I couldn’t help but notice that there seem to be more male visitors at London Fashion Week this season too. A far cry from the dowdy image of the typical
British male, every man ShopCurious saw was distinctively dressed and
demonstrated a uniqueness of style.
Some were especially ‘chi-chi’ - like Daniel (I hope no one tried to hang
their coat on his earrings). And a black and white colour scheme seemed
to be popular with younger men.
While Grey Fox, a blogger specializing in
fashion for the older man, looked smartly stylish in a country style tweed
jacket, teamed up with jeans and brogues.
When is a lampshade not a lampshade? When
it’s a fringed dress, hung from the stone staircase at Somerset House. I spotted lots of unique accessories at
London Fashion Week.
Like this hand-sculpted metalwork and leather cape by jewellery design-duo Yunus and
Eliza,
cutesy Perspex hair bands and epaulettes
from Little Shipa,
arty headwear by Stephen Jones,
illuminated shoes by Liam Fahy,
and quirky handmade bags by Benedetta
Bruzziches.
This time there seem to be more accessories
than clothes at the exhibition – perhaps related to the growth of online
shopping?
Unusually for London, there seem to be
plenty of empty parking spaces too… By the way, I am wearing a vintage men's Playboy shirt, hand painted and embellished platform shoes, with a handbag and sunglasses from ShopCurious..
It’s not difficult to capture the essence
and diversity of London Fashion Week when all around are designers, exhibitors,
photographers, students, bloggers and visitors… Some are pictured here in photographs by
ShopCurious.
“I do hope you'll offer some commentary on LFW. I feel somehow so out of the fashion week spirit this time around! I need a jolt of inspiration,” was Style Porn’s comment on my previous blog post.
That was a few weeks ago. Since then I’m sure there’s been tons of coverage on every fashion week everywhere. I can’t quite manage to keep up. In the past few weeks I’ve been to countless fashion and design events in London and Europe, whilst continuing to follow what’s happening elsewhere in the world online.
Anyway, after a lecture earlier this week by Kerry Taylor (of whom more later) on 1960s style at the Fashion and Textiles Museum, I was inspired to take an online trip down memory lane.
Can’t repeat the past? But of course you can (see simple geometric prints and styles by MaxJenny above - and video below).
And we should expect to see much more
of then past, as the present becomes curiously complicated... and the future a little too worrying to contemplate. Read our latest Curious Trends post for a taster of what's to come.
Omg! London Fashion Week starts tomorrow. I always forget which season it is and which season is coming up, though I’m not sure that’s so important?
Just before my recent break from blogging, ShopCurious was invited to British couturier Nicholas Oakwell’s glamorous catwalk show at Claridge's. It’s so refreshing to see stylish and timelessly elegant clothing that is simply impossible to replicate in chain stores or on the internet. And to see a salon complete with grand piano, dressed with orchids - and scented by Roja Dove candles.
The workmanship that goes into creating these garments is extraordinary. Oakwell’s latest collection combined Art Deco elegance with vintage Victorian touches.Couture dresses and jackets featured feathers, fur, frills, pleating, bold geometric designs - there was also ruching, and even the odd ruff (not sure if that’s an Art Deco, or even a Victorian fashion trend for that matter). There were also retro hair rolls aplenty. But my favourite dresses were the ones that sparkled… Yes, I’m a sucker for sequins – and chandeliers - just see how they shine in my video:
There's a fresh new feel at London Fashion Week, with a pared down, more grown up exhibition. The A/W 2012 offering includes more structured tailoring, together with some beautiful, high-quality fabrics, garment and accessory finishes. As predicted, there is also something of a vintage vibe going on – though I'd describe it as more Ye Olde England meets a 1950s nature-inspired mash-up at the 2012 Olympics. What completely bowled me over is the range of decades and cultures represented by the designers and their work. It only goes to prove that London is a veritable melting pot of cosmopolitan retro futurism.
