The best of London Fashion Week FW2010

After a period in which British brands preferred showing abroad they’ve now come back to London. The city’s fashion week celebrated it’s 25^th anniversary last year and is again a popular fashion town. Some of the best British labels have returned to the London catwalks, including Burberry, Pringle, Matthew Williamson, Antonio Berardi, Jonathan Saunders and Clements Ribeiro. Luckily for London, cause Burberry and Williamson were surely two of our London Fashion Week highlights.

Christopher Kane
With the fall collection Christopher Kane presented he is bound to win another Collection of the Year award. The designer used black lace and leather embroidered (by hand!) with floral patterns. A crazy combination, at first sight, but after a few looks we started to like it. The skirts and dresses meant for young women were short like always, but never looked sleazy. Kane worked some Priscilla Presley looks into his collection as well. ‘From the time before Elvis got her hands on her’, he said. Even though Christopher Kane and his sister Tammy are only running the label for four years they’ve already achieved a lot. And we’re sure there’s much more to come. Now let’s just hope he won’t be taking too many extra design job like the ones for Versus and Topshop, cause he already has his hands full right now.

Burberry
Another successful British designer who is fully booked is Christopher Bailey, creative director for Burberry. Bailey oversees some 60 different men’s and women’s collections each year, including the Prorsum, Brit, London and Sport labels, plus children’s wear, denim, underwear, fragrances, home-wear and all the accessories. Plus he’s responsible for the design of the Burberry shops. But that doesn’t influence the great collections he delivers. His work even tends to get better. The womenswear collection for next fall was a highlight of the London Fashion Week. Not only was it the first show to be watched live in 3D, people could even buy the designs as they came down the runway by simply clicking the ‘Click to buy’ button. And there sure was a lot to love, the coats being the public’s favourite. They came by with military accents and in aviator style, shear ling lined with double collars. So the Burberry show was trendsetting in two ways: (1) The military coats will be a success next year (2) Other labels will soon broadcast their shows in 3D and will let their customers buy their clothes straight from the show as well. Just wait and see.

Matthew Williamson
A show we would have loved to see in 3D was that of Matthew Williamson. Although the man is known for designing bright young things for, well.., bright young things his fall collection seemed a little more grown up. Of course there were the multicolored mini-dresses but Williamson also experimented with a more mature look. We liked it. Romantic ruffles and drapery were seen on his sophisticated dresses. He used beautiful colors from icy grey and blue to warm shades of fuchsia, peach, orange and red. Colorful prints and sparkles gave the collection it’s Williamson-twist. We loved the designs, the colors and the more grown up look. The dresses we’re maybe a bit too dull for his on-and-off girlfriend Lady Gaga, but they are still perfect for his other young customers, like Sienna Miller and Jade Jagger.

The best of New York Fashion Week FW2010

New York doesn’t always have the best brands showing their new collections. Still some labels left a big impression on us at the latest New York Fashion Week during which the fall/winter collections for 2010/2011 were shown.

Marc Jacobs
One of the highlights certainly was Marc Jacobs’ fashion show. Not only did the designer create a buzz around his show by starting a contest on Twitter only three weeks before the show. The beginning of the show was also very spectacular, with the 56 models all standing in a box on the stag  wrapped in brown paper. The show started on time, ’cause there were no celebrities invited and we loved the fact that Somewhere over the rainbow was played. The song brought back good memories while Marc Jacobs brought back old trends. He showed many items of his nearly two-decade repertoire. He stressed the fact that he didn’t want his clothes to look new. They were fashionable but were ‘not trying too hard to be so’. The clothes looked conservative, pure and simple and had a vintage vibe going on. The waists were raised and the A-line was back. And we just let us carry away by the music, the romantic clothes and the serene atmosphere. We loved it!

Rodarte
Another NY show that breathed serenity was Rodarte. The models appeared in beige, nude and floral printed designs, while candles were burning and dripping in the background. The models’ glow in the dark heels represented dripping candles as well. It all fit perfectly with Kate and Laura Mulleavy’s idea of sleepwalking.  The clothes had a suitable dreamlike quality. Rodarte’s craftsmanship was better than ever, the patchworks looked cheerful, and the knits seemed very wearable. Especially the ending was magical when four models in long white dresses stood in the center of the catwalk.

Calvin Klein
From the romantic atmosphere at Rodarte we go to a modern looking Calvin Klein show. And thus we switch from Rodarte’s candlelight to bright techno light moving to the beat of Calvin Klein’s music. Calvin Klein’s show was memorable for it’s diverse models; eighties supermodels like Stella Tennant and Kirsten McMenamy walked alongside young, upcoming models. There were a lot of coats, many designs had round shoulders and we saw some interesting textures. The clothes were also very streamlined, they had sterile shapes and didn’t have a lot going on. And since everyone is so fond of the minimalistic look at the moment, continuing his simplistic and sober style was a smart idea of head designer Francisco Costa.

Michael Kors
A last highlight of the New York fashion week for us was the show of Michael Kors. It was actually quite the opposite of Calvin Klein’s sober collection. Michael Kors’ designs represented luxury and wealth. He showed us how glamorous sportswear can look. His materials looked exquisite, his camel clothes made us green with envy and his enormous fur coats had our full attention. The collection was loaded with must-haves for the rich and famous and Kors proved a winter collection can be very very sexy.

So these four different brands amazed us, made us smile and frown and let us think twice about fashion. The four collections were very diverse and yet equally likeable. It shows fashion is never about just one vision; it can be interpreted in a thousand different ways.