Autumn/Winter 2011/12 Womenswear Collections at
London Fashion Week
Author:
Karen Grace
Frumpy to Funky\'s London based Personal Stylist,
Karen Grace, comments on London Fashion Week for Autumn/Winter
2011.
Day One
The first day of London Fashion Week and an early
start to see the first catwalk show in the big tent
at Somerset House.
PAUL COSTELLOE
Costelloe really does have a large family! Last season
we saw his 6 sons taking to the catwalk, this time it
was his daughter, Jessica\'s turn. She opened the show
in a short burgundy tweed coat with oversized collar
and closed in a cute metallic burgundy baby doll dress.
The rest of the models wore rustic red blunt cut
frizzy wigs which complemented the bright bold colours
of the collection\'s palette.
The inspiration for the collection was ‘Home Grown
Fashion\' using fabrics of tweeds, plaids, and herringbones.
These traditional fabrics had been given a face lift
with mini skater skirts, short tailored swing jackets
and coats, plus the bold splashes of peacock blue, emerald,
mustard, burnt orange and fuchsia. Not to be outshone,
collars and buttons were large making a statement.
Metallics, plain and patterned, gave retro glamour
to the structured dresses rather than the usual sci
-fi it\'s associated with.
Next show venue was at the plush Savoy hotel.
MARIA GRACHVOGEL
Whilst Costelloe\'s AW11 girl is bright and vivacious,
Grachvogel\'s AW11 woman is languidly graceful. The
sumptuous setting of the Lancaster ballroom with its
crystal chandeliers added to the elegance.
The style palette was muted shades of ebony, bone,
grey and blush with a shot of flame orange to show there
is heat underneath the Grachvogel woman\'s cool exterior.
Inspiration came from the tribal to the Brothers Grimm
fairy tales. This was shown in the exclusive artwork
prints as enchanted forests in the fairy print, but
instead of the natural browns and greens, the colour
shows the fairy tales\' dark side in steel grey mixed
with buttermilk, winter white and muted jewel shades
of amethyst and sapphire. Several catsuits and dresses
sported a modern twist with a racer style back softened
by the fluidity of the fabrics.
Statement pieces included the bone wool flannel full
length ‘Emperor\' coat with oversized shearling collar,
and the ‘Aesop\' skirt with its asymmetrical hemline
graduating longer at the back, in black lace, bone wool
flannel and the tribal Shamen wool print.
The look was fluid and cleanly cut with the fabrics
bringing rich textures such as silk, georgette, lace
and cashmere tweed.
With no time to muse over the collection, again a
mad rush to get to my next destination, this time to
the On/Off location in Covent Garden.
JENA . THEO
From the floaty pastel hues of their Indian inspired
SS11 collection, designer duo Jenny Holmes and Dimitris
Theocharidis go dark and grungy in their AW11 collection
looking towards Norse mythology for their inspiration.
Titled ‘Valkyre\' after those celestial females who
decide who will die in the field of battle, the models
wore their long tousled hair with just the front strands
tied back to reveal the black war paint worn as a mask
around their eyes. Touches of leather appear as plaited
braids and patches on some of the garments giving the
illusion these warrior women have been busy making their
own clothes in the traditional Viking way. This more
so on the high heeled shoes covered in curled edged
patches of brown leather. However these warriors had
the luxury fabrics on hand with cashmere sweats, silk
modal jerseys and sand washed silk satins with touches
of soft baby alpaca wool hand knits. It\'s all about
layers and loosely woven oversized knits, with the main
colour palette being sombre hues of black and charcoal
grey, lightened with the natural neutral shades of ecru.
Denim reappears from last season but this time ranging
from a pale treated washed look to the darker blacks
and greys, with light jersey semi ruched leggings in
denim look prints.
Key pieces were, the brown and black silk dress made
of shorts with a long billowing trail and leather patchwork
tight sleeves; and the oversized faded black padded
coat with exaggerated shoulders but fitting snugly around
the knees.
