SS13: MY LFW TUMBLE

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

As well as keeping up with what's going on in Milan and catching up on everything which piled up at the office while I was out at shows, one of the big things I have been doing is trying to plough through the hundreds (if not thousands) of pictures I took over the five days. Some you'll see in more substantial posts another time but others are just snippets, and so I thought I would share a tumble of pictures with you today to show u a few of the thingsI got up to during LFW....

FRIDAY

Backstage at Zoe Jordan, the looks and the models...

I have a soft spot for Emilia Wickstead who has a slightly unfair rep as a designer who just makes pretty dresses for society ladies. This was one of my favourite looks from her salon presentation, though  it is really only suitable for tall model types. I could totally get on board with an Emilia prom skirt though.

SATURDAY

Lara Mullen backstage after Daks

Ryan Lo's glitz spectacular to the tune of Azealia Banks at Fashion East

Latex dungaress by  Claire Barrow at Fashion East.

Gorgeous lilac tulle on denim at Marques' Almeida

 Jourdan Dunn outside Rag and Bone

Models in Barbie-esque boxes at Sophia Webster

SUNDAY

Finale at the lush Lucas Nascimento

Vivienne Westwood erects her climate protest flag, with a little help from Alice Dellal, in the middle of the Foreign and Commonwealth office. Love Viv.

The ACNE man plies us with drinks

Anna dello Russo arrives at the Phillip Treacy show

MONDAY

Really sweet make-up at Michael van der Ham

 Working the Alexander McQueen visor at Christopher Kane

 A sliver of Andy Murray's jumper and his girlfriend's side profile heading into Burberry to cosy up to Anna Wintour.

 Saskia de Brauw at Giles. Love her and want her hair.

Ballgown backview at Giles

 J.W Anderson talks to Tim Blanks after his show

TUESDAY

Poolside drinks at Tata Naka

 The set at Simone Rocha's super show

 And outside her show, there were perspex brogues galore on loyal fans- a definite signature

  Pretty, happy model backstage at Meadham Kirchhoff

 A box of Meadham Kirchhoff hats

 And part of the catwalk set-up at MK, think mussed up chateau with cake

LFW SS13: HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, RAG AND BONE

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Hello, Rag and Bone audience!

It's a long way from Dakar to New York and then to London, but that's the trajectory taken by Rag and Bone which culminated in a presentation of their SS13 collection on Saturday afternoon of LFW. Let me explain if you were wondering why geography has anything to do with this post. If you haven't already seen Rag and Bone's SS13 collection, then you should know that it is made up of soft, loose cottons including hoods to drape gently over your head and fierce leather trousers, jackets and skirts, some in blinding neon colours. This is the Dakar bit, referring specifically to the Paris-Dakar rally- a hardcore off-road race which used to run, as the name suggests from Paris to Dakar, Senegal. Due to safety issues, it now takes place in South America but Rag and Bone designers David Neville and Marcus Wainwright drew inspiration from the combination of souped up cars and their crews, as well as the Bedouins whose territory the race would cross.

Paris-Dakar 2001 (image from www.usautoparts.net)

Bedouin styling (image from style.com)

The New York bit is obvious. Rag and Bone is a distinctly NY label even though the designers are British- they occupy a place on the city's fashion week schedule and slot nicely into the attitude and cool which defines a modern New York aesthetic. They have six stores in New York, and one a piece in Washington, Boston , Tokyo and now London. The only European store opened on Sloane Square back in July, so to celebrate the brand decided to host a presentation during London Fashion Week, with an official store opening by Anna Wintour at the same time. Natty. It was all well and good for Wintour who smashed champers over the door frame before crossing the road for the presentation. For the rif-raf (which still includes key editors and fashion directors of top publications) there was a long, confused and crowded wait as realisation dawned that there were to be two presentations and we would have to wait. I think quite a few gave up, judging by some tweets I saw but after being plied with free drink all the invited who stuck it out eventually made it in. There was none of the usual show diplomacy with carefully thought out seating plans, instead there was one bench at the front reserved for the most special of guests and beyond that, a free for all.

Even before it began, Rag and Bone in London was something different. Then it got fun and savvy. The screens which had been white with the brand logo flickered to life to show the audience reflections of ourselves. The fact that this made us so much more than observers became clear once the models emerged, dressed in looks seen already in New York. If anyone was moved enough to make any kind of facial expression then everyone would be able to see. There's one look- the green leather skirt you'll see details on below- which really makes me smile, perhaps that came across in the footage beamed onto the screen when the model passed my way.

Presentation over, we were shown out and, ta-da, were facing the Rag and Bone store. I guess if you were lucky enough to have a little LFW time to kill you could have popped straight in and bought something if you'd loved the presentation enough. It would have been fascinating to see how a "See and Buy" system could have worked, like the one Topshop Unique employed. Topshop let customers watching online click, choose the colours and buy looks as soon as they saw them streamed on the website. They'll be delivered to them in eight weeks time. Clever. I'm not sure Kings Road locals can have been mightily impressed to have hoardes of fashion people causing chaos in the square on their quiet Saturday afternoon stroll. But it definitely showed them what Rag and Bone is all about.

My favourite look- big zips, cracked graffiti paint-ish leather and a massive white shirt, what's not to love?

More Rag and Bone Details...

LFW SS13: FIVE OBSESSIONS AT J.W ANDERSON

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

J.W Anderson has been one of the most talked about designers in the run up to this London Fashion Week, judging by my Twitter feed and overhearings. That's because on the first morning of shows, his collaboration with Topshop hit stores and coaxed fashion editors away from LFW prep to a land of pinafore dresses, penny loafers, bat pattern jumpers and J-Dubz pencils. Consequently the Toppers collection was playing a starring role on last night's F-ROW as everyone waited to see what one of LFW's most intellectual, rigorous and unpredictable designers would do next.

Jonathan had created a "Treatment Room"; a place where he had played with fabric, texture, silhouette, in response to "a personal urgency to strip back fashion to garments with an edge". That quote tells me that this was all about taking the fundamentals and playing around with them, embellishing them with a J.W flourish. So, what got me ticking?

1. ADDED FRILLS

2. FINGERPRINT PRINTS

3. THE BAGS

4. THE BOOTS

5. LOOK 21

Reason- the colour of this jacket is just phenomenal, plus I love that the model is Zen formerly known as Kate.

Image from Vogue.com

LFW SS13: FIVE CHRISTOPHER KANE OBSESSIONS

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large and Kasia Hastings

Christopher Kane, the Brit boy who can do no wrong, wowed once again this afternoon with an offbeat concoction of pretty pastels and dangerous D.I.Y. Kane incorporated nuts, bolts and spikes as well as every Dad's favourite duct tape but there were also lovely bows and delightful beads. There was a slim, silver mirrored catwalk at the same location as yesterday's ACNE show plus the sleekest ponytails ever. Until 3/4 of the way through, we thought it might all be bright whites and candy floss colours, then BAM- a badass biker. Then back to loveliness before the final two looks which were all fragile pieces of lace patched on with blacker than black gaffa. Only at Chris Kane. 

Five hours later and we're still obsessing over...

1. HELL'S ANGELS LEATHER JACKET

2. MAJOR BEADING

3. WHITE DENIM (J BRAND COLLAB)

4. DUCT TAPE MASTERPIECE

5. NUT & BOLT SHOES

Image from Jane Keltner deValle, Senior Fashion Director, ‏‪Teen Vogue.