London Fashion Week

[kit]

Some VERY good and considered judgement here :-

http://www.guardian.co.uk/style/story/0,3605,1152129,00.html

What do YOU think ?

KIT

 

[Urban Stylin]

i thought new york olutdid london this time

 

[Atelier]

After reading the first paragraph I thought the article would try to lay the blame exclusively on those movie and music award shows. But then it seemed to touch on several key reasons why London, although definitely one of the "Big Four," is so lagging in prestiege behind NY, Milan and Paris.

Too often, London fashion week can appear to be a stand-off between young designers competing over who can show the daftest clothes in the draughtiest and most badly lit venue and an old guard whose shows can have a frustrating lack of ambition.

This is a very good point that not only applies to London, but to every established fashion week too. In the "New York Fashion Week Bites" thread in this forum, I think this is the point I was getting at but didn't word as well.

A good catwalk collection has to find a balance. It should not, to my mind, look (as many New York collections do) like a posh size-6 version of clothes you could find in any decent branch of Gap or M&S. But neither should it look (as many London collections have done in the past) like a mad professor's fashion laboratory where one crucial factor - that women need to wear these clothes - has been forgotten. A bit of imagination on the part of a fashion designer is essential; too much is just self-indulgent.

I think London excels when it is out there in "mad professor" land. The trick is to do it while making the clothes look good even if they are unsellable in their current state or unwearable on the street. Again this applies to designers everywhere too. On the other hand, look at Patrick Robinson's Perry Ellis. I think that's what this author is referring to by "Gap or M&S" but guess what, that stuff is going to sell because the pieces will retail for $38 to $225. It's not going to make front page news but in the aggregate it will draw buyers and create more of an audience for, in this case, NY fashion week.

Frost French, Boudicca, Sophia K., Ghost and even Julien Macdonald (we have to have some theater), made this LFW worthwhile. Arkadius didn't deliver and too many other collections were, as the author put it, "self-indulgent." Other than that, my attention was on Madrid and even the stuff coming out of Beirut.

 

[Lena]

fwd London a/w 04.-05 roundup

London: Old World Charm and New School Rules

Posted by Melanie Rickey
February 17, 2004 @ 12:50 AM - London

This week eleven young designers decided to pull out of holding shows this week. Why? They don’t get the sales in London. Their absence has made the week feel stale, and caused high profile names including Julien Macdonald to request government funding to pep up the event. Stuart Vevers, who designs bags for Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Luella Bartley as well as his own collection, explains the problems facing London’s designers succinctly: “Everyone comes to my stand, but don’t buy. They ask if I am showing in Paris. There is a lack of confidence in London now,” he says. “We need a few stars.”

Last year the officially appointed stars-in-waiting Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby of Boudicca got a six figure sponsorship deal with Amex and were heaped with praise. They are a talented couple and their clothes are special, but their show held on a fake scrubland stage in a London theatre only served to point out that these designers are stuck within their own philosophical concepts. They failed to deliver the celebratory couture quality clothes they have shown they are capable of, and stuck to their precise signature black tailoring and layered it with oversized hooded sportswear pieces in a luxury shimmering pale floral or black nylon, supple shiny leather jackets or chunky raccoon fur wraps. Fierce riding boots with sharp spurs were a nod to their icon Boudicca, but would be classed a lethal weapon out on the street. Backstage, citing influences such as struggle, hunting, myth, and escape from reality, the designers’ situation became clear. They need to lighten up big time. Perhaps they should listen to disco. Anything would be better than a female voice intoning “Submission, bringing me down,” on repeat throughout the show. (shes right on Boudicca)

Alice Temperley, 28, is a relatively new designer, and a rising star in London and New York where she has huge appointment-only stores. Her clothes are luscious, pretty, elegant and beautifully made with wonderful prints, textures and feminine 1930s silhouettes with a hint of Paris—and they sell like hot cakes. At the stunning Art Deco ballroom in the Park Lane Hotel, her clothes looked at home. Layered ribbon and chiffon debutante dresses in pink and black; aubergine and apricot Deco prints on flowing dresses, sheer blouses with beaded sprigs, tailored knee-length shorts and Art Deco print knits. These, and the nautical, military and ‘30s themes shown by London’s most successful designer, Paul Smith, all added up to clothes to love. And good sales. But where's the buzz?

It came late Monday night at Giles Deacon’s debut collection, and not a moment too soon. The 34 year-old ex-Bottega Veneta designer decided to do his own collection and drafted old friend Pop editrix and Prada stylist Katie Grand to pull together what turned out to be the show of the week so far. For a debut it rocked: Erin O’Conner, Karen Elson, Eva Herzigova and Nadja Auermann took to the runway at The Royal Chelsea Hospital—home of Word War II pensioners and where Margaret Thatcher goes to church—in glamour clothes fit for a 1940s Hollywood siren. Old school Hollywood glamour is really shaping up into a major trend this week. The collection was inspired by Helena Rubenstein, Hans Bellmer and Aubrey Beardsley illustrations. The girls looked drop dead gorgeous in square shouldered tailoring, fitted high waist hobble pencil skirts, caped jackets with flared sleeves, and dramatic floor length dresses in billowing dark red silk. Deacon played with gold-flecked tweeds, gold leather, black boucle and developed a dramatic glitter print; refreshingly, all the clothes were made in England, too. He is thinking big, and his efforts will be rewarded. This is a designer to watch. “If people don’t start having a go at making things happen here in London, it will disappear,” he said backstage.

Stuart Rose, chairman of the British Fashion Council, acknowledged that there were some problems with the London event but said it was in good shape overall. We just need a few more Giles Deacon’s to bring back the buzz

i so agree

 

[Scott]

Its not so much the battles of the ludicrously experimental to the downright boring--the media just focuses too much on the particulars...the established and the ones that are causing all the hooplah. They get disppointed,its their own fault. London had a great season,in my eyes. Lots of creative and equally wearable collections and only a couple looked stagnant.

I agree about Boudicca. Its one thing to be melancholic but that show was much too aggressive... pretentious.

 

[Spacemiu]

Originally posted by Scott@Feb 20th, 2004 - 4:03 pm
Its not so much the battles of the ludicrously experimental to the downright boring--the media just focuses too much on the particulars...the established and the ones that are causing all the hooplah. They get disppointed,its their own fault. London had a great season,in my eyes. Lots of creative and equally wearable collections and only a couple looked stagnant.

I agree on this.