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Roksanda Ilincic - Ready to Wear - Fall Winter 2012 - London

21 Feb 2012
Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2012 London

As guests take their seats under the ornate chandeliers of the dim Pall Mall venue, live chamber music sets the atmosphere for another refined, sophisticated Roksanda Ilincic affair. Suddenly, the lights go down and a hip hop beat fills the dignified surroundings as the show begins with a curious mix of retro elegance (sleek plaid pencil skirt) and 90s streetwear (slouchy, monochrome sweatshirt). Ilincic’s play with the audience’s expectations was ongoing throughout the show, from the fur-trimmed luxe hoodies and pencil skirts to the lemon yellow shoes punctuating each ensemble with a pop of colour. The show seems to solidify the Serbian-born designer’s new high-end casual aesthetic, appropriately termed by several editors as sportswear couture.

The loose and easy but still carefully sculpted shapes seem insightfully relevant to the modern woman’s way of life. The undone buns further evoked an air of effortlessness, complemented by the muted but rich colour palette, from wine reds, to dark pinks, purples, chocolate browns and teals, all culminating in a series of brilliant whites. With an impeccable eye for detail (hello sexy zippers up the back of dresses), Roksanda Ilincic offered a complete autumnal wardrobe, addressing the urban woman’s needs for both cool and comfortable puffer outerwear and glamorous liquid silk column dresses.

Not resting on her already made reputation for dressing the Duchess of Cambidge and Michelle Obama, Ilincic did not shy away from experiments, while skillfully maintaining the seductively feminine allure of her designs.  Today was just another testament to her understanding of her client, be it a hip young girl or a first lady.

http://roksandailincic.com/

-Maria Dimitrova

 

Mary Katrantzou - Ready to Wear - Fall Winter 2012 - London

21 Feb 2012
Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2012 London

Katrantzou, a Central Saint Martins print graduate and winner of the Emerging Talent Awards at last year’s British Fashion Awards, is quickly gaining a well deserved reputation as the queen of digital prints. 

 Although she isn’t single-handedly responsible for the fact that we all love wearing prints from head to toe these days, she very well could be – her abundant imagery of everyday banalities are always inventive as she brings to life on the catwalk things such as a bathtub appeared on an Elizabethan-inspired, high-necked silk top with its foam bubbles made of encrusted pearls to add dimension. Teaspoons made up the repeat print on a peplum dress while an old-fashioned rotary telephone dial print decorated a stiff silk cape. Silk trousers completed the look. 

This collection, as Katrantzou said, was about "celebrating the beauty in the everyday" and "elevating the mundane to the sublime". She smothered her signature structured lampshade-shaped dresses and stiff A-line tailored coats with spoons, phone dials, typewriter keys, luggage tassels and hangers – one dress was even embroidered with hundreds of real yellow pencils. The embroidery in question was executed by Lesage marking the first time the French haute couture house has worked with a London Fashion week designer.

The prints and embellishments were brilliantly entertaining, inventive as ever – but the construction in this collection was just as much of the story: Victorian bustled dresses, strict Elizabethan corsetry, undulating neck ruffles and dresses whose skirts gathered vertically around the body, were brilliantly put together and endlessly new.  Although the prints may have been unexpected the results were incredible, placing this show amongst the best of the week.

http://www.marykatrantzou.com/

-Mario Casarella

Giles - Ready to Wear - Fall Winter 2012 - London

20 Feb 2012
Ready To Wear Fall Winter 2012 London

Giles Deacon’s Autumn/Winter 2012 collection brought Victorian opulence with a modern twist while contrasting androgyny with all things feminine.  The first look on the runway was masked with masculinity - a perfectly tailored suit trouser nipped in all the right places and a velvet black jacket with silk lapel and layering around the waist. There were also hyper-structured tailcoats and buttoned up shirts.

As the show went on rigid tailoring was exchanged for softer more feminine looks. Overall it was not colour (a palatable mix of beiges, cameo pinks and blue greys), which drew the crowd’s attention, but the interesting layers and prints to which they were applied. Eye-caching silk skirts, knee-length gowns with feathered hems and black-tie dresses used the subtle colour palette with great success. As well as the collection’s meticulously designed prints volume was also key. Dresses seemed larger than life thanks to the structured petticoats that lay beneath. A particular favourite was the use of gold on a particular silk skirt towards the end of the show.

As for accessories, the collection contained many beautiful shoes sporting super high and ultra chunky heels.  Aside from the touch of gold, it was on a certain pair of fuchsia peep-toe tasseled shoe boots where Deacon decided to inject his second flash of colour.
 
- Pascale Barget