Nappa Leather Travel
Autumn/Winter 2011/12 Womenswear Collections at London Fashion Week
Frumpy to Funky's London based Personal Stylist, Karen Grace, comments on London Fashion Week for Autumn/Winter 2011.
Day One
The first day of London Fashion Week and an early start to see the first catwalk show in the big tent at Somerset House.
PAUL COSTELLOE
Costelloe really does have a large family! Last season we saw his 6 sons taking to the catwalk, this time it was his daughter, Jessica's turn. She opened the show in a short burgundy tweed coat with oversized collar and closed in a cute metallic burgundy baby doll dress.
The rest of the models wore rustic red blunt cut frizzy wigs which complemented the bright bold colours of the collection's palette.
The inspiration for the collection was ‘Home Grown Fashion' using fabrics of tweeds, plaids, and herringbones. These traditional fabrics had been given a face lift with mini skater skirts, short tailored swing jackets and coats, plus the bold splashes of peacock blue, emerald, mustard, burnt orange and fuchsia. Not to be outshone, collars and buttons were large making a statement.
Metallics, plain and patterned, gave retro glamour to the structured dresses rather than the usual sci -fi it's associated with.
Next show venue was at the plush Savoy hotel.
MARIA GRACHVOGEL
Whilst Costelloe's AW11 girl is bright and vivacious, Grachvogel's AW11 woman is languidly graceful. The sumptuous setting of the Lancaster ballroom with its crystal chandeliers added to the elegance.
The style palette was muted shades of ebony, bone, grey and blush with a shot of flame orange to show there is heat underneath the Grachvogel woman's cool exterior. Inspiration came from the tribal to the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. This was shown in the exclusive artwork prints as enchanted forests in the fairy print, but instead of the natural browns and greens, the colour shows the fairy tales' dark side in steel grey mixed with buttermilk, winter white and muted jewel shades of amethyst and sapphire. Several catsuits and dresses sported a modern twist with a racer style back softened by the fluidity of the fabrics.
Statement pieces included the bone wool flannel full length ‘Emperor' coat with oversized shearling collar, and the ‘Aesop' skirt with its asymmetrical hemline graduating longer at the back, in black lace, bone wool flannel and the tribal Shamen wool print.
The look was fluid and cleanly cut with the fabrics bringing rich textures such as silk, georgette, lace and cashmere tweed.
With no time to muse over the collection, again a mad rush to get to my next destination, this time to the On/Off location in Covent Garden.
JENA . THEO
From the floaty pastel hues of their Indian inspired SS11 collection, designer duo Jenny Holmes and Dimitris Theocharidis go dark and grungy in their AW11 collection looking towards Norse mythology for their inspiration. Titled ‘Valkyre' after those celestial females who decide who will die in the field of battle, the models wore their long tousled hair with just the front strands tied back to reveal the black war paint worn as a mask around their eyes. Touches of leather appear as plaited braids and patches on some of the garments giving the illusion these warrior women have been busy making their own clothes in the traditional Viking way. This more so on the high heeled shoes covered in curled edged patches of brown leather. However these warriors had the luxury fabrics on hand with cashmere sweats, silk modal jerseys and sand washed silk satins with touches of soft baby alpaca wool hand knits. It's all about layers and loosely woven oversized knits, with the main colour palette being sombre hues of black and charcoal grey, lightened with the natural neutral shades of ecru. Denim reappears from last season but this time ranging from a pale treated washed look to the darker blacks and greys, with light jersey semi ruched leggings in denim look prints.
Key pieces were, the brown and black silk dress made of shorts with a long billowing trail and leather patchwork tight sleeves; and the oversized faded black padded coat with exaggerated shoulders but fitting snugly around the knees.
Next mad dash was to the Freemason's Hall for the first of the Vauxhall Fashion Scout‘s catwalk show:
PROPHETIK
Titled ‘Artist Wonderment', designer Jeff Garner was inspired by the fashionable French court of Louis XV where frivolity reigned and egos were high, but turns this pretension around to appreciate the wonderment of an artist. Prophetik is an ethical range so the fabrics used are eco-friendly such as hemp and organic velour. He's introduced two new fabrics this season: the cactus silk made from the agave plant and his own great grandmother's 100year old southern quilts! The quilts are a patchwork of colours, but the main colour palette of the collection was neutrals, white, black and the splashing of rich hues (well it is Louis XV inspired) in emerald, plum, violet, deep scarlet and burgundy.
