London Fashion Week: Tudor sleeves, warrior princesses and the mawkishness of young love

House of Holland

Yesterday’s show was a very special one for House of Holland who is celebrating a decade in the business. For the milestone collection hosted in Spitalfields market, Holland stayed true to his signature playful aesthetic: bold gingham opened the show fashioned into ruffles with off the shoulder dresses and tops teamed with larger than life flared trousers. A floor skimming summer dress featured a mashup of florals, lace and gingham which shouldn't work but no doubt will be flawlessly thrown on by the likes of Alexa Chung who incidentally was sat front row. Holland saved his showpiece for the finale when a parade of models headed down the catwalk all decked out in slogan T-shirts, a throwback to his beginnings when back in 2006 he made his mark with T-shirts baring slogans such as: “Cause me pain Hedi Slimane”. As for the messages this time around, equally as tongue in cheek as a decade ago with shout-outs to his contemporary fashion industry colleagues: “Give us a toss Karlie Kloss” and “I'd be sleazy for abit of Yeezy”.

Emma Akbareian

J.W.Anderson

The cross pollination between menswear and womenswear is something Jonathon Anderson is well versed in, and his spring/summer 2017 offering was no exception. All sorts of things were going on; there were Tudor-esque ballooning sleeves, hessian sack dresses and a cacophony of colourful dip dye, but what tied it all together was the sartorial powwow between overtly masculine pieces and those with a quiet girlishness. Padded muff style hems, Robin Hood lacing and exaggerated silhouettes befell against shredded skirts, ruching and femme volume; typically the ideas came hard and fast but together they worked surprisingly well. The Northern Irish designer is celebrated for his juxtaposition of visuals and this collection felt somewhat more artful than the rest; where monochromatic geometrics met an ombré of sunset hues.

Sarah Young

Emilia Wickstead

Citing mid century art and architecture from Frank Lloyd Wright to Alexander Calder as her inspiration, as well as a fascination with the phenomena of “love hotels”, Emilia Wickstead created a collection bound by the interplay between romance and modernity. Sure, these hotels are places where illicit lovers meet for a little tête-à-tête but somehow the designer reimagined them as something far more intimate and tender; inspiring a sophisticated palette of soft pink, powder blue and tangerine. This was dreamy, romantic and abounding with the mawkishness of young love. Voluminous springtime silhouettes, frilled high necks and light silk blouses were styled with basket-weave sandals designed by Charlotte Olympia; only adding to the ease and dreamy insouciance of Wickstead’s signature aesthetic. The idea of youthful abandon held it’s own as the collection gathered pace with the introduction of bursts of dotted patterns and retro-inspired clusters of coloured Swarovski crystals proving that while the designer’s vision is deeply rooted in timeless femininity it’s also staunchly current.

Sarah Young

Simone Rocha

Simone Rocha couldn't have picked a more apt setting for her spring collection shown in the eerie gloominess of Southwark Cathedral. But out of such darkness comes light and on this occasion; it came in the form of deconstructed tulle, patched up with cotton poplin, broderie anglaise and macrame elastic. Romantic, yes but with a darkness. Rocha cited hard working days as her influence and you can see what she was getting at with tailored trench coats and shirting collapsing into tulle, but nevertheless not something ever likely to see a hard-days toil unless you count the work that will inevitably be needed to actually get the clothes on, such was the level of deconstruction in them. Rocha is well known for her love of all things Victoriana and that was again evident here in puff sleeve dresses, grey check gowns with Peter Pan collars and the appropriately ecclesiastical white lace gloves.

Gareth Pugh

Gareth Pugh has been a busy man, aside from pulling together a spring/summer show he debuted a full length opera in Paris on Friday. His collection based on the opera Eliogabalo, tells the story of a tyrannical child emperor. How does this all translate to clothes? With Pugh’s signature flare for drama, opening and closing with the motif of a sun suspended above the model's head. Following that was an army of models all ready to do battle, warrior princesses trussed up in black overlaid with gold bullion mosaic. As the narrative unfolds, so did the clothes: stiff and structured garments becoming fluid and loose with tails of chiffon trailing like capes. The colour palette loosening with the clothes, fading from black to deep purple then cream all set against a battle appropriate soundtrack of heavy drumming.

Emma Akbareian

Versus

The second day of London fashion week ended with Versus, the secondary line of Italian fashion house Versace, who has for the past few seasons made London fashion week its home. Starting with a bang, the show was opened by Insta-model of the moment Bella Hadid, who strutted down the runway past her sister Gigi and boyfriend Zayn Malik, their arrival caused marginally more excitement then the clothes. Speaking of, this was a collection created with the Hadid sisters and their model squad pals in mind. The military themed show read like a tick list for the utilitarian trend: leather biker jackets, pleated skirts, zip detail knitwear, mesh dresses, aviator lenses, bomber jackets all of which felt decidedly heavy for spring. Even the slinky party dresses had chain mail inserts. And the colour palette also did not avoid stereotypes khaki, black, navy with the slightly more springtime appropriate tangerine hue.

Emma Akbareian