MULBERRY
Wow, Mulberry is good at branding. At 7am yesterday, it tweeted the news that songstress of the moment Lana Del Rey, the muse for its new Del Rey bag, was turning up to the show at 10am. Within an hour, it went viral. Nice move. Once we battled our way past hundreds of gold Mulberry balloons, we spotted Azealia Banks, Elizabeth Olsen and Michelle Williams on the frow, too. By 11am, Mulberry was the number-one trending topic on Twitter. Job done. The clothes are almost incidental to the publicity-inducing sideshow, but adorable all the same. The show was inspired by children’s book Where The Wild Things Are and English boarding school-style japes. Cue statement outerwear par excellence. Silken shearling yeti coats came in caramel and rich oak, layered over chunky knits and below-the-knee schoolgirlish skirts in lace and floral panels. I adored the giant, thickly textured knit scarves, Inuit hats, quilted floral parkas and bomber jackets in autumnal shades. The Del Rey bag was, like the singer, darn cute, too.
MARIOS SCHWAB
Until yesterday, I’d never been to a show inspired by a single piece of music. Marios Schwab was so taken with the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No 5 that he created a collection worthy of clothing a modern-day Marlene Dietrich for her entire life, from walks in the park to business lunches, formal evenings and red-carpet engagements. With Hitchcockian drama and mystery, the Schwab woman emerged in precisely cut, form-fitting cocktail dresses with Spirograph bodice detailing, topped with a wide-brimmed hat, or a slim chocolate-brown satin trouser suit. The hourglass-shaped coats with sculpted leather arms looked to be made of shaved fur in green or pale yellow; this turned out to be alpaca from renowned teddy-bear maker Steiff. Schwab said the Mahler piece instigated “a desire to construct the wardrobe of the ultimate seductive, mysterious woman, someone to admire from afar”. He then read Dietrich’s biography en route to LA, and the creative impulse was complete. Ms Dietrich would surely have ordered every piece.
JW ANDERSON
You know you’ve arrived on the London Fashion Week scene, when fashion kids are queuing outside your venue two hours before the start time in the freezing cold, and senior international editors are hustling to their front-row seats. So it is with Mr Anderson, the cult NEWGEN kid on the schedule whose womenswear sales quadrupled since last September. He’s got his look sussed; its clunky geek chic for cool girls who like their fashion to be quirkily elegant, rather than elegantly beautiful. His offering for A/W 12 is what he is calling “ugly beautiful” and “monolithic” – ie, looks comprising one or, at most, two fashion items. Indeed, the key show look for me was a toss-up between a waffly fisherman’s knit in mustard worn with a grey and black plaid below- the-knee skirt, and a full-length white patent-leather coat with a white padded skirt panel. Not your usual fashion offering, but I promise: Jonathan Anderson’s jumpers – he also sent out plaid and chequerboard tinsel ones – are already top of many wish lists for next season.
UNIQUE
Topshop, j’adore! Not only do you feed hungry fashionistas at your show venue, you also serve up great fashion we want to wear immediately. Yesterday’s show being a case in point. In a move away from the faddish S/S 12 collection, the design team, including Emma Farrow, with the guiding hand of Creative Director Kate Phelan, delivered straight-up future-fashion staples everyone wanted on sight. Cleverly, team Unique began the collection by thinking about their most desired everyday utility fashion pieces – these were kilts, sweaters, boiler suits, party dresses, army shirts and army boots – and then created their ideal versions for A/W 12. This startlingly simple approach resulted in a show of fashion hits. In no particular order, my top 10 are: a stunning olive-green army greatcoat; khaki wide- leg leather trousers; a long front-split kilt in burgundy with a black leather panel at the hem; a black jumper with red crosses; a grey flannel and cotton khaki shirt dress; olive army boots and... oh no, I’ve run out of space!
Which collection was your favourite?
Saskia XO
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