Jaeger Design Director Stuart Stockdale kindly FedEx-ed The Daily his original illustration, fabric swatch and mood board for the Jaeger AW10 collection.
“The print for the pelt dress is a new take on the modern, graphic animal print from our Jaeger London collection”
“The mood board illustrates features you’ll see on our statement knits and silk dresses this season.”
The make-up at Pam Hogg was a gothic graphic eyebrow glossed to a pvc finish on a soft romantic face with a grey stained lip. A little bit of a Tim Burton influence. My anti bleached brow moment. I painted the brows with MAC Blacktrack fluidline and Lipglass, squaring and straightening them like an early nineties Peter Lindberg photo. Siouxsie Sioux opened the show and I did her make-up….I managed not to fall into a gibbering wreck! One more hero to add to my list. She was great.
In a grand setting in Whitehall, Julien Macdonald continued to set the pace of change in his label. Thanks to new backing, in the space of a year, he has revved it up to modern luxury status. From the off, we recognised that the equestrienne was an inspiration, as girls with bedroom hair and come-hither eyes strode out in tobacco riding capes bonded with black leather over leather and suede panelled jodhpur leggings; or extravagant looped Aran sweaters with a grey pegged trouser and fierce, high ankle boots. Then came the great coats, a biker-and-coat combo, and shredded knitted dresses only Julien can do best. The curveball? Sexy negligée dresses – and what fine filigrees they were in black and pink or navy and black; long and short; pleated and fluted. What was the sexy horsewoman doing with a bare breast on show beneath gauzy black lace under her riding cape? Backstage, Julien’s inspiration became clear: “It was Jilly Cooper’s novel, Riders,” he grinned. “By day, they ride horses, and by night, they do naughty things to men in stables.” Don’t you just love Julien?
A ripple of excitement went through the crowd as the lights went down for Todd Lynn yesterday – and then the paparazzi descended. Who were they here for? I spotted Marc Almond sitting next to Roland Mouret, but as the show commenced, a beam of light hit Mouret’s other neighbour – Janet Jackson! The show went on to be what you’d imagine the undead in a fashionable bar in True Blood would wear. Forget studs and chains – these vampires would be wearing Todd Lynn while standing around looking serious yet sexy. Todd designs brilliant jackets and slim trousers – a modern urban uniform of androgynous cool. His outfits operate on a one-colour basis; the colours in this show were pale nude, honey, tobacco brown and grey. Fabrics included suede, leather, wool and canvas. Matching high-heeled Louboutins were worn, and fox fur sprouted dramatically from shoulders. “It was about the hunter becoming the hunted. And, as always, I studied military uniform through the ages,” said Lynn. And the Janet connection? “We worked on her last video together. She flew over to see the show.”
We’ve been keeping a close eye on developments at Aquascutum, holding our collective breath last season when the business was sold. Six months on, the brand, in the safe hands of fashion businessman Harold Tillman, is transformed, and its show last night was a pleasure to behold. Thus far, London designers have been treading safely when it comes to making new statements for A/W 10. Not Michael Herz for Aquascutum. He went long, long, long in a colour palette of navy, grey and military green, alongside camel wool, gold jacquard and black leather. Think a long, tailored skirt with a white shirt and a short, belted jacket with flat, silver dance shoes. Or wide-leg trousers worn with a tiny, belted padded jacket, again with a white shirt. Throw in a cape, a long, slim, covered- up dress and a trench and you’ve got the collection in a nutshell. But it was Herz’s confidence that made this a show-stopper. “It was inspired by The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” he said, “and it was my conviction to carry on the long silhouette I started for S/S. It’s the way the girls walk, wearing long with flats. It just feels right.” And it did.
Jaws dropped when the Meadham Kirchhoff show began. Used to seeing black, moody collections from Ed Meadham and Ben Kirchhoff, the Arabic rugs, streams of tinsel on the floor and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring should have been a clue that this would be a bit different. The first look was a celebration of colour with a red mantilla worn over the face, topped with a tinsel tiara. Beneath that were two layers of floral dresses and long- john trousers, I think… There was so much to take in at once! Among the best individual pieces in this riot of a collection were the hand-painted biker jackets; the embroidered long skirts; the piles of Indian-inspired bangles created in collaboration with Erickson Beamon; red “nightie” dresses, orange floral blouses and the long event gowns. Oh, and the tinsel-embroidered shrunken- wool cardigans and sweaters. “We wanted to do as many pretty, amazing things as possible and put them all together,” explained Meadham. “It’s a narrative that begins in southern India and ends in southern Spain.” And success. Meadham Kirchhoff has arrived.
Couldn’t resist showing off the lovely silk lining on my couture quality Karen Millen lace jacket….
At 10 am today (Monday), designer Antonio Berardi will unveil his a/w 10 presentation to the attending fashion press. Here, exclusively for The Daily, the designer posts his diary in the lead up to his show.
01:30AM
This is the beginning………Tati, who opened the Marc Jacobs show, an Argentinian with attitude and plenty of sex appeal, making it a happy start to the day. Oh how we smiled. And it was down to business, it is 1.30am, the day of the show, which will take place in 8 and a half hours. REWIND……..
Shoreditch studios, Batemans Row, and the procession starts early…
01:35:26
Leona
01:34:14
Jo Jones and Tamsin Blanchard
01:37:15
Me and Sophia, the calm before the storm ……
01:38:43
TAO……..PREVIEW………!
01:39:49
Swarovski 3D embroidery, PREVIEW !
01:41:27
Then it’s down to last minute embroideries…You know I love all things Swarovski, but hopefully this time we’ve been clever, as things are almost 3 dimensional.
01:42:43
Gucci Westman from Revlon for make-up, The Brilliant Malcom Edwards with John Freida products a plenty making bonces look like they should… and then the arrival of Agent Provocateur… sheer heaven !
01:43:36
The saga continues however long into the night and into the next day as we are still here, Mr. Berardi can be evil when it comes to fittings, in there with a magnifying glass, checking for loose threads and gained millimeters which shouldn’t be there. Isn’t it about precision this season? Or every season come to think of it ?
01:45:00
David on Louboutin duty…….
both stars in their own right
01:46:10
Graziella the Great . Head Honcho and chief whip!
No rest for the wicked !
06:28
Just got back to the hotel from the fittings studio , everything is now finished. Shave, shower and caffeine, and off to the venue in half an hour. This is the reality, no sleep, no massage and no ego! Be careful what you wish for !!!!!
“This dress was the first thing we saw at the exhibition and Katie fell in love with it instantly. In fact, picking which Holly Fulton dress she liked the most was the real challenge. The rest of the outfit was carefully selected whilst I sloped off to grab a hot chocolate and nurse my hangover. LFW is taking its toll.”
Clothing credits:
Mini Krysler shift dress, 178, Holly Fulton, NEWGEN sponsored by Topshop, East Wing
Black holster, DLEE15, David Longshaw, Stand 2, Lower Embankment Galleries
Black and navy Leon necklace, P115, Fiona Paxton, Stand 35, Upper Embankment Galleries
Shoes and watch, Katie’s own
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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