Goth-y Funk. Chopova Lowena AW23

April 9, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Chopova Lowena‘s style is a fine balance of alluring quirkiness and astonishingly great craftsmanship. For autumn-winter 2023, Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena went for their signature, funky eclecticism. The collection sees a ’70s ski-theme that somehow got caught up with Georgian petticoats, bloomers, cross-lacing, and bonnets. Trust the London-based designers to turn such a bonkers combo into an extensive collection of clothes and accessories that are at the service of cold-weather practicality as well as… fun. They’ve played with the idea of retro children’s patterned ski suits and sleepwear to come up with high-waisted checkered pajama-cum-snowboarding trousers, baby-bedsheet prints, and the piped-pocket detailing that made the whole recognizably Chopova Lowena. Genius cardigans – some with vintage baby-book doll characters dancing on the front, others threaded through with tartan ribbon tied in bows – evoke some sort of deranged Tyrolean classic, possibly an ode to one of Vivienne Westwood‘s signature looks. There are layers and layers to explore here, from heavy-duty brown leather ‘carabiner jackets,’ through ski-capris with frilly knees, stripy wool scarves, tights, and knotted-top beanies, all the way through to stuff that sorts out how a Chopova Lowena person parties – which is to say in lacy white and bows, but with a definite Goth-y attitude.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The Great Outdoors. Burberry AW23

February 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

There’s a lot of debating going on whether Daniel Lee‘s debut collection for Burberry was fashion-forward enough. In this patchwork of signature Burberry plaids, outdoor-perfect blanket coats, cozy knits and floor-sweeping English Rose dresses (yawn), it’s hard to seek real fashion novelties – or even witty styling tricks that made Lee’s take on Bottega Veneta so appealing. The new direction at Burberry reminds of the one that Christopher Bailey had for 17 years, in the pre-Riccardo Tisci times. Bailey delivered proper collections that were sometimes cool, sometimes naff variations on the notion of Britishness. No co-incidence that today, Bailey has a mentor-like role for Lee. To be frank, I had no expectations regarding this debut, so I can’t say I’m disappointed. The collection is better than about 80% of Tisci’s work for the brand, but in defense of the Italian designer, he took creative risks that attempted to stimulate Burberry into something more than a brand with classy outerwear.

“I think that the brand is about functionality,” Lee told the press after the show. His men’s plaid trousers, with their horizontal zippered pockets, echoed the shape of technical hiking gear; women’s kilts had the casual air of wrapped-around picnic blankets. You might even really be able to go for a walk on the Yorkshire moors in his heavy-duty climbing boots or cropped wellies. The designer well knows the worldwide fashion appeal of the exaggerated accessory. It showed up in a giant trapper hat, in satchels and saddlebags fastened with a “B” clip and dangling multiple fake-fur tails. One of the models wore a hilarious hand-knitted bonnet in the shape of a duck, complete with a beak and dangling red legs. This sort of bonkers English eccentricity is something Lee should definitely expand on. The designer is very serious about branding and exactly how it can radiate fashion appeal far beyond the mere stamping of logos on everything. The evidence is in the message he delivered at this show on the back of his redesign of the Burberry Prorsum medieval knight on a charger. It was blown up like a flag on a white dress. But the main point about it is the color. It’s a vibrant blue. So is the type that Burberry now uses. After Lee’s success-story of Bottega green, is Burberry blue the new “it” colour? Time will tell.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Not A Man’s Territory. Dilara Findikoglu AW23

