London Fashion Week: A Few More Words
1: My favorite show of London Fashion Week was Marios Schwab’s ode to Marlene Dietrich. The eveningwear was as lovely as anything I saw at the Paris couture presentations, but what really got me was the designer’s consistently-refined sense of taste. Two years ago I never would have compared him to Tomas Maier, but I will now. At this rate of growth, London will be lucky to keep him. The world is going to come knocking soon.
2: I was delighted to see range and growth at Mary Katrantzou and J.W. Anderson. However, I wish I would have seen more at Peter Pilotto. At one point a model came out with an adorable puffer coat over a dress that could have been on the PP S/S 2012 runway six months ago — it was that similar. Both pieces were terrific, but a lot of critics would a ripped a lot of designers a new one for pulling a stunt like that.
3: Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label benefitted from a presentation that didn’t obscure the clothes. The same thing happened at Meadham Kirchhoff, Michael van der Ham and Louise Gray. These three shows surprised me with their commercial potential, especially Gray’s presentation. If it wasn’t for Marios Schwab, she’d be at the top of my list.
4: In less surprising news, Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders put on great shows, too. According to my astrologer, Kane caught the right mood for the second half of 2012 when fashion takes on a darker, more-Scorpionic tone. Saunders, a Scorpio, should do just fine.
5: My least favorite thing at London Fashion Week was the opening look at Erdem. Yechh!
6: The Central Saint Martin’s show was a gas. I predict big things for Jessie Hands. I stared at those dresses trying to figure out if the fabrics were sewn together as a collage, or bonded together, or simply custom printed then cut. I still have no idea how they were made. It takes a lot to impress someone who has been around as long as I’ve been around, but Jessie Hands did it by showing me something I’ve never seen before. Wow!
7: My least-favorite show was Burberry. I usually don’t like anything but the coats, but this season I really didn’t even like the coats. I was far more impressed by the outerwear — especially the men’s outerwear — at the McQ show.
8: Why wasn’t I invited to Stella McCartney’s presentation dinner? She filled the chairs with meat-eating savages while ignoring me, her vegetarian soul-sister. I’ll never forgive her . . .
