PHOTOGRAPHS Christian Blanken BY CATWALKING.com
Report by Mr Caryn Franklin
With but a few hours left before the end of Rag Week, a certain tenderness re-emerged yesterday in relations between myself and the fashionista. As dawn broke and outside the bedroom window birds and bees got about their springtime business, inside, tucked up, I too felt something stirring. It was the missus, up and about. But then the morning gnashing and yelping gave way to a certain sweetness. “Where the %*&^++ is my left Louboutin, darling”. “Have you had my ^$£”$£^ mobile? Sweetheart?” and “Some *^%*^ cretin’s left my I&^(&^ arc-welder on overnight. You I take it, dearest.”
When the F adverb is used with gentleness, one feels the rush of life along one’s keel, and so I sprang into the gentleman’s closet area with vigour. The choice of costume was now no longer perplexing: the comfy lace-ups from Mr.Hare, the credible Edwins, the commodious Deryck Walker collarless overcoat. But now that things sensual are back in vogue, what of the other F word, fragrance?
Yesterday that was a priority because I was due to slip around to the atelier of my friend Michael Boadi as he prepared for the Christian Blanken presentation in my regular haunt, The Portico Rooms. Michael, you will recall, was for many years the hairdresser of choice of the choicest photographers. His book bulges with Kate, Naomi and Eva editorial. Madonna had him on speed dial. Donald Trump would slip in via the tradesmans for some undercover comb-over. But when on location, Michael forswore the bright lights and entertainments and retired to his room to indulge his solitary obsession, mixing scents.
Boadi’s Boadicca the Victorious collection now dominates dressing tables across the globe. They are for tough, wise, sexy, arse-kicking women. The Fashionista wears them when meeting VAT men and deputy head teachers. I recall an occasion when I made a slight comment about her driving, shortly after she’d sprayed one fluid ounce of Headhunter or maybe Hunter-Killer, and had to move to another postal district while she chewed the dashboard off. But I digress.
The morning began at Schloss Boadi with Michael athwart his models wielding rollers and blow driers, but the real action was the subliminal message stuff. I realised long ago that fashion is about sub-text. “They’re not trousers, Ian, they’re a statement about gender politics”. In this Boadi/Blanken collaboration there was more semiotics going on than in a short by Jean-Luc Goddard. The models were to wear Blanken’s fierce AW looks, while embodying the Amazonian qualities of the perfumes, telegraphing no-nonsense sister stuff from inside a glass box. They were not to say anything, they were just instructed to be. To this end an acting coach was doing Improv 101 between the crimping and eye-lining pre show.
All this took time, and we en-cabbed in Maida Vale and dis-encabbed at Somerset House in a flurry. There was an in-car miasma of Eau de Parfum Explorer, which conjured up the inside of grandad’s 1920s chamois ski gloves, a recently cleaned briar pipe and something organic on the knees of the under-gardener’s moleskin breeks. It also advised other motorists to pull over.
Within a tweak or two the models were in their CB outfits and out there, projecting attitude from the chest and pointing at invisible horizons with serious intent. Christian was beaming, and the Japanese photographer I stepped on was so enraptured he didn’t even notice. Michael himself seemed to sail above the frenzy like someone who had recently applied a coating of EdP Energiser.
For me it was almost the end of a perfect week off-world in frothworld. Returning to the tender, sensually charged homestead I was able to breathe deeply and even answer back when the Fashionista got feisty. But that would be the empowering squirt of Don’t Take any S^%T on my left wrist.
