LONDON FASHION WEEK: THE COBBLED yard of Somerset House may have challenged the fashion brigade staggering in on the season’s blockbuster stilettos, but London Fashion Week’s fighting new spirit of optimism and celebratory atmosphere shone in many spring/summer collections over this hot and sunny weekend, writes DEIRDRE McQUILLAN
Colours were light, fabrics soft and the look was feminine and romantic, though shoulders were still squaring up to the new realities.
Off the catwalk, leading fashion editors were often clad improbably in gold or silver sequins adding a hard night-time glitter to early morning shows. But for spring 2010, the new decorative effects are frills and devil-may-care flounces with a lot of draping on the hip. The ruff is a key accessory.
This frothiness showed in John Rocha’s spring collection with its cascades of ruffles, petalled skirts in pale watercolour tones of old rose, eau de nil and pink.
More romantic and ethereal than usual, he softened tailored white jackets with insets of filigree lace and even the menswear jackets were teamed with ropes of pearls and embellished T-shirts.
But the stars of the show were stiffened crochet dresses and skirts, sculptural in form, an innovative approach to a heritage craft.
“It was beautiful and I loved the colour and was really struck by the moulded pieces” singer Roisin Murphy, pregnant with her first child and who attended the show, told The Irish Times.
According to Rocha, the British Museum is already interested in acquiring some of these signature crochet pieces.
In a similar spirit, Jasper Conran’s corseted collection could have been called a whiter shade of pale with its punched, panelled and floral appliquéd leathers as light and as decorative as lace.
Conran’s skill is combining sweetly demure looks with those that are raunchy and sexy, but always with incomparable finesse, making a silver sequinned vest mini dress worn with nothing but backcombed hair as alluring as a full skirted white silk prom speckled with stardust.
And no one makes a crisper sun dress.
Of the newcomers, Kinder Aggugini, who styles his work couture punk, called his spring offering “Loss of Innocence”.
Taking inspiration from the darker elements of fairytales, it was a zany combination of neat tweed jackets and military frock coats over billowing milkmaid dresses or puffball skirts in abstracted python or animal prints.
Its unlikely mix of polka dots, circus stripes and oversized Beefeater hats added up to a terrific show, full of joie de vivre and crafted with polish and great individual style.
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