February 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Dilara Fındıkoğlu plays with your emotions like no other designer in London right now: she pulls on your heartstrings, makes you feel her pain, and conjures an intensity that makes you feel what she’s portraying in front of you. For autumn-winter 2023, the designer took her guests to a chapel in East London to display her latest collection, and it was a divine experience. While so much of the “Not A Man’s Territory” collection explored sexual tensions (and a pain related to this), there was also Fındıkoğlu’s usual amount of fetishization on display. Latex tights clashed with leather bursting at the seams, tightened together with clips and metal fastenings that intended to make us feel awkward. Likewise, models dropping their demure coverings revealed boned corsets and lingerie dripping in crystals, subverting opulence with the idea of something voyeuristic. Fındıkoğlu’s collections are impossible to not become fixated upon. Models stare into the eyes of the crowd, the heels hit the stone with a sharp sensuality, and performances of others clinging to walls or having a moment to themselves once again draw you in, but in a way that implies we shouldn’t be looking. This is Fındıkoğlu’s power, expressed through looks that also give her power. The most exceptional was the eveningwear. A dress made from black feathers à la Black Swan was powerful. A black satin gown covered in butter knives that curved around the breast and sculpted the hips alluded to finding one’s strength, as if the dress was Fındıkoğlu’s shield. Bravo.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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Anti-Hero. Talia Byre AW23

February 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Talia Byre is a designer worth keeping on your fashion radar. For autumn-winter 2023, the London-based designer found inspiration in the leading women of films like The Graduate and Funny Girl, and wanted to celebrate the ‘anti-hero’ with her latest offering. “The person I’m designing for is brash, greedy, selfish; all of what’s perceived as the worst traits to have,” she said in a preview. “But what’s great about them is that they’re also strong and independent – it’s their way of saying a big ‘fuck you’ to society.” The collection explored the sort of wardrobe that an anti-hero figure would aspire to own. There was a duality of toughness while retaining sensuality, whether in the form of screen-printed leopard patterns on wool and cashmere pieces, or figure-hugging maxi dresses in black and dark cherry brown. “This season, sexiness is expressed more subtly,” Byre said. “However, a look can unravel into more daring silhouettes with the undoing of a single button.” The tailored coats were particularly strong – one in navy wool with a dangerously high slit up the back, and another featuring a hood constructed from waterproof technical fabric. A cotton poplin shirt dress with woven stripes, a dramatically cinched waist-line, and voluminous sleeves was also worth noting.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.
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The Man And The Sea. S.S. Daley AW23

February 21, 2023 | Design & Culture by Ed

Sir Ian McKellen emerged from the shadows to begin the S.S. Daley autumn-winter 2023 show in a silk sailor’s cap and a navy peacoat decorated with a nude male form. Reciting one of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s Arthurian poems, his rich Shakespearean lilt spoke of mighty waves and roaring voices, delivered with the kind of presence that comes from a lifetime treading the boards. So far, so Steven Stokey-Daley: the designer has woven the energy of live performance into all three of his previous shows. But it turns out that Stokey-Daley was initially planning to do away with the theatrics completely this season, until McKellen unexpectedly reached out to the designer and the idea of him opening the show sprung up. “You don’t say no to Sir Ian McKellen,” said Stokey-Daley at a preview before the show. “To be honest, I couldn’t really believe it.” Given Stokey-Daley’s meteoric rise over the past two-and-a-half years, he shouldn’t be so surprised. The S.S. Daley whirlwind began in 2020 when he sent a portfolio of his graduate collection to stylist Harry Lambert, who then dressed his client Harry Styles in a full look for his “Golden” music video. From there, attention exploded, culminating in Stokey-Daley taking home the LVMH Prize and the emerging designer gong at the British Fashion Awards last year in quick succession. It was only after his show this past September, Stokey-Daley explains, that he was able to pause and fully take stock of his rapid ascent – and he found himself feeling strangely deflated. “Everything was great on paper, but I felt like, post-LVMH Prize, I had a lot to prove,” Stokey-Daley said. He felt he should reintroduce the brand with a bang last season and scaled up his runway experience, with an ambitious set inspired by Sissinghurst Castle Gardens. His initial urge to do without the theatrical bells and whistles this time was partly in response to that, channeling this emotional turbulence into artfully disheveled, navy-inspired clothes that trailed with loose strings of thread and lengths of knitted bunting, as if the models been dragged from a shipwreck. “This collection is more of a reflection of my state of mind than anything I’ve done before,” he said.