Ageless. Simone Rocha AW17

February 20, 2017February 20, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

For her autumn-winter 2017 fashion show, Simone Rocha wanted to clearly cater the fact that her clientelle spans from 20-something girls to 80-year old dames. As she told Sarah Mower of Vogue, “I’ve been reflecting on who I am. I’ve been building this identity, and I want it to be inclusive, for mothers, daughters, and granddaughters.” That’s why she tapped Jan de Villeneuve, Benedetta Barzini, Cecilia Chancellor, Adwoa Aboah and Jaimie Bochert to walk the show – model stars of both, the 60s and 2017. The effect? One of the biggest statements of the season: age really is just a number for fashion. Dress however you want, regardless of your age. The clothes were classic Rocha, tough – fluffy fur inserts and accessories, spacey coats, heavily embellished floral dresses, sheer fabrics. And I’m fine with that, because they look brilliant, as usual.

Focused. JW Anderson AW17

February 19, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Jonathan Anderson‘s collections at his namesake label are all about random ideas matched together in the most unpredictable ways – once it’s a medieval dress in tie-dye, then an over-sized crotchet knit. This season I haven’t felt that experimental spark, which makes J.W. Anderson so peculiarly elusive. Maybe that was the aim? Even though some of the skirts had ostrich feather inserts, while the jackets were over-small, Anderson’s autumn-winter 2017 wasn’t that impressive as usual. It rather felt like a season off; a fur coat, easy everyday dresses, floral motifs.

Ladies Who Brunch. Molly Goddard AW17

February 19, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Molly Goddard‘s signature tulle dresses are London’s favourite. And that’s already a well-known, unofficially acknowledged fact. Her autumn-winter 2017 collection, however, differed from the last seasons. While last time Molly staged an acid-splashed rave party, yesterday’s show venue was focused on a long, Alice from The Wonderland kind of table. Goddard’s bruch was served – after the models walked around the runway, they took a sit and sipped red wine. Of course, wearing layers of blue, green and pink tulle.Whether voluminous, or more day-to-day, Goddard’s woman is a contemporary princess, who walks down the street as if it was royal ball. For those who prefer something more conventional, the designer introduced a range of boldly coloured pants, striped knits and simpler, floral dresses from a stretchy fabric. But, really, take the tulle, lady!

Men’s – Seven Sisters Bankers. Martine Rose AW17

January 11, 2017January 24, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Martine Rose took London’s fashion scene to an indoor market in Seven Sisters, presenting her first runway collection, with nail salons and vegetable stalls in the background. Martine’s day-to-day job is consultancy at Balenciaga under Demna Gvasalia, but for her eponymous menswear line, she takes a fresh look at clothing essentials. For autumn-winter 2017, the daring designer explored different, quite unusual for the fashion industry male characters – the banker, the bus driver, the office worker to name just a few. People, who rather don’t care about fashion, and their unawareness of how they look lead Rose to reinterpreting tailored jackets, dresscode-wise shirts and voluminous suit trousers. With their hands in pockets, the models seemed to come straight from a some kind of subverted reality. Minutes after the show, Martine told Dazed & Confused that her idea was focused on “polished, mid-town, almost American Psycho-style bankers”. Instead of taking her aesthetically-forward bank boys to a CBD location, she took another path. “I’ve been in Tottenham for ten years, so it was time to do something here – I wanted people to come to the market to see how amazing it is. But I really enjoy when things are slightly off – so I wanted to have this weird show inside it.”

Men’s – Melting Pot. Wales Bonner AW17

January 10, 2017January 10, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

In my previous post on J.W. Anderson’s medieval-cool collection for men, I’ve mentioned Grace Wales Bonner as another example of a designer, who makes men’s London Fashion Week far, far more exciting. It isn’t a secret that London is Europe’s most celebrated melting pot of cultures, customs, dialects – no wonder why creatives from the whole world come here, to start their businesses. Wales Bonner‘s autumn-winter 2017 colllection is a continuation of her nearly poetic take on the topic of ‘spiritualism’.

“It was about the return of these spiritual characters who have existed in the Wales Bonner language before, it was about making them the heroes and looking at the street in an elevated way – and looking at it at different time periods. It was about bringing this sense of richness and depth to street language,” is the way she explained her latest outing of diverse boys (and girls).

Since the very beginnings of her own label, the Central Saint Martins graduate finds inspiration in her childhood memories – being a mixed-race girl brought up in south London was an experience, which left a significant mark on Bonner’s aesthetical point of view. The clothes presented by Grace clearly showed her interest in intriguing, African culture. Inspired with the unexplored street culture of Dakar, Wales Bonner sent out a line of leather patchwork pants, crinkled shirts with slouchy tailoring and velvet ties – as if the looks emerged out of Patrick Cariou’s photographs from his trip to Senegal.

Patrick Cariou

Tops covered in authentic Masai beading; stunning leather jackets trimmed with Dalmatian-intarsia mink – those are just some of the striking pieces coming straight from Wales Bonner runway. For the collection, the designer invited two, supremely-talented creatives, who are often associated with British fashion – first, Manolo Blahnik, who reinterpreted African sandals and boots. Second, Stephen Jones, who produced a limited number of Rasta caps with white mink stripes (Grace picked London’s Kingston neighborhood as a reference) and Pashtun caps. Bravo.