I've wrote about some of my favourite collections from London Fashion Week. Like my NYFW post, I am quite late when publishing this, however it doesn't matter because it's not S/S15 until next year!
Georgia O'Keeffe's own personal style (of clothing not painting) was the main concept behind Eudon Choi's S/S15 collection which was shown on the first day of London Fashion Week. When comparing a photograph of the artist to the clothes on the catwalk, you will recognise that any of these garments could have come from a modern O'Keefe's wardrobe. I am quite interested as to why Choi had chosen her as his main inspiration as opposed to a well known style icon. Maybe he looks up to her as an artist, or maybe he wants to show her as an individual behind all of her paintings or maybe he feels as though her style would fit in comfortably within the trends of today. It's possible that all of these reasons are correct, however one thing I do know is that Eudon Choi approached this season with pure originality and he did certainly encapsulate both the masculine dressing of O'Keefe and the femininity that she portrayed within her art. The show started off with some men's inspired, black tailoring in the form of loosely fitted blazers and skirts. Almost immediately after, these garments were followed by two slouchy dresses made out of smooth, shiny fabric, one of which was a pastel pink and the other a baby blue. Black tailoring quickly followed. Throughout the entire show, the changes of structure and colour tones within the garments purposefully continued to signify the two characteristics that were part of O'Keefe's aesthetic. The lighter garments developed into white and pink floral prints whereas the darker apparel grew looser and baggier in a comfortably stylish kind of way. The assortments occasionally crossed paths, for instance, a densely collared, black jacket featured a soft-hued patch on its right breast, whereas flimsy, asymmetrically hemmed dresses combined both the colour black and a white, repetitive flower print.
All in all, the designer is still keeping to his origins of menswear tailoring whilst developing his own approach to the 'girlier' side of womenswear. This very strong collection explored talents in both of these areas.
Oversized, leather floppy hats took social media sites Twitter and Instagram by storm this season. The culprit responsible for this trend was JW Anderson. The hats establish the definite key themes running through the designer's assemblage as they incorporate both oversizing and leather. Oversized, curved lapels that were bounded with black leather could be seen on a shortened, trench coat. Enlarged metallic buttons and jigsaw piece chokers sparsely populated the collection, whilst leather appeared in the form of crinkled, elbow-length gloves and as full garments. Leather corsetry was additionally layered over the top of knitted, just-above-the-knee dresses. The designer himself described the collection as 'suspended architecture'. The structural features of many garments fit this description perfectly. For example, a piece of material had been designed to hang over the shoulder as opposed to be fitted and abstract shapes hung down the front of many attire.
For me, this is one of my favourite collections of the S/S15 fashion shows so far. I do have an admiration of floppy hats and leather, however there was something more to the collection which set it apart from the usual.
Richard Nicoll captured the attention of many by sending a 'tinkerbell' dress down his runway. If you don't know which dress I'm on about then you definitely have some fashion week catching up to do. Futuristic, fibre optic threads appeared on many slinky, seductive, slip dresses giving the show a magical ambience. The dresses, especially the acclaimed finale piece, could be described as having a characteristic of an enchanted jellyfish. The collection may seem too surreal to be practical, however, the garments could definitely be worn as eveningwear and in most cases, daywear. Satins and sheer fabrics had been crafted into delicate, lightweight dresses that were held up with spaghetti straps. The collection included metallics (anything metallic I will wear) and edgy, chunky knitwear combinations whilst also experimenting with ginghams in new ways of blazers and overalls with low-waisted cut outs. Subtle coloured chiffons and organzas created sculptured halter neck dresses and had a subtle paisley print vibe on the go. The compilation has been expressed as easy going with a new direction. Although a lot of different textures and materials have made up the collection, I still feel as though it can be summarised as having a gentle and graceful approach to the future of fashion.
Every season I look forward to seeing what designer Mary Katrantzou has to offer. With good reasoning too. Her dresses aren't simply just dresses, they are pieces of art. The amount of effort and detail Katrontzou puts into her designs is extremely admirable.
Katrantzou has recently steered away from her usual colourful printing techniques and is now experimenting with embroidery and appliqué. Her garment close ups from a/w14 stresses just how much detail can be woven into one small piece of fabric with so much colour and layering. Her brand is certainly taking a new direction, and I absolutely love the new Mary Katrantzou.
Geography is her key theme for S/S15. Yep, geography is now cool. Pangaea, the supercontinent that formed over 300 million years ago featured in this collection. Why? Maybe because Mary Katrantzou has established her brand over these past five years so well that she is now so globally famous that it would be rude not to make a statement out of this achievement.
Her collection started off in neutral tones and slowly developed into densely packed, multi-coloured embroidery. Sheer fabrics were used to separate 'Pangaea' and additionally, prehistoric creatures are embedded into her beautiful textile artworks. In terms of garments, short skirts with a split at the thigh, trousers with sheens, elongated, tulle skirts, and long sleeved shift dresses dominated the catwalk. A fan of colour or not, everyone is in love with this collection.
This is quite a long blog post, but I'm going to stop here or else I'll be writing a short novel. Thanks for reading! xx
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