
Williamson, Number 6
PPQ, Number 3
1. Location, location, location
In its 25 year history, London Fashion Week has had a number of homes including the Natural History Museum, Duke of Yorks, Battersea and Olympia. For the first time this year it has decamped at Somerset house, a grand 18 century palatial pile on London's Strand, full of character and elegance. Think backdrop of olde world cobblestoned courtyard with a modern day fashion circus in the middle. Very atmospheric.
2. Red or dead
The Vivienne Westwood Red Label show was full of classic VW references with a definite up-to-date spin; Little pastel dresses accessorised with straw hats and Edwardian parasols, one-shoulder deconstructed dresses and blouses (reminiscent of her New Romantics years), lots of gingham, stripe and check (very garden party with an edgy twist). Her Brit punk spirit was alive and well as always with some models sporting horns and crowns and black PVC sack dresses and others giving fierce grimaces at the camera.
3. Controversial model casting
From plus-size models at Mark Fast's show to the first ever all-black LFW fashion show at PPQ, designers gained street cred – and column inches – for their controversial model casting. But not everybody was happy. At the Mark Fast show there was a behind-the-scenes row with the stylist who walked out in a hissy fit over the designer's last minute decision to cast the size 14 models.
4. Back to the future
This is the seventh time in a row that Costelloe has opened fashion week and it certainly didn't disappoint. Great space age shapes, almost architectural in structure, shot through with octagonal and triangular motifs and a colour palette that was all pastel and neutrals. Menswear was more restrained and debonair – think The Great Gatsby meets Brideshead Revisited.
5. Big knickers and conical bras
It looks like next spring is going to be a good time for lingerie as designers from Jasper Conran and Margaret Howell to Nicole Fahri and Sass and Bide highlighted undergarments such as corsets, bustiers and boob tubes. Young designer Louise Goldin, sponsored by Topshop, really stood out with her rocket cone crystal bras in gold and silver lame bringing back memories of the Madonna 'Blonde Ambition' years.
6. Glitz and glamour
The fact that Matthew Williamson was showing back in London was a big deal both for buyers and press, and the glamour factor on the catwalk was high. Bright colours, body con and lame ruled the day, with Williamson's signature Ibiza sun-soaked laid-back boho look still reigning supreme, albeit in a much more streamlined, New York influenced way. What we'll all be wearing next summer? Well if you are with the Williamson tribe it will be lime green toe-less boots, shiny super skinny trousers and paper-bag-waisted skirts. Nice!
7. Kane and (clearly) able
Industry insiders including Philip Green and Donatella Versace love Christopher Kane, the designer who at just 27 has already taken the fashion world by storm. This show illustrated a new angle on the label, with gingham and dainty florals heading him off in a whole new – much softer – direction. Expect the high street next summer to be filled with Kane-inspired pieces such as cropped tops, slashed-to-the-knee skirts and flirty paneled dresses and skirts in honeys, pinks and creams.
8. Goodbye to the 1980s
Say goodbye to 80s fashion references. If LFW is anything to go by the two new decades to plunder are the girly 50s and grunge from the 90s. Sugary pastels, rockabilly denim and Doris Day checks were seen at 28 12, Paul Costelloe and Christopher Kane, while Topshop was heavy on the surfer-dude and Nirvana 90s references. Meanwhile cutesy polka dots and Minnie Mouse bows formed the foundation of the Luella show.
9. Diamond life
Forget cocoon and body con. The new shape for summer 2010 is triangular, with diamond shaped skirts and dresses everywhere from Peter Pilotto, Paul Costelloe, Antonio Berardi and Jonathan Saunders.
10. Rosy days
While prints and colour blocking were huge at LFW, delicate hues of nudes, pastels and neutrals are still coming through for next summer, and at John Rocha this was especially pertinent. Think giant rose petals on pastel tones mixed with skin leggings, puffed shorts, clompy wooden heels and mad Aunty Batty hats. Fab!
11. Check please
This was LFW's hottest ticket and it didn't fail to impress. Classic skinny armed trenches fashioned in so many ways, ruched leggings, draped tops, knots on shoes, dresses and tops and the biggest news of all? The Chav-tastic Burberry check made its comeback on their new 'Sling' bag.
12. Prints charming
Designers such as Basso and Brooke, Peter Pilotto and Erdem, known for their sexy out-there prints and amazing colour combinations, were right on the pulse again this season showing all sorts of influences, from classical Japanese gardens to neo-pop and psychedelia. Of particular note were Basso and Brooke's digital printed tailoring and Peter Pilotto's faint snakeskins and painterly patterns. Pilotto is a designer whose star is rising. Expect High Street versions of his figure-loving dresses everywhere next summer as well as a good representation of the designer in Brown Thomas. "I've been watching him for a while and out of all the shows I saw, he was definitely my personal favourite," says Shelly Corkery, head buyer at Brown Thomas.
13. Short, short, short
London's Swinging Sixties first brought mini skirts to the fore, so its no surprise that minis – in the form of skirts, shorts and playsuits – were all over the catwalks for next summer. Josh Goot did mini bodycon, Luella mini shorts and even Temperly (usually quite a 'safe' label) were showing mini dresses, but Burberry's tiny trenches and thigh short skirts were most sexy and notable.
14. One to watch
As newly appointed designer for Halston next season, all eyes were on Marios Schwab who showed a romantic, yet edgy, collection of pieces which looked like they had been pulled apart and sewn back together. So much less about the body con than before, not sure if this will take off quite as much. A puffy skirt over nappy pants in sheer silk anyone?
15. Beyond the pale
Sheers, nudes and frosted pastel tones were shown everywhere from Burberry to John Rocha this week, although the good news for fair Irish skins is that you don't need a tan to wear them. Designer ingénue Jonathan Saunders based his whole collection on Swedish vampire flick 'Let the Right one in' – with pale snowy white models wearing organza shift dresses, some with flashes of chartreuse green and paint-spash blues. Beautiful and astonishingly wearable.
September 27, 2009
Advertise here
Click to create
Website by Maithú™
Searching
Print
E-mail
del.icio.us
digg
Facebook
Google