One of his key pieces was of course the finale dress called ‘Mrs Moulton' made of hand sewn white ostrich feathers on white silk and silk organza. Why it is called this I don't know, maybe because the ostrich naturally moults its feathers twice a year? Or it could be Jeff's old next door neighbour.
Whatever the reason, the feathers gave an otherwise simple gown a touch of grace and playful frothiness.
Another key piece was called ‘Lola' named after his great grandmother. Here Lola's old quilt was given a new lease of life as a corset panel and quilted hood. Teamed with wool jodhpurs (considerately lined in linen) which were embellished with reclaimed gold piping and antique gold buttons.
The men were striking in military style jackets, jodhpurs and short velvet baggy breeches, although it probably is not a look you could pull off in everyday life. The quilts came in to their own here as a cosy pink and blue coat with large frilled collar, it wasn't the case as wherever I lay my hat is my home, rather wherever I lay my coat is my bed –now that's recycling at its best .
Wishing I could lay on one of Grandma Garner's cosy quilts, it wasn't to be as Somerset House called to me for the next catwalk show:
CORRIE NIELSEN
Titled ‘A Winter's Melodie', this collection's inspiration was drawn from two different periods – the Elizabethan period and the 1940-50's French Haute Couture. The colour palette was the deep rich colours of amethyst, burgundy, gunmetal grey, purples, navy with pale gold.
Blanket like wraps were layered over skirts and trousers or draped asymmetrically over wool day dresses and blouses, giving a Celtic feel. The knee length pencil skirts and dresses were more inspired by the haute couture with their clean lines skimming over the female form. Then the real drama appeared in the guise of a Sir Walter Raleigh style puff ball cape in silk metallic green, a pale gold silk gown with semi hooped skirt and flat stiff bodice with the finale dress looking regal with its oversized puffed ruff collar and long train.
And just to make sure my legs were still working, it was time to make a dash back to the On/Off venue for my last but not least show of the day.
ASHLEY ISHAM
Taking Christina G Rossetti's poem ‘In the Bleak Midwinter' for inspiration, ‘The Enchanted Forest' is a darker continuation of Isham's earlier floral theme ‘East of Eden' in SS11 collection. Here the models represent fairies in lush tones of magenta, emerald, deep sapphire, crimson, coral and granite whilst the Queen of Fairy looks dark and mysterious in granite voile and silver sequins.
The headgear ranged from the simple floral arrangement you'd expect fairies to wear, to those with more of a touch of the orient – proving fairies are well travelled. And of course the Fairy queen's headdress was bigger and better than the rest – like a bridal veil on a windswept day catching flowers as they flew by
Opening the show are the fairies, sorry models, in striking bold floral patterns on a background of forest green and turquoise blue velvet. Then came the elegant long draped jersey dresses in plain deep sapphire and crimson, followed by green and yellow pattern chiffons which brought a light airy freshness before going back to deep block colours, this time the turn of emerald.
By the end of the collection the colours were darker with the granite and silver shining like different strengths of moonlight on metallic bark textured browns, silver birch jacquards and scale-like sequins, whilst black beaded and woollen lace appliqués entwined around the dresses and jackets representing creepers.
Day Two
After a full first day, the second day started miserably with queuing outside in the rain and cold for my first show at the Northumberland hotel.
BERNARD CHANDRON
Once inside and quickly thawing, the show began with a shocking pink futuristic mini dress, worn with matching tights and shoes (designed by Guiseppe Zanotti) to make sure we were all paying attention. This set the scene for a blaze of all over eye popping colours in reds, oranges, pinks and a slightly more subdued electric blue. Not the usual autumnal colours here. Our eyes were sometimes given a rest with the solid classic navy and blacks.
Wide zips were exposed and the main attraction were the half peplums giving volume to the pieces. These ranged from the more traditional short peplum in the same fabrics as shown on a double breasted orange trench coat with tulip style skirt, to the oversized shiny black bow style on an orange diaphanous lace maxi dress. The ones which dragged you in were those resembling an open Venus fly trap with feathers at the tips instead of the Venus' jagged teeth.
Mainly block colours the pattern when it did appear was of a tartan style, and surprisingly subtle being made up various hues of the same colour.
Fabrics used were leather lace, silk velvet, jersey, lace and not forgetting the ostrich feathers made in to jaw dropping shocking pink and orange mini dresses.
Back to sprinting, my last two shows were at Vauxhall Fashion Scout's Freemason Hall venue.
