London Fashion Week autumn/ winter 2011 wound up last week. Shweta Shiware was there to catch the action that included some of the biggest names in British fashion. The surprise? A Delhi-born designer who doesn't shy away from saying he loves sequins, and a young Marwari lady who is dressing Emma Watson
London Fashion Week autumn/ winter 2011 wound up last week. Shweta Shiware was there to catch the action that included some of the biggest names in British fashion. The surprise? A Delhi-born designer who doesn't shy away from saying he loves sequins, and a young Marwari lady who is dressing Emma Watson
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Easy does it for Sir Paul Smith. In a sea of strict silhouettes endorsed by Erdem, Giles and Christopher Kane for autumn/winter 2011, the quintessential English designer gave women a reason to breathe, presenting wardrobe options inspired by preppy androgyny.
Smith started his career designing menswear in 1970. Cajoled by female customers who were fed up of borrowing clothes from their boyfriends' wardrobes, he made a foray into womenswear 15 years later. The collection he showcased at the newly refurbished Savoy Hotel on February 21 translated his savoir-faire idiosyncratic male clothing ideas into a range for women.
On paper, American singer-songwriter and Godmother of punk Patti Smith fuelled the designer's ideas, but the mannish style of Diane Keaton in Woody Allen's 1970s classic, Annie Hall couldn't be dismissed either.
Menswear essentials forged a comfortable collaboration with a poppy orange oversized cable sweater, a polka-dot blazer, neon green belts, fuschia cropped trousers and patent red lace-free brogues.
The atmosphere was one of calculated carefree style, with bespectacled models carrying a messy mop of hair tucked into jacket collars. Sharp yet relaxed mannish tailoring inched towards a few female silhouettes embellished with floral embroidery.
Saloni Lodha >>> 18 Feb
Mumbai designer Saloni Lodha's second showcase at London Fashion Week was nothing short of a Victorian epic. Created in 1890s and reconstructed later by Parisian architects, the Ballroom at Savile Club was picked as the venue, while Kelly McCallum's installation of pink flamingos perched on a fireplace outside added a sense of chic whimsical to the presentation.
As the air filled with notes of Beethoven, Chopin and Ravel played live by pianist Rosey Chan, models nimbly pressed their heels on the sweeping spiral staircase wearing Lodha's dreamy sky prints and steely city grids. "Yann Arthus-Bertrand's photographs from the book, Earth From the Sky inspired me to explore colours of the sky," Lodha said.
On a luscious bed of jewelled tones of red and blue, the luminescence of the sky was expressed through handspun Benarasi lurex brocade, and metallic gold fabrics. Driven by her reputation of dressing actress Michelle Monaghan, iconic rockstar Mick Jagger' daughter Georgia May Jagger and model Poppy Delevigne, the collection offered umpteen evening wear options, each defined by intricate Indian embroidery and tie and dye.
Shapes varied from knee-length dresses and flirty frocks to gowns, delicately framed by sequin panels and embroidered birds.
Born in a traditional Rajasthani-Marwari family, 30 year-old Lodha divided her time between Rajasthan and Mumbai before moving to London to study fashion design at Central Saint Martins.
She launched her collection in 2008, quickly becoming a name to reckon when Harry Potter actress Emma Watson wore a Saloni Alexia red dress while promoting Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in 2009.
Ashish Gupta >>> 22 Feb
Londoners wouldn't know but back home in India, there's a saying that goes: 'Zaroor paani mein kuch hoga' to justify mysterious characteristics among a group of people leading to unique achievements. And so, we say, there's something in the water provided by the Delhi Jal Board. Why else would designers from the Indian capital slice through the international fashion market, while Mumbai's best struggle?
After Manish Arora and Ashish N Soni, Ashish Gupta is another Dilli name on the roster. At 21, the Delhi-born designer moved to London to study fashion design. Twenty years later, he calls London his home, although he spends three months of the year in the Indian capital; also the location of his workshop.
"Sequins, glamour, sportswear and more sequins," is how he summed up his design philosophy, failing to mention an innate sense of humour that his clothes carry. Jog your memory to a scene in Sex and the City when Carrie Bradshaw wears a Minnie Mouse tee (designed by Gupta) underneath a beige blazer when she's off to meet writer Jack Berger, and you know what we mean.
Borrowing ideas from popular culture is second nature to Gupta. His autumn/winter 2010 range saw images inspired from sportswear giant Nike find place between Monalisa, Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty motifs.
His London Fashion Week autumn/winter 2011 collection had Gupta take the punk-Highlander route, with a line featuring sequined Union jacks on T-shirts and boxer shorts. "It was all about posh-punk," said the designer backstage, dressed in a gray tee and track pants. His muse was the "archetypal poor little rich girl" who loves to mix streetwear with deluxe.
The much-needed shot of sophistication arrived in tartan suits, cardigan jackets and mini-skirts. But Gupta never readily surrendered his core idea of punk primitiveness. Examples? Tights carrying cobweb knee pads, tattered cardigans, a zip slicing the back of a sequinned sheath dress, and black trousers offset by the white sequinned pelvis of a skeleton.
The inspiration may oscillate but what remains constant is Gupta's steadfast loyalty to sequinwork; his signature. It's an allegiance that's commonly signed off as Bollywood-inspired! "I love sequins. But I wouldn't say I am inspired by Bollywood. American designers like Oscar de la Renta have used beading and sequinwork, so it's not restricted to Bollywood alone."
How about doing a show at an Indian fashion week? "I'm open to the idea if the timing is right."
Fingers crossed.
Burberry Prorsum >>> 21 Feb
The 155 year-old British brand is adamant at communicating to the young buyer in a digital language he understands best. On a chilly Monday evening, Burberry Prorsum left a technological dent in fashion history by live-streaming the show held at Albert Memorial in Kensington Garden on to a giant screen at Piccadilly Circus, reaching out to more than 150 countries around the world ufffd ensuring a front row seat for fans of the brand and an online shopping option for those who wanted to follow it up with a purchase.
front row celeb attendee: Hollywood star Sarah Jessica Parker
David Koma and Holly Fulton >>> 21 Feb
At 1.30 am, UK's youngest First Lady and British Fashion Council's ambassadress casually sauntered in for a two-designer show at the BFC show tent at Somerset House. Dressed in a beige jacket by Osman Yousefzada, a white Whistles shirt and black trousers, Samantha Cameron was there to lend support to Fulton who created a range for Smythson, a luxury stationary brand. The 39 year-old was its creative director until recently when she quit to become a full-time mother.
Koma's sculptural designs have found ready takers in singers Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna. His autumn/winter 2011 line centred around polka dots ufffd he expanded them into circles, made them into cutouts, used them as appliqu ufffd, and finally, turned them 3D into pom-poms.
All the while, the shapes stayed close to the body, almost creating an illusion of the hourglass.u00a0u00a0
Fulton's collection was an unapologetic eulogy to English tweed, fusing the weave into art deco jewelled dresses, moving onto leather cap sleeved versions embellished with beads and tassels. Cityscapes came alive on silk trousers and dresses, highlighted with lip print.u00a0
Erdem >>> 21 Feb
It was dark and painterly, at once. Much like designer Erdem Moralioglu's inspiration ufffd the 2000 biographical film on American painter Jackson Pollock. Erdem's muse, interestingly, was the abstract painter's wife Lee Krasner who was known to tear her partner's canvases and recreate them into items of clothing. In a mesh of splashes and dots of colour, and a canvas of teal, cherry and violet, 1950s gowns and sheaths teased the audience with plunging necklines and side slits.
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