Next mad dash was to the Freemason\'s Hall for the
first of the Vauxhall Fashion Scout‘s catwalk show:
PROPHETIK
Titled ‘Artist Wonderment\', designer Jeff Garner
was inspired by the fashionable French court of Louis
XV where frivolity reigned and egos were high, but turns
this pretension around to appreciate the wonderment
of an artist. Prophetik is an ethical range so the
fabrics used are eco-friendly such as hemp and organic
velour. He\'s introduced two new fabrics this season:
the cactus silk made from the agave plant and his own
great grandmother\'s 100year old southern quilts! The
quilts are a patchwork of colours, but the main colour
palette of the collection was neutrals, white, black
and the splashing of rich hues (well it is Louis XV
inspired) in emerald, plum, violet, deep scarlet and
burgundy.
One of his key pieces was of course the finale dress
called ‘Mrs Moulton\' made of hand sewn white ostrich
feathers on white silk and silk organza. Why it is called
this I don\'t know, maybe because the ostrich naturally
moults its feathers twice a year? Or it could be Jeff\'s
old next door neighbour.
Whatever the reason, the feathers gave an otherwise
simple gown a touch of grace and playful frothiness.
Another key piece was called ‘Lola\' named after
his great grandmother. Here Lola\'s old quilt was given
a new lease of life as a corset panel and quilted hood.
Teamed with wool jodhpurs (considerately lined in linen)
which were embellished with reclaimed gold piping and
antique gold buttons.
The men were striking in military style jackets,
jodhpurs and short velvet baggy breeches, although it
probably is not a look you could pull off in everyday
life. The quilts came in to their own here as a cosy
pink and blue coat with large frilled collar, it wasn\'t
the case as wherever I lay my hat is my home, rather
wherever I lay my coat is my bed –now that\'s recycling
at its best .
Wishing I could lay on one of Grandma Garner\'s cosy
quilts, it wasn\'t to be as Somerset House called to
me for the next catwalk show:
CORRIE NIELSEN
Titled ‘A Winter\'s Melodie\', this collection\'s
inspiration was drawn from two different periods – the
Elizabethan period and the 1940-50\'s French Haute Couture.
The colour palette was the deep rich colours of amethyst,
burgundy, gunmetal grey, purples, navy with pale gold.
Blanket like wraps were layered over skirts and trousers
or draped asymmetrically over wool day dresses and blouses,
giving a Celtic feel. The knee length pencil skirts
and dresses were more inspired by the haute couture
with their clean lines skimming over the female form.
Then the real drama appeared in the guise of a Sir Walter
Raleigh style puff ball cape in silk metallic green,
a pale gold silk gown with semi hooped skirt and flat
stiff bodice with the finale dress looking regal with
its oversized puffed ruff collar and long train.
And just to make sure my legs were still working,
it was time to make a dash back to the On/Off venue
for my last but not least show of the day.
ASHLEY ISHAM
Taking Christina G Rossetti\'s poem ‘In the Bleak
Midwinter\' for inspiration, ‘The Enchanted Forest\'
is a darker continuation of Isham\'s earlier floral
theme ‘East of Eden\' in SS11 collection. Here the models
represent fairies in lush tones of magenta, emerald,
deep sapphire, crimson, coral and granite whilst the
Queen of Fairy looks dark and mysterious in granite
voile and silver sequins.
The headgear ranged from the simple floral arrangement
you\'d expect fairies to wear, to those with more of
a touch of the orient – proving fairies are well travelled.
And of course the Fairy queen\'s headdress was bigger
and better than the rest – like a bridal veil on a windswept
day catching flowers as they flew by
Opening the show are the fairies, sorry models, in
striking bold floral patterns on a background of forest
green and turquoise blue velvet. Then came the elegant
long draped jersey dresses in plain deep sapphire and
crimson, followed by green and yellow pattern chiffons
which brought a light airy freshness before going back
to deep block colours, this time the turn of emerald.
