London Fashion Week – Spring 2013. Collections & Designers (part II)

Ladies it’s been a pleasure I tell you. Yet before we say goodbye to London Fashion Week and plunge into the most glamorous and sensual city of fashion week (Milan– that’s you) here’s a look at some more established designers London offers us.

Jonathan Saunders said Spring 2013 was ”the hardest collection I’ve ever done”. Known as the London master of print & forever innovator and seeker for new and original takes on his work,Saunders, remaining faithful to his legacy, experimented so much (good way) with this collection. It was a show of color on leather, laminate printed fabrics, cellophane textures, skin-looking tops, sci-fi metallic items. Models with vampire lustful dark red lips, aviator/grunge sunglasses looked like 70s punk style icons. The designer did confess… ”I was thinking about Michael Clark disco girl”. With bias-cut slip dresses, glossy lips, tousled hair, sequins  his girl was like a sexy wild child with a bit of art inside her. 

Mary Katrantzou must’ve traveled a lot in her life and was a fervent stamp & money collector. Or at least she though of that alternate past life experience for her collection. Widely known for prints (yes she does make prints out of everything) she stunned us with her 2013 Spring Collection. Using the idea of stamps, money, banknotes she let her creation go wild and printed these journey totems on all items. She mixed, matched, cut, reshaped, rearranged and it all turned out brilliant. A-lines, shift dresses, sheaths, luxurious patterns, metallic brocades, Swarovsky crystals – all adorned the models and gave a feeling of Byzantine Age. 

Temperley London looked into the 1950s time/lifestyle/fashion to get inspired and had the runway flooded with Sophia Loren look a likes (well sort of) , all in scarlet, pale blues, whites, navies, floral appliques, organza, tulle, ribbon skirts, sating thick horizontal stripes alternated with sheer texture, white lace, digital prints... She’s the designer who artfully combines boho style with embelished pieces for the middle class/West London woman.

Vivienne Westwood Red Label was definitely the talk of the town, before and after. Inspired too by the 50s, an age of austerity when fashion was the last thing on your mind, yet never taken for granted for that matter, Vivienne Westwood came up with quite a lady like collection of cocktail dresses, big heavy pearls, pink silk jacquard skirt, twinsets, wool, gloves... And to top it all of, forget the traditional makeup. She chose to have model’s faces painted entirely in different colors: pink, red, orange, blue, green. Threw in there big vulgar yet oh so feminine flowers or hats, cool hair-dos and there you have it. The talk of the week. If that’s what Westwood was after than kuddos to her. Or could it be that she wanted us (a little too much) to not look at the clothes? Didn’t she exploit the punk glam rock side of the rebel woman, one too many times? And to make it all 100% sure (going for a safety net there Mrs. Westwood?) she ended the show in the ugliest pair of over-sized knickers, pulled over sheer tights and had a message T-shirt. Oh and a painted face. Sure it was the opposite of the collection, we got it, but was it so mandatory to push the boundary. I guess so – in art. The secret is /or better yet the point is to deliver on it… Ah… fun show indeed!

all photos are from style.com

For more designers and collections got to Part I of London Fashion Week. xx