London Fashion Week - My Analysis Day 1
London Fashion Week Analysis – Liz Greehy
Paul Costelloe
If I could be a model (obviously that’s the first imaginative hurdle for you) I think I’d probably love to model for Paul Costelloe (second hurdle); not least because he is a great designer, but because he manages to marry elegant and flattering, with just the right sprinkling of ‘edgy’ and generally avoids – though sometimes it’s a close call - falling into the dreaded ‘safe’ category. Costelloe opens London Fashion Week, over and over again and watching his S12 show, it’s easy to see why. He always eases us into this week of high fashion with grace elegance and – I’ll say it again - an almost unsurpassed knowledge of what flatters the female form. His S12 collection was a glorious combination of contemporary and a nod to the past, complete with sixties signatures like the hem hemlines, a- line dress coats, cinched in waists (in some of his dresses), cowel necks and cute ankle socks. He used an overall rather muted summer palette but there was a big focus on textures and prints. The key elements of his collection included ruffles, high hemlines, textures, organza and statement high collars and shoulders. Corrie Nelson
Now, this was an altogether different show, with what one might describe as a heavily regal collection. The colour palette was certainly not spring inspired – although if you’re Irish...... Anyway, though there were moments of light, with white and candy yellow, it was an overall dark collection with floorlength coats, high collars and lots of structure. The collection was interesting and was definitely more architecturally adventurous than Costelloes' and I really, really want a coat like the one pictured here left.... but overall, I wasn't inspired to pick flowers or spring gaily through fields of heather.. I felt like I was in the wrong season.
Felder Felder
My surprise ‘love’ of day 1 at LFW was the Felder Felder collection, which although verging on being a rather autumnal colour palette (dark sea greens, greys, metallics, dusky browns and burnt orange) it was nonetheless brighter than Nelsons and although with an overall ‘lighter’ feeling (i.e. shorter hemlines and more ethereal skirts) it also encompassed a hard, edgy element; the strangest part (i.e. my favourite of course) being the dog collar-like choker feature that was worked into quite a few of his outfits and which comprised of a leash like piece on the front which travelled from the studded collar down to the chest or naval. It also included metallic skirts and jackets which resembled tin foil. I enjoyed the boldness of this collection.
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