London Fashion Week Round Up: AW15 Collections
London Fashion Week (LFW) is often more of a spectacle than that of New York. It can be a place where fantasy and dreams collide on the catwalk – though I’ve written before that LFW is definitely becoming more commercial, with designers such as Christopher Kane and Giles Deacon producing very commercially viable collections season after season. Below is my round up of favorites from LFW, a mix of comfortable yet alluring simplicity and bold, beautiful and artisanal designs from the cities best designers:
Pretty prints and patterns inspired by the Georgian era – think interior stuccos and architectural moldings – were present along the Mulberry catwalk. I’m not usually inspired by Mulberry, and Vogue gave the collection a kind of ‘meh’ review overall but I really loved the pastel, tan and cream offerings in particular, most of which displayed a recurring filigree motif. Lots of great outerwear – a shearling coat, a grey-leather cagoule and an alpaca sweater all seemed perfect for the English countryside this winter. The new bag of the season was named ‘Roxette’, available in laser croc printed calf hair or curly sheepskin.
As per my comment about Tibi’s recent collection in my NYFW round up, you can add Joseph’s fall knitwear to my ‘most coveted’ list. Whilst I felt that creative director Louise Trotter may have only re-hashed the Scandinavian-cocooning concept from Acne’s AW14 collection, perhaps no matter when knitwear looks so inviting. Many styles blanketed the body for warmth, which, with the addition of Joseph staples such as their luxe slouchy pants, and the neutral tones of the collection, made it a hit for me.
I think you have to admire a designer who sends models along the runway to the haunting theme from ‘Halloween’, yet this aptly conveyed the horror-esque proposition within the Edwardian themed collection. Taking inspiration from ‘La Belle Epoque’, Katrantzou offered us lace dresses, bell-bottom pants, duffle coats, wool vests and skirts that, whilst not the most practical, were visually very beautiful. What it remains to be seen which items make it into production, for now I’m fully on board with Katrantzou’s crazy synthesis of eras and textures.
Pringle is a British heritage brand that has done wonders over recent years in revitalizing the label whilst attending to the sensitivities of Pringle’s customers. This season, Pringle’s collection was fairly simple in a low-key way and pleasing way. Vogue was ‘disappointed’ with the low-key offerings yet I thought there was a great deal of beauty in the artisanal approach to FW15, rather like Mulberry’s collection, above. Leather and macrame, wool and velvet – lots of lovely textures in another comfortable and warm winter line. Beautiful simplicity.
Images: Style.com
