London Fashion Week (LFW) actually spans over just five days but is more of a marathon than a fashion event. Hundreds of shows taking place each day, there’s the on schedule calendar with all the bigger names, there’s fashion scout in which ‘newer’ designers participate and this year there’s the on/off event happening too which is a mix of both. Besides these, main events there are lots of others happening all over London. The collections displayed this September are the Spring/Summer 2016.
The LFW calendar consists of both catwalk events and presentations - the latter generally run for a period of 2 hours or more and allowing you to view the collection more in depth, this year a lot of designers chose to use presentations as the means to showcase their new collection.
Presentation Events
Designer: Faustine Steinmetz
The designer created extraordinary outfits from ordinary pieces. The collection was made up of loom woven denim jackets with hanging threads and other embellishments, pleated bags, tracksuits made from responsibly sourced cotton with tasselled panels and lots more. The collection was displayed statically using a concept of models ‘breaking’ into the walls.
Designer: Markus Lupfer
Markus Lupfer threw a funky party in ‘a barren wasteland that came to life’. His SS16 collection has a lovely sense of humour and is rather fun and playful. Wavy print graphics run throughout the collection, some prints us cacti and others rich florals. There’s a nod to the nineties especially in the accessories. A monochrome and light pink palette was used combining clean styling with a hint of girlish coquettishness.
Designer: Teatum Jones (picture right)
Structured pieces, lace fabrics and total white looks were the order of the day at Teatum Jones. Her collection was all about separates with ‘the skirt’ being her focal point and the inspirational group leader. The colour palette is made up of just three colours - black, white and berry red.
Designer: Phoebe English
The collection was a thrilling harmony of romanticism and dishevelled unconstructed details. The mainly monochrome palette with touches of fiery red added a jolt of power to the outfit. A number of pieces were adorned with velvet frills giving that touch of feminine vulnerability. A lovely, interesting collection
Catwalks Events
Designer: Jean-Pierre Braganza
Jean-Pierre Braganza always presents beautifully constructed pieces. This season he has moved away from the harsher, edgier style and psychedelic prints of the previous seasons and the look is a softer, lighter approach. There is a still a dose of fierceness to be found in the looks, though, the JP Braganza woman is still a force to be reckoned with, she might just come across as slightly less dangerous initially. The ankle-grazing evening dresses were the highlight of the collection - absolutely stunning.
Designer: Jasper Conran
Jasper Conran's a collection largely inspired by nature. The runway was a beautiful shade of green whilst the collection mainly consisted of a colour palette based largely around browns and greens. There were some gorgeous full-length evening dresses which were the grand finale of the show but there were also some interesting ultra modern structured silhouettes and shapes.
Photos by Kurt Paris - www.kurtparis.com
Caroline Paris - www.carolinefashionstyling.com