LFW A/W 2012, Spijkers en Spijkers

The first show I attended on Saturday was Spijkers en Spijkers, which I already followed last year for the Spring / Summer 2012 collection. (see this other post for background information about the designers)

This time, instead of taking place at Il Bottaccio, the show was organised 

in the Vauxhall Fashion Scout's main room.

 

Edie Bouvier Beale (American socialite, fashion model and cabaret performer), a “bird of paradise” according to Dutch people’s expression to describe eccentricity, was the main inspiration behind this collection.

 

Spijkers en Spijkers seem to be following a particular scheme: each collection you can find back a specific geometric shape used for most of the clothes (last year the star shape was used for the S/S collection, and this year it is a kind of round scale shape which can be found on most dresses and skirts), as well as a few specific colours combined (last year pale pink, yellow and purple, this year a trendy orange, dark purple and dark yellow), with the black colour usually here as a base.

 

         

         

Another characteristic of the designers is that they work mainly on silk, using various versions of this material: silk dupion, silk satin samudra, silk-wool blends and printed silk-wool maple. Other fabrics used include striped wool jersey crepe and crepe de chine. On some pieces ostrich and bird feathers were added to recall the eccentric influence of this collection.

 

            

            

Some of the other pieces created were very classy dark suits with trousers reflecting the willingness of the designers to create clothes for active and modern women who rewrite the rules of their status.

 

  

The whole show was accompanied by a cabaret style cover song of Peggy Lee’s “Is that all there is”,

which gave the fashion show's atmosphere the eccentric touch needed.

I will write next about Alice Lee, Bernard Chandran, Ashley Isham 

and other designers of the LFW A/W 2012

LFW A/W 2012, JENA.THEO

The last show I saw on Friday was the presentation of JENA.THEO at the Somerset House in the evening, but this time at the embankment gallery show space.

Background information:

JENA.THEO is a duo consisting of Jenny Holmes and Dimitris Theocharidis. They both studied at the London College of Fashion and became well-known after winning the Fashion Fringe competition in 2009 (see my former post about the Fashion Fringe on 17^th Sept 2011 for an explanation on the competition).

Roy Peach from the London College of Fashion was in the front row at the show to observe the brand’s progress and support the designers, as he belongs to the usual jury of the London Fashion Fringe.

Pandemonia also made a quick appearance before the show, but didn’t attend it in the end.

This season the designers have been exploring geometric shapes with an asymmetric and edgy finishing for this collection named “Heavy Metal”. Raw leather, fringes and prints constitute the JENA.THEO look of the modern woman, with her strengths and energy.

 

  

The large and asymmetric shapes of the blouses and tops created were in permanent contrast with the stretch classical looks of the leggings and jeans (in tones of grey, black and bleached blues) chosen to match it.

               

   

For this collection JENA.THEO collaborated with O.Two for the creation of the print designs. Different paints have been mixed and applied to surfaces, in order to create expressive landscapes all over the clothes.

                   

The main trademark of the brand is to combine luxury (through materials chosen: silk and leather) and street style (through bold shapes and wild looking prints), in some way to bring the catwalk to the people.

LFW A/W 2012, Francesca Marotta

The next show I got to see brought me in the middle of the City of London: The presentation of Francesca Marotta’s A/W 2012 collection took place in the very stylish and ancient style room of MYBEAUTIFULCITY at Goldsmith’s Hall.

The place was perfectly fitted to the style of the Designer’s collection, corresponding to high level fashion and very elegant shapes and materials.

Background information:

Francesca Marotta is a Sicilian designer who is based in London.

She graduated from the London College of Fashion.

For this A/W collection, with the title “Amore della mia Vita”, she was inspired by the strong women of Sicily who have loved and lost someone close to them. The models came up as in a Sicilian funeral, dressed up with dark clothes made of cashmere, silk, leather and lace. All the shapes that she created emphasized the women shapes and feminity, while remaining very elegant. To contrast with the black clothes – referring to the act of mourning here – Francesca Marotta added jewellery pieces with flashy colours created by Milko Boyarov. This little appearance of bright colours reflects for the designer a glimmer of hope that someday women won't be oppressed anymore in Sicily. The last dress was worn by a model who was wearing a crown and conveyed the idea of a feminine figure of Jesus with tears of blood. This last dress was clearly the masterpiece of her Fall collection.

  

                       

                    

                 

 

             

       

                               

      

            

I had the pleasure to be allowed backstage and could take a couple of shoots of the busy atmosphere after the show. While everyone was tiding up the place and models were coming out of the building, Francesca Marotta, pretty much touched by the whole show but also proud of what she achieved, was giving some interviews to journalists.

 

This was my first time attending one of her shows (her second collection to date) and I have to say I was very impressed by the difference in style compared to other designers. Her trademark is closer to luxury fashion and brings a hint of Italian styling over to London. Already looking forward to her next collection ! 

LFW A/W 2012, Bora Aksu

The Fashion Week 2012 started on Friday morning, on a very busy first day at the Somerset House: Models walking around before the shows, bloggers trying to take quick shoots of the most interesting street styles, journalists interviewing different people in the courtyard.

 

This was definitely a very great mood for the start of the new

Autumn Winter 2012 season presentations.

The first fashion show I was able to attend was “Bora Aksu”. It took place at the BFC Show space, one of the most well-known venues of the Somerset House. Long queues formed about one hour before the show but fortunately the weather was not too cold on that day, and it was fairly manageable to wait around before being let in. 

Background information:

Bora Aksu is a Turkish designer based in London.

He graduated from Central St Martins in 2002, and has been creating collections since then.

He became well-known for the cocktail dresses he created.

Bora Aksu created for this new 2012 collection 2 main themes: classy modern shapes in tones of pale pink, grey and black reflecting classical winter colours, were contrasting with the bold geometrical shapes of very colourful pieces – pretty summery I have to say – mixing pink and different orange grades.

He was inspired for this collection by Henry Darger’s “Story of the Vivian Girls”, contained within the 15,145 page work known as “In the Realms of the Unreal”. From a technical point of view, this is the first time that the designer is making full use of prints on clothes.

 

    

 

      

       

The next fashion show I will report about is Francesca Marotta's new collection, so don't hesitate to come back and check it out!