JACOB KIMMIE
Posing on pedestals were two buff guys in what looked like nappies – but on closer inspection (any excuse hey?) the fabric was tulle and inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph ‘White Gauze'
Titled ‘Martyr', the collection was quite eclectic in styles and fabrics. Ranging from the fairly innocuous looking grainy denim pieces with the raw cut skirt lengths graduating longer at the back to the darker diaphanous black drapes and eerie black tulle headpieces wrapped tightly round the models' heads. Looking like something out of a horror movie were two models dressed all in white with splashes of blood red, one over her bare arm whilst the other's head and shoulders were covered and stained the top of her pure satin dress. More subdued were the sharp tailored black wool crepe panelled dresses and skirts adorned with a trail of long ribbon ties teamed with tights and body stockings in barbed wire and thorn prints bringing a tattoo effect.
Thorny black and white prints also covered a billowing maxi dress and fluid minis again with the graduating hemline.
Just glad it wasn't my final show of the evening or I may have suffered from nightmares.
LAKO BUKIO
Ending the day on a lighter note was Bukio's collection titled ‘Choxa' taking inspiration from the Georgian (her home country) National Ballet men's costume of the same name.
Bukio emulates the Choxa long jacket's cinched in waist and full skirt style on to some of her dresses although she still keeps her much loved floaty chiffon styles. To decorate a traditional choxa, lots of ammunition is used one being a row of bullet tube pockets across the chest. Bukio reduces the row and adds to feminine diaphanous blouses which are balanced out with strips of leather on collars or shoulders. One of her key pieces: was a black jumpsuit with leather shorts and chiffon top embellished with the bullet tube pockets.
She takes the bullet on other pieces a step further by adding to the side of waists, as belts and trimming the tops of her knee length boots. These boots were a great addition to her signature shoe collection with their cut out leather side pieces
The traditional coax colours of black, white, grey and wine red were used given a clean palette. However she mixed it up with the more autumnal shades of dark and mid tone browns, camels, rose beige and a few pale pastels which she used for her chiffons to bring a more feminine feel to the darker masculine leathers and bullets. .
Her signature chunky triangular heels, both in plain and in two tone colours, were nearly upstaged by the chunky 4 bullet leather heel, but I think that style was only for this season – a pity as they were stunning.
Day Three
Day three was an easy day as the first show wasn't until after lunch.
CARLOTTA ACTIS BARONE
Carlotta is passionate about ethical issues and delivers her message through her designs. The inspiration for this collection was formed from cruelty against animals especially the slaughter of seals for their fur. Main colour palette was striking with white representing the ice and snow, navy blue for the cold sea, and splashes of red for the spilt blood. Faux fur represented the actual seals. The large square shoulders and the geometric patterns used were taken from the Inuit's traditional clothes. Her usual signature bodysuit was replaced with transparent leggings and body stockings in the geometric designs. These looked equally stunning under the full skirted dresses and their red netting, but came in to their own when seen under long diaphanous fine wool tops. The models with their white faces and windswept hair looked as though they'd just arrived from the Arctic with flakes of snow still on their feathery eyelashes.
No rushing around as my next show wasn't until the evening at the Charing Cross hotel.
OMAR MANSOOR
The title of Omar's evening gowns collection was ‘Paradise Lost' and he took his inspiration from John Milton's epic poem of the same name, in which Adam and Eve's temptation by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden is described.
The colour palette was a range of purple shades from the palest greyish purple to deeper but muted hues; and a range of muted greens from the mustard greens to olives. The purples represent flowers whilst the shades of green suggest the leaves in the Garden of Eden.
The opening gown shone with its metallic gold panels emblazoned on the folded chiffon bodice like the rays of the sun. A short cocktail dress seemed to represent the happy days in the garden with its shiny satin silk in top pleated in shades of fresh lime greens and its floaty chiffon skirt dancing with its embellished flowers. Layers of chiffon fall like delicate shreds to form the skirt of a satin silk ruched cocktail dress in light aniseed green, whilst a long simple lilac gown in satin silk was given texture with a crisscross patterned bodice.
Delicate woven lace flowers, layers of sheer fabrics, asymmetrical hemlines, and dramatic necklines symbolise the story of sin, angels, curiosity and beauty.
Day Four
Again, Day four wasn't a bad day as all my shows were at the Freemasons Hall so no running around yay!
A LA DISPOSITION
From the title of the collection ‘Utopian Aviary' I was expecting feathers or bird prints, but instead I was pleasantly surprised with sharp tailoring and fabrics made to emulate the bird form and shape by layering, ruffling, pinking and gathering of fabrics.
