London Fashion Week: From fanciful feathers to feminist orations, everything to know about day four

As the penultimate day of London Fashion Week comes to an end, the city is preparing to bid adieu to the fashion crowd for yet another season.

But, it is refusing to let go without one final hurrah.

Monday offered a wide range of shows from designers who have really been flexing their sartorial muscles.

From Chalayan to JW Anderson, Erdem, Roksanda and Rejina Pyo, the line-up paid homage to the ever-expanding creativity and talent that London has to offer.

As one of the most culturally rich and diverse cities on the planet, it makes sense that London Fashion Week should bring together such an eclectic display of specialities.

The fantastical, the unfaltering and the future. It’s all here.

Already, these forward-thinking shows are igniting new fashion trends across the capital for next season. From feathers to leather and cow print to clown collars, the catwalks have provided a hefty dose of creative designs and exciting new ways to update your wardrobe.

But, perhaps the biggest talking point of them all is that of activism.

Shaping up to be one of the most political fashion weeks the city has seen yet, designer’s have been using their platform to stage protests and promote feminism.

Today, Canadian-British designer Edeline Lee forwent the traditional route of a catwalk in favour of an immersive presentation that saw 35 women deliver powerful orations rooted in their personal experiences and expertise.

From UK beatboxer Grace Savage to CNN war correspondent Clarissa Ward and Professor Dame Mary Beard, Lee communicated “the public voice of women” in a way that has never been done before.

And with one more day to go, there could still be plenty more where that came from.

For now though, let’s take a look at everything you need to know about day four of London Fashion Week autumn/winter 2019.

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Roksanda Ilincic’s collections tend to incorporate some sort of nod to the art world, and this season the designer’s inspired vision started with set design.

Created by Troika – an artist trio formed by Eva Rucki, Conny Freyer and Sebastien Noel – the sparse interior of The Old Selfridges Hotel was transformed into a sand-strewn runway decorated with colourful Perspex sheets that twisted faintly from floor to ceiling.

The catwalk set the tone for the collection too, which was heaving with chocolate box hues and, in true Roksanda style, sculptural shapes.

Ilincic is a designer who has forged an instantly recognisable aesthetic for herself; one that consists of stand-out colourblocking, floaty softness and impactful silhouettes. So it came as no surprise when she continued the same story for autumn/winter 2019.

A line-up of clothes that felt both elegant and practical to women saw the designer’s signature billowing gowns and sharply defined waists return to the runway but this time the pieces were as much about day as they were night.

While floor-sweeping dresses decorated with feathers, pussy bows and Victoriana collars were powerfully present, so too were the practical parkas, loafers and patchwork puffer shoulder wraps.

The palette drew just as much juxtaposition, with desert-inspired shades of brown giving way to vivid colorations of fuchsia, yellow and aqua blue.

This is a designer that knows how to create clothes for women, all of them. The ones that want to hit the boardroom in style, don diaphanous dresses or hit the playground with their kids in a rain jacket quite like no other.

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Always a deep thinker, half-British, half-Turkish designer Erdem Moralioglu presented a meaningful collection today inspired by one of Italy’s greatest noble families.

For autumn/winter 2019, Moralioglu cited inheritance as his muse, making particular reference to Princess Orietta Doria Pamphilj – an Italian noblewoman who, following the death of her father in 1958, inherited a clutch of titles and one of the largest estates in Europe comprising of Princedoms, palaces, castles and churches.

The designer asked the audience to picture the Princess pacing the palace, “searching for clarity on the legacy of inheritance”; an image that was conveyed quite literally with a backing track of high-heel footsteps.

The clothes ticked all the boxes to satisfy his loyal customers – brocade evening dresses, trouser suits, rich green coats and dresses that were doused so heavily in embellishment you could hear them before you saw them.

Pamphilj served as a fitting muse for a designer like Moralioglu who, as a master of luxury fabrics, was free to explore his superfluous side.

The result? An expertly executed collection that, despite relying so heavily on a theme, felt inherently on-brand.

You might not recognise her name but chances are you’ll have been lusting over Rejina Pyo’s work without even knowing it.

Her nipped-waist, balloon-sleeved Greta dress and sculptural heels have dominated the streets of fashion week in recent years, so much so that the Korean-born designer has gained something of a cult following.

Pyo’s guest list today was testament to the street style set’s love of her brand, with everyone from Susanna Lau – aka Susie Bubble – Pandora Sykes and Monikh Dale all gracing the front row.

And, it’s not hard to see why she’s won such a devoted following.

For autumn/winter 2019, Pyo marked the celebration of five years in the industry with a carefully curated collection of pieces that straddled the line between fashion and function.

Classic trench coats came reimagined in PVC, blazers with super-sized shoulders and bags so big they could quite literally carry your kitchen sink.

Through exploring dressing in terms of both the mundane and extraordinary, Pyo created a collection of clothes that you wanted to buy and never take off.

From the cropped carrot trousers to the button-up dresses, Cuban heeled mules, leather shirts and sculptured gold earrings, this was power dressing at its finest.