By the end of the collection the colours were darker
with the granite and silver shining like different strengths
of moonlight on metallic bark textured browns, silver
birch jacquards and scale-like sequins, whilst black
beaded and woollen lace appliqués entwined around the
dresses and jackets representing creepers.
Day Two
After a full first day, the second day started miserably
with queuing outside in the rain and cold for my first
show at the Northumberland hotel.
BERNARD CHANDRON
Once inside and quickly thawing, the show began with
a shocking pink futuristic mini dress, worn with matching
tights and shoes (designed by Guiseppe Zanotti) to make
sure we were all paying attention. This set the scene
for a blaze of all over eye popping colours in reds,
oranges, pinks and a slightly more subdued electric
blue. Not the usual autumnal colours here. Our eyes
were sometimes given a rest with the solid classic navy
and blacks.
Wide zips were exposed and the main attraction were
the half peplums giving volume to the pieces. These
ranged from the more traditional short peplum in the
same fabrics as shown on a double breasted orange trench
coat with tulip style skirt, to the oversized shiny
black bow style on an orange diaphanous lace maxi dress.
The ones which dragged you in were those resembling
an open Venus fly trap with feathers at the tips instead
of the Venus\' jagged teeth.
Mainly block colours the pattern when it did appear
was of a tartan style, and surprisingly subtle being
made up various hues of the same colour.
Fabrics used were leather lace, silk velvet, jersey,
lace and not forgetting the ostrich feathers made in
to jaw dropping shocking pink and orange mini dresses.
Back to sprinting, my last two shows were at Vauxhall
Fashion Scout\'s Freemason Hall venue.
JACOB KIMMIE
Posing on pedestals were two buff guys in what looked
like nappies – but on closer inspection (any excuse
hey?) the fabric was tulle and inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe\'s
photograph ‘White Gauze\'
Titled ‘Martyr\', the collection was quite eclectic
in styles and fabrics. Ranging from the fairly innocuous
looking grainy denim pieces with the raw cut skirt lengths
graduating longer at the back to the darker diaphanous
black drapes and eerie black tulle headpieces wrapped
tightly round the models\' heads. Looking like something
out of a horror movie were two models dressed all in
white with splashes of blood red, one over her bare
arm whilst the other\'s head and shoulders were covered
and stained the top of her pure satin dress. More subdued
were the sharp tailored black wool crepe panelled dresses
and skirts adorned with a trail of long ribbon ties
teamed with tights and body stockings in barbed wire
and thorn prints bringing a tattoo effect.
Thorny black and white prints also covered a billowing
maxi dress and fluid minis again with the graduating
hemline.
Just glad it wasn\'t my final show of the evening
or I may have suffered from nightmares.
LAKO BUKIO
Ending the day on a lighter note was Bukio\'s collection
titled ‘Choxa\' taking inspiration from the Georgian
(her home country) National Ballet men\'s costume of
the same name.
Bukio emulates the Choxa long jacket\'s cinched in
waist and full skirt style on to some of her dresses
although she still keeps her much loved floaty chiffon
styles. To decorate a traditional choxa, lots of ammunition
is used one being a row of bullet tube pockets across
the chest. Bukio reduces the row and adds to feminine
diaphanous blouses which are balanced out with strips
of leather on collars or shoulders. One of her key
pieces: was a black jumpsuit with leather shorts and
chiffon top embellished with the bullet tube pockets.
She takes the bullet on other pieces a step further
by adding to the side of waists, as belts and trimming
the tops of her knee length boots. These boots were
a great addition to her signature shoe collection with
their cut out leather side pieces
The traditional coax colours of black, white, grey
and wine red were used given a clean palette. However
she mixed it up with the more autumnal shades of dark
and mid tone browns, camels, rose beige and a few pale
pastels which she used for her chiffons to bring a more
feminine feel to the darker masculine leathers and bullets.
.