Also in Catwalk
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Scents and Sensibility
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Anna Bauer's Edit
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Burberry Prorsum
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I Should Coco
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Fictionalised Furs
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CHRISTOPHER KANE
Christopher Kane has become masterful at delivering a clear, concise message, season in, season out. This time around, it was all about tailoring. In wool, or black matte or patent leather – much of it decorated with vibrant embroidery – it was contrasted with lace blouses or lace panels that were spliced across skirts and dresses. There was a folkloric feel to the colourfully embroidered pansies and wild flowers that started out gently running up the sleeve of a chiffon blouse or a black cashmere cardigan with artfully slashed sleeves, or across the hemline of a skirt, and ended up dancing all over short leather dresses. Later in the show, Kane traded the flowers for crystals with glittering starbursts appearing on matte leather mini-dresses or shell tops, or circling a deep black patent cummerbund that cinched a black wool jacket with crisp patent collar. There was a nod to his homeland in the neat (and super-short) black wool kilts and a gorgeous black patent biker jacket with lambskin collar that was embroidered with a cluster of Scottish thistles.
Report by CLARE COULSON
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MARIOS SCHWAB
If his first season at Halston was a distraction for Marios Schwab, he definitely didn’t show it in the strong, polished collection he sent out yesterday. He kicked off with a flesh-toned dress that was cut away at the bodice and edged with a waffly trimming. A series of pinafore dresses followed, all of which had a strict schoolgirl feeling (a nod, Schwab said, to being “the only boy at fashion school”), but were cut with curvilinear collars that dipped away to reveal crisp white shirting. Other jersey dresses were topped with beautifully cut, sculptural little jackets or pulled in at the waist with decorative corsetry. Schwab reinterpreted the dirndl, but there was nothing school-marmish about his full, short skirts and dresses that came out in loden wool, duchesse satin or richly coloured brocades. Later, he continued with the week’s yearning for embellishment, as crystals outlined the bodices of dresses, while textural coats in smoke grey or forest green, neatly belted at the waist, added to the plush, tactile feeling of this collection.
Report by CLARE COULSON
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ROKSANDA ILINCIC
From the voluminous crimped hair and glossy Seventies make up to the upbeat disco tunes, Roksanda Ilincic was in a New York state of mind for autumn, giving us a super-polished collection that was, she said, “all about the beauty of winter fabrics, their textures and the way they can be sculpted around the body.” There was plenty of Ilincic’s signature cocktailwear, including a parade of killer charmeuse dresses in deep olive green, raspberry and smoke blue. A highlight was a pale pink charmeuse tunic that fanned into an air-filled cape at the back to a stunning strapless oyster silk column with a sculptural asymmetric peplum. But she developed her day wear, too, showing a beautiful charcoal jersey dress draped elegantly across the body, and a series of clean-cut shift dresses in black bouclé and charcoal wool. Some tailoring came heavily embellished with crystals and beading. On a lighter note were the sheer flesh-toned voile blouses and fluid pants, all of which were topped off with sumptuous fur stoles and gilets – perfect for a well-heeled New York city girl.
Report by CLARE COULSON
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jaeger
Jaeger’s reinvention continues apace under Design Director Stuart Stockdale. For A/W 10, he focussed on traditional fabrics, from camel hair – which the brand was using more than a century ago – to sheepskin, leather, cashmere and wool mohair. Outerwear dominated this show: think oversized shawl-collared coats and jackets (which, when paired with black leggings and riding hats, took on a Mod feel), to single- breasted mohair overcoats. Some were deconstructed with cut-outs at the back – not too practical for an icy British winter. More appealing were the oversized zip-front cardigan-coats. There was masculine tailoring, too: a camel trouser suit with leather lapels and boyish- cut trousers; almost bohemian black velvet pants – which had all the ease of a pair of well-worn sweatpants – with pleats around the hips and a turned-down waistband. There were plenty of pieces here for the Jaeger woman also. The easy, ribbed sweater dresses, shaggy gilets and abstract appliquéd silk dresses were a collection highlight.
Report by CLARE COULSON
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Basso & Brooke Prints Moodboard
Introduction by Katie Greengrass
The Kings of playful prints, Basso & Brooke invite The Daily for an exclusive preview of this season’s key dress.
“We’re very excited to showcase our new prints and materials as influenced by the nomadic culture we encountered on our recent trip to Uzbekistan.”
“People would exchange and barter materials, adding them to their clothing, that experience inspired this dress.”
Basso & Brooke, 11.30 am, 23rd February, BFC Showspace.
