Growing content and excitement at LFW’s menswear day today, with the grown ups starting to join the new talent. Where next? Two days? A mens fashion week? Watch this space. LFW has been a great success, creating a laser focus on Britain’s leading design talent. Next up is our “Value of Fashion” report, defining and measuring the broader industry. Dull stuff? Far from it. It will enable us to show those that need to know that fashion isn’t just a great creative success, but one of Britain’s most important economic forces and that will help take us to a whole new level.
Exciting times.
In which our intrepid, in house, LFW Daily Dandy attends a gentleman’s show or three. Sir Hardy Amies famously advised gentlemen that they should chose clothes with intelligence, put them on with care and then give the appearance, at least, of having forgotten all about them. No pressure felt by this gentleman then, on entering the dressing closet, prior to sauntering to number 14 Savile Row, where today a trio of stalwart tailors convened under the same roof to receive friends and admirers. I count myself as both.
The Fashionista was not for sallying forth today because menswear is simply not her thing. She likes tailoring but not formality, which is rich coming from someone who, even on weekends, insists on being addressed as Ma’am and wants her Guardian ironed before she’ll touch it.
Where better to road test a manly look than at Man day, LFW FEB 2010?
Coat, sweater, scarf, tie, undies, all by M&S. More than chic enough to blend in on the front row today, non?
PHOTOGRAPHY BY FRANCESCA WEBER-NEW
Report by Katie Greengrass
It was the moment we’d been waiting for all week for. Not Christopher Kane’s awesome appliqué frocks, nor Burberry’s schmooze-ingly stellar front row. Not even a sighting of La Wintour.
It was this morning when, after a tip off from security, The LFW Daily team assembled at Somerset House Embankment Entrance poised for a royal visit from none other than her majesty The Queen. Savvy, we thought, that she would choose the MAN day to attend when there’s hot boys aplenty. Would she be sitting front row to cast a few new butlers?
After a flurry of squeals and eeks (should we bow? Does one say ‘Your Royal Highness’ or a more fashion friendly ‘alright Liz?’ when greeting Her?) and what seemed like a lifetime, a shiny red Rolls Royce drove up the embankment… and straight past us.
So it seemed our tip off had been a wild card. HRH hadn’t donned her best pastel two-piece to come down and congratulate our fine British designers after all. Rather, it was the RNLI, who were the port of call for good ol’ QE2.
Gawd bless yer, Ma’am.
Burberry
CHARLES ANASTASE
AQUASCUTUM
Julien Macdonald
photographed by catwalking.com
Report by Katie Greengass
Grans 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.
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.
“Whilst creating a one-off metallic stage piece for Skin (Skunk Anansie) Craig went on a dig for gold and unearthed shiny florist foil at a salvage yard in Suffolk. He fell in love with this discovery, which allowed him to knit meteoric voluminous sculptural garments that moved with a Haley’s comet flash of light on stage. As materials inform his design process, he continued to explore the medium for his A/W 10 collection. To contrast the fun playful characteristic pieces there is also a section of stunningly slinky dresses. These seductive second skins were devised in questioning the sinister side of “dress up” and the connotations of a child unwittingly donning a crown.
REPORT BY Anna-marie Solowij
My all time fashion bargain is a chocolate brown Hermes Kelly bag, found in a second hand designer boutique in 1988 for £70. Every few seasons, it comes out to make its obligatory tour, then goes back to handbag rest home during any off trend lull. This winter, the Kelly came into its own again, but I decided mine needed a little updating.
I wanted to wear it slung across the body rather than tucked close ‘laydee’ style. I have never had the shoulder strap for this bag so I went to Hermes to buy one. Following an examination of the bag, I was advised to consult Mustafa, to discuss my requirements (which I had thought were quite simple – a long strap). Escorted to the back of the Bond St store, I was introduced to M, who has his own ‘repairs’ den, a
fascinating little lair where distressed and broken bag, belts and wallets could be mended in the Hermes hospital.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SHANIQWA JARVIS
Marcus Dawes, staff snapper for the LFW Daily, celebrates the last day on planet fashion….
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Burberry
CHARLES ANASTASE
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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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Charlotte's Web
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The Statue of Liberty
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Scents and Sensibility
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Fred Butler: Craig Lawrence
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Anna Bauer's Edit
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Being Sam McKnight
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Burberry Prorsum
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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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Nathan Jenden
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The Beauty of Fashion
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I Should Coco
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Fictionalised Furs
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That's Showbiz
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Top Gear
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Knitwits Rule OK
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On the Nail
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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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Who’s That Girl?
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Pyfashorous theorem
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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
