The best thing that happened at London Fashion Week
Olesya Iva
September is a hot time for the fashion industry: one after another are the main world fashion weeks. So, last week ended London. Before it began, we made assumptions from which of the designers to wait for the main surprises, and now we sum up. We tell what really outstanding happened at the most avant-garde fashion week, and explain why this is important.
Show Meadham Kirchhoff
This year, Edward Midham and Benjamin Kirchhoff made their first street casting with an important note in the ad: "Typical model looks not required". As a result, the show of the design duo turned out to be honest and avant-garde, in the best traditions of the early anarchic shows of Vivienne Westwood, the British queer and punk cultures. Girls and boys of different builds and races went on the catwalk, and the artist and feminist Arvyda Bystry closed and opened the show. At the invitation of the guests was listed "Reject everything!" (that is, "Deny everything!"), and this thought was carried to the end by Meadham Kirchhoff. So, the brand's new collection consists of intentionally non-commercial items: towel jackets, fleecy stockings, wild neoprene bombers, knitted bodysuits with cutouts on nipples and t-shirts with prints from gay porn. And we have not yet mentioned underwear with menstrual prints-spots, white dresses and shirts with ropes resembling torso “tails”, and jackets that look either as garbage bags, or as bats of shuttle traps. Brand-like transparent dresses made of tulle also did not do without classics.
Ashish Show
Ashish Gupta, the master of sequins, scored only black models to show and again supported sexual minorities: the show opened things from the sequins of the rainbow palette. Ashish also drew attention to the problems of patients with vitiligo - one of the most complex and poorly understood skin diseases associated with impaired pigmentation: the American model Shantel Brown-Young, suffering from vitiligo, participated in the show. Ashish repeated in the collection his usual sequined things: shirts, sporty loose trousers, ripped denim and boxy jackets. In addition, most of the collection consisted of sexy mini length T-shirts, reptile clothes, cropped tops and mini skirts, which complemented the platform shoes decorated with fluffy shoes - and this is an obvious reference to the glamor of the 2000s. In addition, Ashish included in the collection twisted deconstructed things, a sweater with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian and a jacket with Jesus on his back. The models were made up with rhinestones, and shiny strands reminiscent of puppet hairstyles woven into their hair.
Marques'Almeida show
A new collection of Martha Marquez and Paulo Almeida was dedicated to PJ Harvey, who played the show to the soundtrack. The show opened things from ragged denim, this time in black, which side by side with asymmetrical transparent T-shirts and dresses. In addition, this season, designers show off A-line denim mini dresses and asymmetrical skirts, work with colored leather and decorate things with Swarovski crystals. At the show, models walked along the catwalk in wooden clogs on a platform - obviously, next year this shoe model will be included in the list of all the most fashionable.
Show J.W. Anderson
Jonathan Anderson is known for his non-profit and gender neutral collections. However, in the new season he went against the stream and turned to more traditional femininity. These changes are predictably related to the influence of LVMH on the designer: the conglomerate bought a small stake in J.W. Anderson and appointed Anderson creative director of another brand - the Spanish Loewe, which is also part of LVMH. So, in the spring collection of the designer all wearable things: dress-shirts, bell bottoms, knitwear and tops. Having simplified the form somewhat, Jonathan is experimenting with surreal details: he wears huge buttons on his coat, adds inserts of leather to his shirt dress, adds many ties to the tops, distorts his coat lapels, sews a mini skirt out of a towel and cropped tops. Traditionally, many asymmetric things remain in the collection: this time it is vests, knitted mini-dresses and leather dresses ankle-length. All this is adjacent to wide-brimmed hats.
Nasir Mazhar Show
Nazir continues to create a "uniform" for his generation and shows the collection on his girlfriends. Nazir’s second show continues logomania, and the designer himself doesn’t change his love for bra-tops, basketball shorts and mini-skirts. To all this, Nazir adds midi skirts with a deep neckline to the thigh, asymmetrical skirts and tops, and works with fabric deconstruction. In general, the collection looks sexier than the previous one. The soundtrack for the spring show was recorded by Faze Miyake, mixing classical music and broken rhythms (a similar reception was at half the shows in New York).
Presentations of young brands
London is traditionally rich in shows and presentations by novice designers, and this is the only capital in which many platforms operate for them. We have already told whose show was worth the wait most. Separately, I would like to highlight non-standard presentations. For example, Hong Kong-born Ryan Lo, who moved to London, creates clothes made of tulle, lace and sequins. The presentation of his new collection resembled a mermaid party under Cindy Loper's hit "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and the best songs of Spice Girls: models had a brilliant make-up and weighed starfish in their hair. Claire Barrow made a presentation in the old BBC radio recording studio, where the models were made by nurses and medical students. Phoebe English - among the empty cans and the old TV, on the screen of which the film was projected. Tessa Edwards staged a show at the Royal College Chapel. Faustine Steinmetz placed models in terry denim in the manner of statues. Shrimps were surprised by leopard coats with multicolored collars, sandals with colored fur and silk pajamas with primitive patterns.
Photo: winnieharlow / instagram