Her signature chunky triangular heels, both in plain
and in two tone colours, were nearly upstaged by the
chunky 4 bullet leather heel, but I think that style
was only for this season – a pity as they were stunning.
Day Three
Day three was an easy day as the first show wasn\'t
until after lunch.
CARLOTTA ACTIS BARONE
Carlotta is passionate about ethical issues and delivers
her message through her designs. The inspiration for
this collection was formed from cruelty against animals
especially the slaughter of seals for their fur. Main
colour palette was striking with white representing
the ice and snow, navy blue for the cold sea, and splashes
of red for the spilt blood. Faux fur represented the
actual seals. The large square shoulders and the geometric
patterns used were taken from the Inuit\'s traditional
clothes. Her usual signature bodysuit was replaced
with transparent leggings and body stockings in the
geometric designs. These looked equally stunning under
the full skirted dresses and their red netting, but
came in to their own when seen under long diaphanous
fine wool tops. The models with their white faces and
windswept hair looked as though they\'d just arrived
from the Arctic with flakes of snow still on their feathery
eyelashes.
No rushing around as my next show wasn\'t until
the evening at the Charing Cross hotel.
OMAR MANSOOR
The title of Omar\'s evening gowns collection was
‘Paradise Lost\' and he took his inspiration from John
Milton\'s epic poem of the same name, in which Adam
and Eve\'s temptation by the fallen angel Satan and
their expulsion from the Garden of Eden is described.
The colour palette was a range of purple shades from
the palest greyish purple to deeper but muted hues;
and a range of muted greens from the mustard greens
to olives. The purples represent flowers whilst the
shades of green suggest the leaves in the Garden of
Eden.
The opening gown shone with its metallic gold panels
emblazoned on the folded chiffon bodice like the rays
of the sun. A short cocktail dress seemed to represent
the happy days in the garden with its shiny satin silk
in top pleated in shades of fresh lime greens and its
floaty chiffon skirt dancing with its embellished flowers.
Layers of chiffon fall like delicate shreds to form
the skirt of a satin silk ruched cocktail dress in light
aniseed green, whilst a long simple lilac gown in satin
silk was given texture with a crisscross patterned bodice.
Delicate woven lace flowers, layers of sheer fabrics,
asymmetrical hemlines, and dramatic necklines symbolise
the story of sin, angels, curiosity and beauty.
Day Four
Again, Day four wasn\'t a bad day as all my shows
were at the Freemasons Hall so no running around yay!
A LA DISPOSITION
From the title of the collection ‘Utopian Aviary\'
I was expecting feathers or bird prints, but instead
I was pleasantly surprised with sharp tailoring and
fabrics made to emulate the bird form and shape by layering,
ruffling, pinking and gathering of fabrics.
The opening model wore matching cape and pencil skirt
made from short faux fur in ridged lines of black and
white. The cape was not of the usual free flowing style
but tightly fitted across the shoulders and formed a
tail coat at the back; the pencil skirt was made up
of layers opening across the front like the layering
of feathers. Necklines were high with either long thin
feather like bows pointing upwards as in flight, or
multi layered voluminous collars circling the throat
as a bird would puff out its plumage to attract a mate.
Plain body skimming shift dresses are given texture
from shoulder to the throat with high gathered necklines
pulled in as you would a cloth bag, whilst the shoulders
of jackets are puffed out with extra overlapping layers
like feathers..
Colour palette was a base of black with the more
mate attracting rich tones of oranges, reds and greens.
Fabrics of faux fur, gossamer silks, taffeta, velvet
and chiffons gave texture.
BUNMI KOKO
This show started as it meant to go on with a blaze
of colour. The first model wore a 50\'s style full skirted
dress not only standing out with the abundance of black
underskirt netting but the silk skirt hemline was stiffened
with curled wiring. The top of the dress was a Kaleidoscope
of colours and patterns (also the title of the collection)
and to balance out the top with the voluminous skirt,
the square folded shoulders were sculpted to stand to
attention.
