A whole week to explore
The dollar is the weakest it’s been in a decade, the number of shows has diminished by one-fourth since last season, and most of the labels are so unfamiliar, they could just as easily be the names of products on a grocery store shelf (Pringle, Preen, Frost French). So why does anyone waste their time at London Fashion Week? For the same reason they always have: This is a city of first chances and first discoveries. And though some American buyers stayed home, there were still hordes of international fashion fast-talkers, clutching stories from Russian magazines and business cards from Irish stores, trying to finagle their way into the shows that ended here Thursday.
The hottest ticket was Giles Deacon, who, after designing for Bottega Veneta and Gucci for 12 years, launched his own label to much fanfare at the Royal Chelsea Hospital. Described as a “disco fairy tale,” the collection was brimming with ideas. Deacon, an illustrator, designed a colorful agate-stone print silk and draped it into a gown that one could imagine a hippie-dippy actress like Drew Barrymore wearing. A fairy-and-flower print taupe silk jacquard was tailored into a ladylike dress, and a stag beetle print yellow silk blouse with sharp, Joan Crawford-like shoulder pads was paired with a pencil skirt.
More exotic pieces included a heavy black wool cape with rock crystals sewn onto the shoulders, a black coat with a tree limb pattern traced in silver and pink glitter, and a circular tie-dyed Earth Mama caftan that Deacon described as “very Malibu.”
“Can’t you just imagine it on Jane Fonda?” he said at his studio Wednesday. Deacon, 34, who wears silver YSL-style ‘70s glasses, is a graduate of Central St. Martins School of Art (where Alexander McQueen and John Galliano studied). His show had the added cachet of being styled by Katie Grand, an old friend, whose current work includes runway styling for Prada, Miu Miu and Louis Vuitton.
Although none of the other shows had the same buzz as Deacon’s, there were some highlights. Frost French designer Sadie Frost has been through the wringer this year, with her public divorce in October from Jude Law (not to mention the British tabloids’ relentless coverage of it). But it didn’t show in her savvy collection, co-designed by Jemima French. It was all about the rock ‘n’ roll grandma, with lace-up, wedge-heeled platform boots in pink or brown suede paired with over-the-knee lace stockings, corduroy miniskirts in dusty rose or lavender with ruffles in back, and granny stoles -- not in fur, but chunky knits, fastened with rhinestone brooches.
Greek designer Sophia Kokosalaki used her signature draping and folding techniques to create short bubble skirts in liquid metallic silk, and a covetable parka in a burgundy that shone like lip gloss. Tunic dresses were ruched in back, and came in ivory or black, paired with high boots with back seams lined in fur. Kokosalaki is designing the costumes for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic games in Athens in August.
Suzanne Clements and Inacio Ribeiro of Clements Ribeiro revisited fashion’s much-loved circus theme in a flawless collection of colorful separates, from a jaunty acrobat print dress to a black coat appliqued with colorful ribbon flowers, a leopard toggle jacket to shoe boots designed to look like spats. Each piece was more amusing than the one before.
It’s a shame that Alice Temperley’s cocktail dresses don’t get the same exposure in stores in the United States as those by Prada, Marc Jacobs or other designers, because they’re just as charming. This season, she worked in a palette of black, Bordeaux and ballet pink, creating dresses with low V-backs and flutter sleeves with intricate Art Deco patterns executed in crystals or sequins.
Boudicca’s Zowie Broach and Brian Kirkby laid down a field of sweet-smelling grass for a runway (which set a few fashionistas to sneezing) and took inspiration, like so many London designers, from the weather. The most notable pieces were storm coats with strips of leather that wound round the waist and across the shoulders bondage-style, and a rain jacket in a meadow floral print under a layer of thin, crinkly plastic.
Appealing to a customer who likes more conceptual clothes, the highlight of the Preen show was a sculptural ruffled dress that designers Justin Thorton and Thea Bregazzi created by sewing dozens of shirt collars together.
Jonathan Saunders made an impression last season with a debut collection in graphics based on the Memphis style and Pink Floyd animation. But this time, he hit a sophomore slump, splashing complicated geometric prints in the ghastliest of color combinations (mustard, gold, copper and purple) on cat suits, high-waisted 1980s pants and clingy Lurex sweater dresses.
Paul Smith, London’s knighted fashion designer, missed too, with sailor garb that looked like the worst of a cruise collection -- chiffon skirts in multicolor flag prints draped with oversized gold chain belts, felt pea coats and loads of goofy striped anchor sweaters.
But over at Pringle, the knitwear company in the throes of a comeback, Stuart Stockdale produced his best collection yet, both modern and true to the heritage of the Scottish house founded in 1815. Cashmere sweaters had fur patches on the elbows or, for the fur-averse, a trompe l’oeil fox stole printed around the neck. Rabbit fur was threaded through the sleeves of a luscious brown bomber jacket to make a diamond pattern (and paired with pink tweed jodhpurs) or used as trim on a rose chiffon dress with rows of ruffles around the hem.
With a handful of designers dropping out of London Fashion Week, including crystal-body-jewelry designer J. Maskrey, who will show in L.A. in March, there was discussion that the shows here are in decline. London, like Los Angeles, seems obsessed with its underdog status as a fashion capital. But despite the constant gloom and doom, buyers still come here -- even when the exchange rate is as high as 1.9 dollars to the pound. After all, not showing up could mean missing someone like Deacon, whom a few in the British press have already wishfully dubbed “the next McQueen.”
