Holly Fulton. Photo © Rebecca Cotton
London Fashion Week’s placement as the second of the four cities is no accident. After what is generally a sober, restrained and heavily commercial run-through in New York, London blasts through with a healthy dose of jazz and excitement. At the same time however there always seems to be a feeling that what is going on in London isn’t necessarily a sign of what’s to come in the season. Sure there are a few big hitters but the general feeling is that of a city scattered with individual designers each carving out their own little world, some more successfully than others.
The successes of the week come as no surprise. Since PPR’s investment it seems as though Christopher Kane is a kid in a sweet shop, finally able to bring his myriad ideas to fruition with the cash to back it up. Needless to say there were pieces of wonder – the organza book-leaf dresses that will hit the spot editorially as well as commercially – and staples that any woman would want in her wardrobe. Perfect wool overcoat anyone?
JW Anderson is hot London property and has been at the forefront of the androgynous minimal trend that seems to be engulfing fashion at the moment. His collection of stiff felted wool dresses that were the opposite of feminine were exactly that. They might look great in magazines but one wonders who exactly he is designing for. The woman who can afford his clothes generally demands to feel elegant, feminine and empowered. Not things that his collection offered up easily.
Another London big player is Mary Katrantzou and this season she surprised everyone by NOT featuring one single digital print. Instead, it was all embroidery, sporty shapes and properly feminine sweeping dresses. Mary has come a long way from her super-basic dresses that were all about the print. She can only be the better for it.
But the proper London spirit came through in the relative newbies. Off-Schedule Leutton Postle gave us knits like no other – heavy with fun but light and simple enough to make wearable. Christopher Raeburn continued his upward march in womenswear with another sporty, extremely wearable collection that makes you wish it was cold all year round. Polar bear sweaters and luxe bomber jackets were highlights. Holly Fulton is no newcomer yet this collection felt like her most refined yet. I literally cannot stop thinking about her oversized grey coat adorned with big black flowers – her first jaunt into outerwear and a hit for sure.
Over the years, London Fashion Week has become renowned for the young, the fun and the crazy. But as the industry becomes inevitably ever more commercial, this exuberance seems to have waned. Instead London seems to be hovering somewhere between waving the flag for the out-there and creating clothes that women actually want to wear. This season shows that there is plenty still to love about London Fashion Week, and that the city continues to produce some of the most creative design talent in the world. Wearability is good, but having fun is even better.
Text by Katy Lassen