PHOTOGRAPHY Nathan Jenden BY ANNA BAUER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY anna BAUER before vivienne westwood, royal courts of justice
PHOTOGRAPHY BY backstage BAUER AT UNIQUE
PHOTOGRAPHY ANNA BAUER
Report by Jess Hogan, Beauty and Health Associate, Vogue
The start of London Fashion Week saw hair and make-up teams at David Koma, Ashley Isham and Hakaan in a contrary mood backstage. The result was a series of beauty looks that were full of contradictions: hair stylist Cos Sakkas for Toni & Guy at David Koma, created a style of wet look hair slicked tight to the scalp with lengths left dry and softly kinked. Meanwhile, displaying masculine and feminine traits in one hairstyle at Hakaan led Luigi Murenu for John Frieda to create a small head silhouette with hair gelled tight to the scalp while gently waved lengths hinted at the softer curves of womanliness.
At Ashley Isham, both make-up and hair were riddled with paradoxes: a Forties roll whipped up by Malcolm Edwards for L’Oreal Professionnel revealed both sleek and wispy textures, while make-up artist Sharon Dowsett for M.A.C painted the outer corners of the lips a green-bronze shimmer, filling the centre in with matte pink. Could this all point to a mood of ‘first day’ indecision? It’s more likely that LFW’s hair and make-up talent are totally tuned in to the creative direction of the designers and know exactly how to deliver compelling, albeit contradictory, strikingly feminine beauty looks with a tough, modern edge.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNA BAUER BACKSTAGE AT HAKAAN, FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19th
I was privileged enough to get a little preview of Michael Van der Ham’s new collection showing this Saturday, Feb 20th at Fashion East. He’s used Liberty print in such an elegant and modern way. I’m not allowed to say too much or show you too much as it will all be revealed at the show, but I’m personally very happy to see a new silhouette that i’ve been craving the past few seasons.
Michael showing me the collection
Frantic shoe making in the back room
Me and Michael having a moment
Photography by Orlando Gili
Report by Disneyrollergirl
“The first fashion-show season with Twitter in full force is like Gossip Girl on crack!” So reads designer Henry Holland’s (henryholland) Twitter, summing up the latest obsession to take LFW in less than 140 characters. If we’re not tweeting about spotting Donatella Versace/Joan Collins/Martine McCutcheon, we’re tweeting mini trend reports as they happen: “RoboCop shoulders at Todd Lynn!”; “Polka-dot shoes at Luella!” in a barrage of sartorial sound bites. But what’s the official code of conduct at the shows? Is it offensive to a designer if we watch-n-tweet or is it a compliment that we can’t wait? “I tweet before the shows but not during,” says Stacey Duguid, Executive Fashion Editor of Elle.
Report by Julia Robson
Photography by Marcus Dawes
Forget fashion’s current leopard-print fad, cats of the domestic variety are the mascots of next season. Backstage at her recent presentation, Suzanne Clements, of design duo Clements Ribeiro, revealed the two reasons why their Spring/Summer 2010 collection has such a feline theme: “Toulouse and Marie, our new British Blue pet cats.” Cat fans will go gaga over the new Clements Ribeiro range, which features embellished cats on preppy cashmere cardigans and a cat print on silk dresses. It’s purrrfect!
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photographed by catwalking.com
Report by Katie GreengassGrans and grandads, lock up your husky jackets, outerwear is having a moment. Our old friend the coat does, of course, make up the flavour of winter but this season London designers have played the cover up centre stage.
“Designers are especially concerned with jackets and coats this season,” Harrods’ Fashion and Beauty Director Marigay Mckee told The LFW Daily. “Bombers are the particular favourite along with the military style jackets,” she said.
Burberry based an entire collection around aviator jackets while Charles Anastase layered knitwear on top of overcoats. Daks took the husky and gave it an up to date, eccentric spin via leggings, capes and bonnets from the traditional fabric. Design duo Basso & Brooke weaved Trompe-l’œil goretex anoraks into their ensemble and at Aquascutum Michael Herz transformed tailored jackets into full-length dresses. Meanwhile, at Mens day today [Wed], E Tautz featured the ultimate in deluxe outerwear courtesy a cashmere fit for a prince. Luckily one [HRH Prince Michael] was sitting front row and was seemingly rather taken by it.
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Anna-Marie in that M&S hunting jacket
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHANIQWA JARVIS
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Anna's handbag
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Beauty Mole: Pablo Rodriguez
The make-up inspiration for Ashish was Eastern European girls from an imaginary country called Ashishistan.
The models had to look very natural, with bare skin, just using M.A.C Face and Body Foundation.
The only feature of the face that was enhanced was the eyebrows, using M.A.C Impeccable Brow Pencil in a mix of Taupe and Dirty Blonde, to make them look dramatically unkept.
Lashed were just curled. And on the lips Prep + Prime Lip was applied to condition them without any glossy finish.
The final look was innocent raw beauty with a tough look in the eyes.
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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
