London Fashion SS08 Day 5-6

I am rather sad that my London Fashion Week coverage this season was so patchy.  I have plenty of opinions on all the shows after seeing them all online but alas, firsthand observations?  Nada….  It has made me reassess my priorities and I can and will reveal to you that this is a turning point in my life where I’m rethinking what I want to do and how long can I sustain juggling 5 million things at one time.  I know that nobody is meant to be THIS exhausted… so it’s time to take a step back.  I don’t know what else to say except my brain is heavy with pondering…

Right, moaning and groaning over.  Onto more cheerful subjects.  I can’t really say that I can give a whole DAY’S worth of coverage seeing as I’m only going to a few shows but they have been pretty amazing in terms of atmosphere and content. 

Shows watched on day 5: Fashion East (fashion biggies, drag queens, students all mingling with each other at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, which I thought was most apt… seeing it is Fashion East…duh…), Daydream Nation (another dramatic-infused show that I will report on separately…)

Wearing on day 5: Again, the thought was ‘Random Mix’ when putting together this outfit…. the point was not to be co-ordinated or not to have it making any particular sense..vintage skater-skirt black mini dress, Roland Mouret olive furry top, pink PVC skirt, black and white vertically striped stockings, holey wedge shoes, vintage fluro belt

So like I said, it was back in East for Fashion East and really, you couldn’t pick a more ‘derilicte’ venue.  It was a bit of a trek as show-goers waded through warehouse spaces and up lots of stairs to get to the top of the Old Truman Brewery.  The view from the top was pretty sweet though…

First up, Henry Holland with House of Holland.  So much has been said about THOSE t-shirts.  It’s love or hate and of course he had to come up trumps with something that shows he’s capable of more than a rhyme (though is it me or do the slogans sometimes seem a bit forced?) on a t-shirt.  Stephanie Seymour and Axl Rose were supposedly Holland’s inspirations and you could definitely tell where he was going with all the hyper-colour, tie dye, leather and studs.  I’m still not entirely sure would people be wearing this stuff because they think it’s ACTUALLY aesthetically beautiful or would they be wearing it in poor taste for the sake of it being…. poor taste…. 

Though I’ve got to say… the gradiated studded trousers are intriguing.  Before you say ‘Urgh Susie, you have NO taste…’, I said they’re intriguing…. not beautiful.  Holland also roped in some great help from Stuart (Mulberry soon to be Loewe) Vevers on the bags and the wedges which really caught my eye were by Atalanta Weber according to Style.com but I couldn’t find anymore info on the designer.

Next up was the collection I was REALLY looking forward to seeing – Louise Gray whose MA collection for CSM was quite striking.  I love the naive/child-like qualities she brings to fashion whilst still making everything strangely elegant despite having swatches of fabric/metal plate hanging off dresses.  She continued these ideas for her debut collection at Fashion East and though I expected more progression, I guess there’s some merit in exploring what worked for her in the first place in greater depth.  Kind of like Christopher Kane’s MA collection morphing into his SS07 debut collection. 

The final show by Noki had some front row conservative fashion editors raising their eyebrows but then slowly they got the humour and laughed and clapped.  Ripped and shredded up t-shirts, mismatched fabrics botched together in odd shaped garments all on models in wigs and masks.  The message of course wasn’t that they wanted to sell the clothes but that they wanted people to get into recyling their clothes.  Nothing new there and I’ll be honest and say the clothes weren’t my cup of tea but the sentiment is right.  It was fun to see models having a laugh on the runway as they wiggled their bums and made dramatic gestures. 

Fun fun fun is all I can say and just to note, having seen Henry Holland and Agyness Deyn hanging out at the LFW exhibition, giggling hysterically, the friendship is 100% bona fide genuine…. very cute stuff…

The crowd was pretty varied in terms of both streetstyle and walks of life

Gareth Pugh’s back in a rabbit fur waistcoat (everytime I see him though, I do want to feed him some sandwiches…) // Robin from Maria Luisa (major boutique in Paris) looking as cool as ever….

Noticing a lot of leather going on at LFW…naturally…Matthew’s biker jacket is perfect with his DIY studded vest….I love the red metallic leather trapeze coat on this girl….

….yup, more of the shiny stuff, in copper and basic black….some patent touches with a really daringly cut short blazer (Are we hailing midriff baring days again?  The tum is not up for that at all…)

Like I said, variety was the key word at Fashion East… child-like primaries to Noki supporters to homemade spider headpieces (she literally said ‘Oh this?  I just made it 15 minutes before coming here’…. how do some people magic accessories like that?!)