Curious highlights include wearable art by Japanese designer, Ryohei Kawasnishi (pictured on the right in this group photo), which is inspired by the aftermath of last year’s earthquake: A dirt and dust-caked, matted tangle of recycled fabrics form jackets and ponchos, which are hung like pieces of decaying meat from gantries, bathed in eerily luminous, post-apocalyptic light.
They couldn’t be further removed from Orla Kiely’s tea dance classics... Super-prim prom dresses worn with bobby socks that shimmer under flashes of light from a dance hall glitterball. Check out ShopCurious’s video here:
If there were more hours in the day, I’d love to share more of my Fashion Week finds. But I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until next time…
A curiously fierce, fetish inspired trend at London Fashion Week indicates that leather body armour, studded corsetry and heavy duty headgear will be appearing in our wardrobes by next spring.
Meantime, one of the fiercest looks I spotted amongst visitors to the exhibition came from fashion blogger Prince Cassius, whose gravity defying hair grows ever higher.
Stylist Leo’s outfit was a little less fierce, but he still seemed to be attracting a lot of attention. I loved his dark red tasseled slippers.
ShopCurious was pleased to see that there was plenty of arty, old school style on show.
As for the weird warrior style stuff, I wonder how many of us will actually wear these sorts of accessories…
Contrary to popular belief, trudging around fashion trade fairs, hiking across town to showrooms and standing in queues at fashion shows is far from glamorous. It’s also pretty demanding on the feet – especially if, like me, you’re partial to shoes of the high-heeled variety.
Whilst I’ve a weakness for arty and unusual shoes, I’ve noticed that heels seem to be getting higher and higher. When I saw the unique shoe designs by Joanne Stoker at London Fashion Week, I thought she was trying to cash in on this trend with her new ‘Empire States’ collection.
Inspired by Art Deco architecture, the handcrafted Plexiglass heels of Joanne’s shoes are designed to replicate masterpieces from the New York skyline. (Thankfully, no one's tried to base a shoe design on London's Shard of Glass).
Anyway, Joanne informed me that, although her ‘skyscraper heels’ give the impression of being high, they’ve been made with comfort and wearability in mind - and the method of construction means they’re actually only medium-high...
The angular shapes and mosaic style decorations are curiously creative and original, but however easy they are to walk in, the tower block shoes look rather more clunky than, say, the elegantly aerodynamic, space age designs of Chau Har Lee.
When I first saw Chau Har Lee’s designs last year I forgot to mention that we’ve some similar perspex wedges at ShopCurious. Ours are from one of Tom Ford’s early collections for Gucci in the 1990s and feature an angular silver ‘G’ buckle.
I think it’s great when shoes double up as collectable works of design art.
Designers at London Fashion Week no longer seem desperate to shock. Obscurely arty fashion statements are gradually being eclipsed by timelessly wearable clothing and accessories. However, if Lady Gaga is one of your clients, I suppose it's advisable to err on the side of eccentricity - like Charlie le Mindu, who’s responsible for the curious mannequin creation gracing the alternative, On/Off show space.
Meantime, at Somerset House yesterday, I shared a bird-watching hut with the British Fashion Council’s lovely Marits Roberts. We did a bit of twitching together, admiring Orla Kiely’s charming showcase, complete with trees, taxidermy and books on British birds. Marits - who by the way, has the most beautiful voice - kindly informed me that the Turtle Dove has recently been seen in the UK, for the first time in years.
I spotted quite few avian inspired accessories at the exhibition, along with the influence of other native animals, like the fox - as featured on the Mulberrry sponsored canvas bag - and the squirrel (this is beginning to sound like the name of a pub).
There were also plenty of friendly faces, like Desiree Mejer of Fake London, whose uniquely English designs are available at ShopCurious.
What I didn’t find were freaky fashions, or the media circus I’d expected... But you can read more about those sort of things in today's post on my weekly style column over at The Dabbler.
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