London Fashion Week: 6 moments I wanted to see
I’ve always thought that London has the coolest & avant-garde crowd. This year, 6 of my favourite young designers to watch have presented their collections. What Rejina Pyo, Faustine Steinmetz, Emilia Wickstead, Marques’Almeida, Mary Katrantzou or Eudon Choi have presented for the next season? London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018 had some unexpected features.
Rejina Pyo started her label four years ago and now, one of her trademark dresses took over the New York Fashion Week. Pyo, a former assistant designer to Roksanda Ilincic, held her Spring show in a Quaker hall and the designer had recruited almost half the show via Instagram and calling on friends of the house. The first outfit sent to the runway: a totally white look, with loose pants and oversized blouse, a funny reinterpretation of some pyjamas.
Up until now, Faustine Steinmetz has used art exhibit–style presentations to showcase her work. And she especially worked with denim. After jeans, track pants are the designer favourites and Steinmetz reinvented them in her own way. She had her name emblazoned up and down the legs of those pants and models came out toting ladylike handbags monogrammed with her initials. The first look of the runway: a cool sporty cool outfit, with white track pants and heels.
Emilia Wickstead is known for her ladylike dresses, but I was totally in love with one of her pants plus top outfit. All white, of course, even the black bows give the contrast a chic look needed. At London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018, she opened the show with a series of translucent looks—an ankle-nipping, off-the-shoulder dress and a knee-length summer coat.
The country songs of Dolly Parton filled the air of the Marques’Almeida show, which was held under a bridge off Brick Lane. The brand itself was built on a hardworking American classic: denim. There were some really great jeans on the runway, but I really liked the first outfit, with a powerful embellished top and… cowboy boots. Backstage after the show, Marques explained that their references essentially charted all over the map, that they were inspired by their community of strong women.
The pastimes of childhood were Mary Katrantzou’s inspiration for Spring. “Lego, Spirograph, paint-by-numbers books, balloons, marbles, Hama beads.” The London stage at London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2018 was taken by surprise by her choice in colours – the first model sent to the runway was like a giant candy floss in yellow, pink and silver.
Eudon Choi tends to draw his inspiration from an architectural framework (as well he did the last season). After Adolf Loos–influenced collection, Choi turned to the modernist aesthetic of Eileen Gray, and specifically the villa known as E1027 that she built with her lover, Jean Badovici, in 1929 on the southern French coast. The combo that draw everybody’s attention on the first second was made out of subtle black blazer and white cropped pants treated in a very minimalist way.
Photography: Facebook pages of brands.
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