London Fashion Week - My Analysis Day 2
Report by Liz Greehy.
Jonathan Saunders. So it's Day 2 of London Fashion Week, and this time I’m going to start my report with what was my favourite collection of the day – I was prepared for it to be Henry Hollands' (it was a close call) but my ultimate favourite was actually that of Jonathan Saunders. Vogue cited it as beautiful from start to finish. I say, for what it’s worth, that there were some elements that I didn’t adore – such as one or two of the day dresses which I thought were verging on dull – and the midi calf length hem of most of the skirts and dresses (and which has been a feature on the catwalks throughout most shows at LFW)- isn't my favourite S12 trend, but taking the collection as a whole, overall, this really was truly gorgeous. It sang summer from the rooftops, with its’ light and pastel palette and its’ brave combinations of clashing textures and floral prints. Brocade jackets and oversized coats adorned spindley models with flowing dresses of opposng pastel colours - it was like colour blocking but with summer pastels as opposed to summer brights. The models were like little (or rather tall) sombre dolls, whose hair and make up was superbly fitting of the collection and was absolutely perfect for the strongly editorial, summer, waif-like look that I think Saunders was trying to achieve.... and did.
Henry Holland. My second favourite was Henry Holland – staying true to his design signature, Holland’s show was colourful, bold and somewhat irreverent. You gotta love him! The young, fun and flirty collection saw everything from animal or paw prints on his mint green and salmon coloured dresses, to summery tartan’s in lilacs and sky blues, to snake print shoes and leather trousers (the snake print trousers now being my most coveted item from S12). Overall, Holland can’t really go wrong because it takes a designer of his knowledge to be able to create a collection like this without crossing the line from adventurous and fun to downright ridiculous. He knows what he is doing and I predict that paw-print dresses and jumpsuits are going to appear in a big way throughout S12. With both Nicole Roberts and Pixie Geldoff both spotted in the front row, I’m sure the orders are already coming in.
Julian McDonald. My surprise love of Day 2 was that of Julian McDonald, whose models reminded me of the female baddies (generally Russian spy’s) in Bond movies. With slicked back hair, they were either sporting super dark sunnies or military hats – or both – and these clever stamps really created an aura of authority around the entire collection. Despite the hard attitude, there were many softer elements to the collection with a nice sprinkling of colour, fringing and metallics and some really show stopping dresses (McDonalds forte if you ask me) but overall it was a structured and edgy collection that played beautifully with cut away leathers and a bad ass attitude and yes, I really quite enjoyed it!
Ashish took me by surprise it has to be said. Not by his bold use of colour or texture (or sequins and more sequins) that we have come to expect form an Ashish collection, but by the direction the collection took. What started out really well with the gorgeous sunflower dress (left) and the somewhat kooky fact that he had teamed most of his dresses with these gorgeous clumpy boots that had flowers sprouting out of them, unfortunately then seemed to descend into outfits and make up that more than closely resembled a party of circus clowns. Perhaps this is what he was going for, and I’m thinking it had to be, but it crossed a line for me somewhere. Although we may want to take risks in fashion and elements of his collection when taken separately, such as the wide trousers, the bright colours, the sequins, the clashing prints and the unbelievably literal take on floral etc were genuinely gorgeous, but worn all together, seemed a little too comical for my liking. Unlike his AW11 collection, which I ADORED with his gorgeous bright take on tartan and knitwear, I found many elements of this particular collection hard to take seriously.
John Rocha: I wasn’t overly enthused by the John Rocha collection. As usual, he focused on a lot of dark autumnal colours and at no stage did it feel remotely spring like. I find his focus on feathers and textures to be somewhat overwhelming each season. I did however like his Navajo take on the headwear which was very cute; the long extended headpieces which hung down along the models body and the plaits which featured throughout. The silhouette of this collection was very samey; small and understated on top, wide and heavily textured on the bottom. The heavily fringed or feathered dresses were definitely impressive from an intricacy point of view but they weren’t terribly flattering. As an aside however, I am rather taken with Simone’s collection for Top Shop which I shall return to later.
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