London in the spotlight: Whimsy, royalty and retro cool

Posted by Eliza Gratton on March 1, 2011 1 Comment

LONDON — With clothes fit for a prim princess and an eccentric socialite, London Fashion Week covered all the bases this season. Here are the takeaways from the fall-winter 2011 season:

Issa

With whimsical hats atop models’ heads, and her signature silk jersey dresses done in flirty, shorter lengths, it seemed as if designer Daniella Helayel was winking at famous fan Kate Middleton, even though the future royal was not in the house.

Issa has made a name for itself on stretch dresses that magically whittle the waist, courting fans such as Madonna and Cameron Diaz. But when Middleton wore an Issa royal blue, long-sleeve jersey dress to announce her engagement, suddenly, the label was thrust into the spotlight like never before.

For fall, Helayel stuck to her greatest hits, with feather prints similar to ones she has used before, and the Middleton dress done in firecracker red .

Erdem Moralioglu

Erdem Moralioglu could well be described as a painter with fabric. Indeed, over the last few seasons, Moralioglu’s Impressionist-looking floral print silks have made for some of the most gorgeous clothes coming out of London.

For fall, he went from florals to abstract, color-daubed digitized prints. Still letting the colors and patterns take center stage, the shapes were simple and wearable: sheath dresses in velvet or sheer shimmery chiffon, pencil skirts and coats so sweepingly beautiful they could have been on the wall in a museum.

Mulberry

There was a forest full of flora and fauna decorating the runway, and no fewer than seven furry fashionistas of the canine variety in the front row .

All because designer Emma Hill was inspired by “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — the Roald Dahl book and the Wes Anderson film — all the way down to the hardware on the latest Alexa handbag .

Anderson would have loved the burgundy corduroy swing jacket and matching skirt, and the whimsical bird-print dress. There was also plenty for the urban fashion animal to wear, including jodhpurs tucked into wedge heel boots, long skirts in autumnal prints and checks, worn with woolly sweaters and pompom scarves. Bags — the Alexa, the Bayswater, the Carter and more — came in deep colors of mock crocodile.

David Koma and Holly Fulton

London’s most fashionable set, including the prime minister’s wife, Samantha Cameron, and socialite-eccentric Daphne Guinness, turned out for newcomer David Koma’s dotty show. And it was easy to understand why. The Russian native, after all, has already dressed Lady Gaga and Beyonce.

Inspired by Japanese conceptual artist Yayoi Kusama, Koma picked up on fall’s polka-dot trend and showed sophisticated, tight-fitting dresses and skirts contoured with circular cut-outs. There was also a terrific black cape with cut-out spots.

Koma seems to be going places — this month, he’s launching a capsule collection for fast-fashion giant TopShop.

Holly Fulton is another one to watch. For fall, the Edinburgh native known for her embellished Art Deco- and geometric-inspired prints and jewelry added Dada to the mix to splendid effect.

Sheath dresses, wide-leg palazzo pants and maxi-skirts were covered in lip, skyline and cloud prints, embroidered with beads and pearls, or embellished with fur. There was a touch of Art Nouveau too, with a print of intertwining hands and flowers.

Christopher Kane

The winner of this year’s British Fashion Council/Vogue Fashion Fund Award, Christopher Kane is one of the hottest names in London right now. He also designs the Versus collection in Milan and recently announced he’ll be collaborating with L.A.’s J Brand on a capsule collection of denim for 2012. Which is all to say that he’s been a little busy — maybe too busy.

He began his show with the coolest crochet knits your grandma has never seen. They came with lava lamp liquid-filled plastic insets, for a homespun-meets-futuristic look that could have been more developed. For evening, little black dresses had the same liquidy trim at the waist or necklines. It was a cool effect, even if it was about all there was to the collection.

Burberry

At Burberry Prorsum, designer Christopher Bailey got sentimental over British fashion model Jean Shrimpton, symbol of the 1960s youth quake, sending out sculptural, drop-shoulder coats and cropped cape jackets, worn with cow-print flat caps and round sunglasses.

The coats came in every conceivable bright color, as well as black-and-white windowpane checks, with bubble backs, gathered back pleats or leather martingale belts. Adding to the retro look: zip-front mini-dresses, flared pants and tweedy leggings worn with tunics with puffball fur sleeves. And while the mod influence may have seemed at the time as if it came out of left field, the trend continued to gather steam in Milan.

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Tags: London, London Spotlight