Emerging Fervour

Season two for Bunmi Koko and the AW11 collection ‘Kaleidoscopia’ silhouette is true to its style – strong, powerful and feminine with soft draping and sculptural silhouettes. And the colours of course – my person favourite pretty much everything that had purple in it – yum, yum, yum!!

YUM!

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The AW11 collection ‘The Name of the Rose ‘ is inspired by the novel written by the Italian medievalist Umberto Eco in the early 80′s. The story is an intellectual mystery with fantastic symbolism and cord playing, reflecting the paradoxical relationship of existence that is made by you and your memories.

Including this philosophical aspect, Jazzkatze plays with the images of a rose – a symbol that has the beauty of femininity in the flower petals and masculinity in the thorny stalk.

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Fashion Mode’s catwalks was a treat as we got 3 emerging designers in one hit!

Carlotta Actis Barone

Carlotta Actis Barone continues her innovative theme of combining protest about important ethical issues with striking designs that deliver her intended messages straight to the audience’s conscience. This season’s inspiration is formed from cruelty against animals, particularly the slaughter for fur, with a concentrated focus on seals. LOVE IT!

The climate these animals live in is expressed through the colour palette; navy blue for the cold sea, white for the snow and ice. The seals themselves are represented in beige faux fur, and the violence and cruelty inflicted in the slaughter is reflected in the red underskirts and showpieces

You can find more images of Carlotta Actis Barone’s catwalk on Flickr

Florian Jayet

Krystof Strozyna graduated in 2007 in Fashion Design Womenswear at Central Saint Martin’s and was invited to display his collection in Harrods as a second-place winner of the Harrods Design Award. His sharp tailoring, sculptural shapes and oversized, lacquered wood jewellery earned him the New Generation sponsorship for three consecutive seasons!

I loved his colour palette, the blues & orange, as there was a lot of beige, browns and black coming down the runway so a splash of colour always works for me – brightens up those cold and grey winter days.

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After debuting with her Icedbreaker collection last season, Masha continues to explore an architectural way of designing. This time mixing textures, heavy coats and adding a splash of black but keeping true to her light palette of the season. And not to forget those boots!!!! I kept thinking of the movie ‘the secretary‘, naughty!!

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["Haute école "] the purest and advanced component of Classical Dressage; a highly refined set of skills seldom used in competition

Inspired by equestrian paraphernalia, clean sculptured lines and strong silhouettes are effortlessly individual. Mixed fabrications and luxurious panels of leather, Toscana fur and wool cashmere are offset by salient hardwear. It follows perfectly from the previous seasons collection and you can instantly see it’s Eudon Choi.

Choi uses sports influences of double lined jersey, a robust yet supple fabric found in horse riding kit. Saddlery is further referenced in a collaboration with London accessories label Jas M B. Harnesses and jewellery inspired by the S&M photography of Robert Mapplethorpe have been produced in the brand’s signature leathers restricting and accentuating the female form.

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Day 2 started with Elliott J. Frieze and what a start! This seasons silhouettes draws inspiration from the 1970′s, while embroidery, and textiles pay homage to this favourite childhood author, Roald Dahl and illustrator Quentin Blake.

The colour palette was a caffeine mixtures, such as Latte, Mochas and Espresso and of course black – stunning! Draped jersey, tailored corduroy and Labswool cocktail dresses, one outfit nicer than the other.

I love it the elegance of it and can see myself and many of my girlfriends or boyfriends as such in this collection.

As every year this is the one catwalk which we love the most as you get to watch 4 catwalks in one hit but it’s also the 4 brightest new emerging stars in the fashion world.

Anja Mlakar

Her debut ‘Blue Tube’ collection echoes elements of the three dimensional and sensual silhouettes; while clean lines and a muted colour palette signify her venture into a new breed of elegance.

Kirsty Ward

Central Saint Martins’ Kirsty Ward graduated in 2008 with distinction and went straight on to design for Alberta Ferretti in Italy. She launched her label with a S/S11 debut at Vauxhall Fashion Scout during LFW. Her trademark use of metal jewellery combines to create structured silhouettes and classical pieces.

Sara Bro-Jorgensen

At this year’s London Fashion Week acclaimed Swedish School of Fashion & Textiles made history, by showing abroad for the first time ever. Eleven of this year’s BA graduates were given the opportunity to present their collections in front of an eagerly awaiting mob of UK and International Press and Buyers. It’s great to see foreign schools coming to London and  taking full advantage of the city’s unbeatable creative attitude and appreciation. This stuff really gets me excited, I love over the top, costume-like, dramatic fashion!! Good luck to the designers.

Here’s a peek at a selection of our favourite collections

Sara Anderson

Stina Randestad

Ellinor Nilsen

Charlotta Mattsson

Emilie Johansson

Johanna Milvert

Elin Klevmar

Jennie Siljedahl

Elin Sundling

David Soderlun

Helena Quist

The final day of LFW was menswear. I attended two shows, one being Orschel-Read. Admittedly, I donʼt know too much about mens fashion. I donʼt follow the mens trends – I pay attention to what guys are wearing on the street and my opinions form about what I like and don’t like from there.  So attending menswear day was something completely different and new for me which was great!

Orschel-Readʼs “The Spy Who Becomes Me” S/S 11ʼ collection included modern and wearable pieces, slim fitting suits, pinstripes, flight jackets and jewel tones. The collection combined a balance of utilitarian design with tailoring.

I like that menswear has the ability to mix and match pieces to tailor a look to individual style and taste. I think that Orschel-Read displayed this well. For the adventurous, a full jewel toned suit, and for the more conservative, one jewel toned accent piece.

Deep V-neck sweaters were worn solo, over shirts or combined with a suit. Long skinny scarves were used to accessorize jackets, suits and shirts.