The models wore large diamante Perspex wrap around
glasses as though they needed to protect their eyes
from any bright colours shooting out from the garments
– well her inspiration was that of the scientific and
philosophic discoveries of light reflecting off a glass
prism, supernovas, mirages and comets.
Colours were bright with ultra violet shades of pink,
orange, green and blues. Patterns played a key role
with the geometric shapes of the kaleidoscope patterns
to the more blurred edges of a mirage or rainbow.
The styles were an eclectic mix from those voluminous
netted skirts in printed silks to the knee length pencil
skirt in sci-fi silver metallic leather. For me it was
a mixed reaction, I wasn\'t keen on the futuristic metallic
dress, but loved the long georgette and sequined evening
gown with its side cut outs and sheer panels. Wearing
that I could happily study how the light shimmers off
the sequins.
Day Five
The last day of London Fashion Week and the first
show of the day was back in the big tent at Somerset
House.
MARIOS SCHWAB
Inspired by Austrian architect Loos\'s essay ‘Ornament
and Crime\' where a cobbler is toiling to brogue his
shoes, Schwab uses this broguing pattern of punched
holes to decorate his leather pieces. But it is in his
softer fabrics where the brogue pattern excels. Here
he takes porcelain Swarovski pearls, designs them in
to clusters and lines to create the effect of raised
brogue patterns.
Silhouettes were clean; the brogue lines contoured
breasts giving a warrior princess look especially in
the leather, whilst other leather pieces were softened
by mixing with chiffon and waists wear cinched in.
As well as the blacks and browns, the colour palette
included rich tones of teal, mustard, orange and burgundy
– all the hues you expect for the autumn.
Next stop was to the Freemasons Hall for my next
show. No shoving and pushing here as everyone was allocated
seats and yours truly was on the front row.
JOANNE HYNES/HELEN STEELE
This collection titled ‘Les Guerriers\' (or warriors)
was the inaugural collaboration of Irish designer Joanne
Hynes and artist Helen Steele. They took their inspiration
from the Irish pirate queen, Grace O\'Malley, which
emulsifies their own mission to create, battle on and
forge ahead.
This was an array of colours and textures. Leather
jackets, hand knitted Arans and Irish tweeds were encrusted
with sparkling crystals. The models wore oversized and
heavily embellished neck pieces made from hand woven
silk, nappa leather and Waterford crystals in reference
to the Irish heritage. These glammed up the simpler
garments often set on faux fur stoles, but also added
extra glam to the prints and already embellished pieces.
Tweed suits were a patchwork of rich colourful fabrics
horizontally panelled with Indian brocades, feathers
and crystals.
Aran cardigans were made in to short jumpsuits,
faux fur coats had fun splashes of colours as though
dotted on with a paint brush , leather skirts were
painted over by Steele using dense layers of multicoloured
paint and Steele\'s series of paintings had been digitally
printed on to silk jersey leggings, dresses, scarves
and tees.
Footwear was either high wedged wooden clogs, chunky
very high platform wedged boots or the flat Chelsea
boot. The clogs were covered in splashes of paint as
though worn by an artist whilst painting; the Chelsea
boots were a patchwork of different fabrics and colours,
and the high wedged bovver boots were in bright shiny
patent.
Definitely a collection fit for a Warrior Queen.
And inspired by the warrior queen look, I was ready
to battle my way home through the rush hour.
Karen Grace is a Personal Shopper & Image Consultant
for frumpy to funky.
For more details on our services check out our website:
www.frumpytofunky.com
You may also find our blog site interesting; http://frumputofunky.blogspot.com
Article Source:
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About the Author
frumpy to funky was established by Karen Grace, an
affiliate member of the Federation of Image Consultants.
Karen has studied Personal Styling at the London College
of Fashion and received her professional training in
one of the London\'s leading Image Consultancy training
centre. More details can be seen on http://www.frumpytofunky.com
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