Tuesday 25 September 2012

LONDON FASHION WEEK 2012 - 'ALL WHITE' BUT NOT STUNNING


OK, so what happened to London Fashion Week 2012? The extravagance and drama was distinctively lacking for me this year.  Where was the outrageous, the crazy, the shock factor, the jaw dropping OMG pieces?

Well, I suppose Sister by Sibling provided the fun element with their frankly bizarre lacy masks and pompom headwear accessorising a young and funky womenswear collection but I had started to worry I might get a touch of snowblindness with all the white going on this year.

Marios Schwab finally sprinkled a confetti of colour on proceedings, bringing an oasis to the desert of blandness! His collection is full of bold colours and lots of extravagant fringing. The make up was fab too. Hurray for Marios Schwab, I say.

More colour came from Matthew Williamson’s tie dyed collection in Day 3, offering an ethnic look for next summer. I hope this filters down to the high street, it takes me back to my student days and makes me feel a hell of a lot younger.

It does seem though that white is going to be the ‘hot’ colour of Spring/Summer 2013 – but don’t expect me to be wearing it. I already look like a ghost and my whites stay white about 30 seconds regardless of what Ariel and Persil might have you believe.

Another recurrent feature of the show was the hemlines, with lots of designers giving their dresses and skirts an asymmetric shape.  I can live with that – it’s not often that I wear skirts myself anyway – but I do struggle with asymmetric garments when I’m creating my own designs. It’s like seeing a skew whiff painting on the wall, it just has to be straightened. Maybe I should jump out of my comfort zone and give it a go one day? I can feel the stress levels rising just thinking about it!

Pretty darn cool and definitely my favourite this year was Fashion East. Showcasing on Day 2, they are definitely worth a peek if you like the punky look and Todd Lynn gets a thumbs up from moi for his elegant yet quirky designs. Some wicked jackets there. Vivienne Westwood, always one to follow - well she is just uber cool. What else is there to say?

London Fashion Week 2012 – generally a bit disappointing in my humble opinion – but what do I know?