Cupcakes and sweatshirts at London Fashion Week
Amy Verner reports from the catwalks of London Fashion Week
In a tented space that felt like one hemisphere of Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Dome, Canadian-born designer Erdem Moralioglu presented an impeccably detailed collection inspired by Zenna Henderson, a mid-20th-century science fiction writer. His silhouettes, accordingly, took their cue from the Fifties.Valerio Mezzanotti / NOWFASHION
This season, Erdem embroidered PVC to mimic lace and then sewed swatches of lace into organza. Finally, he showed these intricate fabric hybrids in shades of “toxic” neon, thereby twisting his signature couture style with new, exciting and unexpected elements.Valerio Mezzanotti / NOWFASHION
The designer also incorporated large panels of snakeskin this season, often offsetting it with soft, powdery shades of satin and lace. The desired effect was an almost reptilian beauty.Valerio Mezzanotti / NOWFASHION
On the final day of London Fashion Week, designer Roksanda Ilincic created a dynamic push-and-pull of modest dresses in shocking hues.AP
There was an op-art attitude to the collection; using hues that channelled the Seventies, Ilincic created colour-blocked dresses that boasted flattering curves.AP
She also used laminated organza for her final looks. The material looked like luxe latex, offering a hint of transparency and slick pleating. In another designer’s hands, it might have ended up as a body-skimming tube dress. But Ilinic, to her credit, remained conservative.AP
While London designers are known for their embrace of colour, many anticipated more toned-down hues this season (fashion is a case study in attention deficit disorder, after all). Simone Rocha largely limited herself to white but could not resist some limeade green.AP
Designed by Ed Meadham and Ben Kirchhoff, the Meadham Kirchhoff label continues to present a parade of kook. This season, it’s as if they created a wardrobe for contemporary courtesans.AP
Meadham Kirchhoff‘s trippy period costumes will be toned down by the time they hit stores, but first they should be put to use in a movie. Is Sofia Coppola available?AP
For her namesake line Ashish, designer Ashish Gupta seemed to have fun reworking denim into off-the-shoulder jumpsuits and conceiving slinky dresses for brainy girls. This sweatshirt, with its sequined lettering, says it all.Reuters