The final day was again another one show day but again, another collective show.  I want to collate my thoughts on the shift in mood at London Fashion Week into a separate post so I won’t blah on about it now.  I do want to talk about the hideous amount of blagging I’ve seen at fashion shows though where people seem solely to be there for goodie bags and free drinks.  After hearing my poor friends working in PR who have to deal with hordes of people trying to ‘blag it’ and ‘try it’, it does make me feel ashamed that I even dare move a row forward from my assigned seat.  Perhaps I’m not that brave a person and perhaps I come from too conservative a background where I do as I’m told.  Somehow, I’m not programmed to do cut throat blagging at fashion week.  I respect big personalities and their ability to talk the talk which is why I do feel lost at fashion week (something I mentioned before).  Do these personalities and attitude grow the more you get immersed into the industry?  I’m not sure if it’s something I could personally grow…. and I’m not sure if I want to….

Shows seen on day 6: MAN show, Jean Pierre Braganza presentation at Two See

Wearing on day 6: Something more conservative/pretty.  My DIY blue satin and purple dress, ribbed grey tights, long sleeved grey top (mental note: must…buy…more…long…sleeved-tops….for casualfying….dresses….for….daywear), black ruched satin belt, Miu Miu pink platforms.  Yes, I have clashed hot pink with navy and purple.  It all shouldn’t really be done but I did get a most charming compliment from a girl at the ON|OFF venue who was resplendent in a HUGE taffeta pale blue gown and a white cloche hat with a veil who said ‘Why, don’t you have a lovely outfit on!’ in a period-drama-esque manner.  I returned the compliment and felt a bit better about my colour mix.

Alas, my MAN video just won’t upload on You Tube but do go back to look at the pics on Style.com or the like as I was quite impressed with the stuff…

We were first shuffled into a place where video screens were showing an accompanying film to Aitor Throup’s SS08 collection, with a mannequin installation below the screens.  My boyfriend and I have become big fans of his work and this collection is no exception.  He’s chosen the musician as his functional muse and has created a band uniform of sorts.  Manipulated black jackets with warped seams, balaclavas, pinched in shoulders were all stunning.  Though I was disappointed that Throup didn’t do a catwalk show, it was actually great to get up close to the clothes and study in detail what he has done.

First up on the MAN show was Kim Jones’ new KJ diffusion line.  I’m half and half with Kim Jones stuff but if the price is right, this stuff could widen his market for him.  Love the fabric neck collars though I suspect they’re catwalk stylings rather than being part of the collection.

Cassette Playa was up next and I’m afraid to say that the moans and groans heard echoed that Mundane’s designs seem tired and ‘done’.  Let’s not start the discussion of ‘nu-rave is over’.  It was a silly term that got out of hand and regardless of whether it’s over or not, let’s still look at the clothes and be honest with ourselves.  It will always appeal to a niche and for that niche (aka Kesh from The Coconut Twins who was nodding with a lot of approval in the front row), this stuff will always rock their boat.  It didn’t rock mine but then again, I’m not in that niche…

The collection that came up trumps for me was surprisingly….Topman Design.  The turning of tides at Topman has started (get ye down there for the Topman LENS and Design stuff….it ain’t half bad!).  Their SS08 collection was a mix of sporty and bookish.  I loved the PVC parkas with shorts and neat little shirts.  Sure, their inspiration is completely free of other catwalk menswear shows but for the prices they are offering this, guys can’t really get too snotty about it (FAR more affordable than Topshop Unique…. I feel a little cheated…) 

Textures, prints and red shine….  How much do I love the combo of the shimmery silver material on the top, metallic croc skirt and olive croc bag?  I think this girl nailed the AW07-8 texture thing. // The monochrome prints are pretty dymanic.  I wish I could pull off prints like that // It’s Super Super crew… still into red PVC, despite the abundance of it on the high street.

Thankfully, the Jean Pierre Braganza presentation was a 2 minute walk away from the MAN venue.  They chose to hold an open presentation at the Two See store in Covent Garden so it wasn’t just for the priviledged few but for the whole street to see.  It was quite amusing to see hordes of tourists crowding around to see what was all the commotion about and then not quite getting what the clothes were all about.  Jean Pierre Braganza is one of my STAUNCH London fashion favourites and I’m only pissed that my camera decided to die on me so I couldn’t get much footage.  A post dedicated to the SS08 collection is certainly in order. 

I felt a little too ‘prettified’ in the presence of edgy JPB wearers and it’s amazing to see the clothes worn EXCEEDINGLY well by all. 

I’ll await better images but all I can say is that Jean Pierre Braganza has softened up the structures and has excelled in terms of precise cutting, use of materials, all whilst retaining the distinct qualities that make JPB recognisable.