The opening model wore matching cape and pencil skirt made from short faux fur in ridged lines of black and white. The cape was not of the usual free flowing style but tightly fitted across the shoulders and formed a tail coat at the back; the pencil skirt was made up of layers opening across the front like the layering of feathers. Necklines were high with either long thin feather like bows pointing upwards as in flight, or multi layered voluminous collars circling the throat as a bird would puff out its plumage to attract a mate. Plain body skimming shift dresses are given texture from shoulder to the throat with high gathered necklines pulled in as you would a cloth bag, whilst the shoulders of jackets are puffed out with extra overlapping layers like feathers..
Colour palette was a base of black with the more mate attracting rich tones of oranges, reds and greens. Fabrics of faux fur, gossamer silks, taffeta, velvet and chiffons gave texture.
BUNMI KOKO
This show started as it meant to go on with a blaze of colour. The first model wore a 50's style full skirted dress not only standing out with the abundance of black underskirt netting but the silk skirt hemline was stiffened with curled wiring. The top of the dress was a Kaleidoscope of colours and patterns (also the title of the collection) and to balance out the top with the voluminous skirt, the square folded shoulders were sculpted to stand to attention.
The models wore large diamante Perspex wrap around glasses as though they needed to protect their eyes from any bright colours shooting out from the garments – well her inspiration was that of the scientific and philosophic discoveries of light reflecting off a glass prism, supernovas, mirages and comets.
Colours were bright with ultra violet shades of pink, orange, green and blues. Patterns played a key role with the geometric shapes of the kaleidoscope patterns to the more blurred edges of a mirage or rainbow.
The styles were an eclectic mix from those voluminous netted skirts in printed silks to the knee length pencil skirt in sci-fi silver metallic leather. For me it was a mixed reaction, I wasn't keen on the futuristic metallic dress, but loved the long georgette and sequined evening gown with its side cut outs and sheer panels. Wearing that I could happily study how the light shimmers off the sequins.
Day Five
The last day of London Fashion Week and the first show of the day was back in the big tent at Somerset House.
MARIOS SCHWAB
Inspired by Austrian architect Loos's essay ‘Ornament and Crime' where a cobbler is toiling to brogue his shoes, Schwab uses this broguing pattern of punched holes to decorate his leather pieces. But it is in his softer fabrics where the brogue pattern excels. Here he takes porcelain Swarovski pearls, designs them in to clusters and lines to create the effect of raised brogue patterns.
Silhouettes were clean; the brogue lines contoured breasts giving a warrior princess look especially in the leather, whilst other leather pieces were softened by mixing with chiffon and waists wear cinched in.
As well as the blacks and browns, the colour palette included rich tones of teal, mustard, orange and burgundy – all the hues you expect for the autumn.
Next stop was to the Freemasons Hall for my next show. No shoving and pushing here as everyone was allocated seats and yours truly was on the front row.
JOANNE HYNES/HELEN STEELE
This collection titled ‘Les Guerriers' (or warriors) was the inaugural collaboration of Irish designer Joanne Hynes and artist Helen Steele. They took their inspiration from the Irish pirate queen, Grace O'Malley, which emulsifies their own mission to create, battle on and forge ahead.
This was an array of colours and textures. Leather jackets, hand knitted Arans and Irish tweeds were encrusted with sparkling crystals. The models wore oversized and heavily embellished neck pieces made from hand woven silk, nappa leather and Waterford crystals in reference to the Irish heritage. These glammed up the simpler garments often set on faux fur stoles, but also added extra glam to the prints and already embellished pieces. Tweed suits were a patchwork of rich colourful fabrics horizontally panelled with Indian brocades, feathers and crystals.
Aran cardigans were made in to short jumpsuits, faux fur coats had fun splashes of colours as though dotted on with a paint brush , leather skirts were painted over by Steele using dense layers of multicoloured paint and Steele's series of paintings had been digitally printed on to silk jersey leggings, dresses, scarves and tees.
Footwear was either high wedged wooden clogs, chunky very high platform wedged boots or the flat Chelsea boot. The clogs were covered in splashes of paint as though worn by an artist whilst painting; the Chelsea boots were a patchwork of different fabrics and colours, and the high wedged bovver boots were in bright shiny patent.
Definitely a collection fit for a Warrior Queen.
And inspired by the warrior queen look, I was ready to battle my way home through the rush hour.
Karen Grace is a Personal Shopper & Image Consultant for frumpy to funky.
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About the Author
frumpy to funky was established by Karen Grace, an affiliate member of the Federation of Image Consultants. Karen has studied Personal Styling at the London College of Fashion and received her professional training in one of the London's leading Image Consultancy training centre. More details can be seen on http://www.frumpytofunky.com
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