The Gems of London Fashion Week – Part 1
London is still considered as the baby of the fashion month schedule. But, with youth comes energy and eagerness, and the English capital lived up to its reputation. As home to the newest and most experimental, established and respected designers, the five-day showcase was dynamic. Hopping from show to show, the breadth of British design can be summed up by The Blogazine’s favourite London shows. Tune in this evening for the second part.
Vivienne Westwood
Vivienne Westwood showed just a stone’s throw from her first store on Kings Road at London’s Saatchi Gallery. The location itself was as interesting as the collection. The white walls and bright lights elevated the clothing, and like the art that usually calls the space home, her designs represented modern thinking and conceptual prowess.
The collection contained all the familiar Westwood touches, like a-symmetrical draping and hourglass silhouettes. Themes of animal prints came through early on, along with whimsical 1950s references, like the bundles of Marilyn Monroe curls the models spotted. Stronger 80s overtones came through in the collections latter half from sequin tops and prom dresses. The decade’s glitz was an unusual inspiration, considering that during the 80s Westwood rejected all of these tropes in favour of a rawer punk vibe.
The painterly makeup was a clever statement. It referenced the likes of Picasso with its strong black outlines and solid blocks of colour – eyelids were wet with vivid turquoise and saffron shades, and lips were smeared scarlet.
Marques’ Almeida
For winter Marques’ Almeida stepped out of their comfort zone. The Portuguese designers brought their street-style aesthetic to formalwear, a first for the pair.
The two-time NewGen winners and Fashion East alumn are an archetype of London’s design scene: experimental but referential. As always, Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida look to the 90s for inspiration – grunge is an obvious trope – and AW13 was no different. They dug deeper and sought the unaffected glamour of Winona Ryder for their reworking of classic eveningwear shapes.
The pair played with typical eveningwear silhouettes. Mimicking the billows of the ballgowns they showed, in jewel tones, wide pantaloons in raw silk. They brought rawness to refined fabrics like ponyhair and leather – marking them with typical Marques’ Almeida nonchalance of torn hems.
Layering was a persistent theme too. Skirts over trousers and fur throws made an appearance. A new jeans look moves their denim offering forward – slim on the leg, the rich indigo denim was torn at the ankle to create a dragging flair. They have again, successfully silenced critics who’ve questioned how Marques’ Almeida could expand their vocabulary away from just torn denim.
David Koma
With the front row filled with blonde singers, like The Saturdays and Pixie Lott, Koma presented a collection fit for its audience. Rifting on the vinyl, the Central Saint Martins grad took the LP silhouette and bent, chopped and manipulated it across his collection.
In black, nude and pillar-box red, Koma sent out mini skirts and variations on biker jackets and waistcoats edged with space-age collars that circled the body. Sheer paneling played with the idea of cutouts for winter.
It may not have been a revolutionary outing for the designer, but it was effortlessly sellable – all looks came in black after all.
