Emerging Fervour

On the final womenswear day at LFW I went to Hermione de Paulaʼs Spring/Summer 11ʼ catwalk ʻFlora Illuminateʼ. First off, the venue was gorgeous. In this catwalk room at Vauxhall Fashion Scout, models began by walking through beautifully carved wooden archways before making their way down the runway. They then walked through a second archway to reach the photographers at the end. I think these wooden arches and the overall set up of the runway really enhanced the femininity and natural floral prints of the designs.

Hermione de Paulaʼs collection was dominated by floral and silk materials that floated as the models walked. Shoulders were emphasized in many designs by the use of cut-outs in tops and dresses to show some skin in this area. Knitted accents also brought attention to the shoulders with pieces that were like a bandeau pulled up high over the shoulders. I really liked this look, as it was still very pretty, but hardened up the floral, feminine designs.

Lako Bukia’s SS 11 collection takes inspiration from the architecture of the soviet union countries, including the designer’s birthplace, Georgia. We were lucky enough to meet the designer before the show, who was surprisingly relaxed and raring to go!

As her models came down the runway, they radiated an aura of elegant importance. With hair tightly knotted on top of their heads, these ladies were powerful! A look that was either inspired by or mimicked by the front row guest of honour, Janice Dickinson! The colour pallet was a wearable mix of pale pinks, blues and grey, mixed with navy blue and a striking red. This complemented the harsh lines of the collection, with emphasis on the shoulder, inspired by the varying shapes of the buildings.

Inspiration was taken not only from the outside of the buildings, but also from the idea of peeking through windows and seeing soft, delicate fabrics within. I like how this is demonstrated in this cage window dress, a grid of windows exposing what lies within. I picked a few key looks that sum up the collection.

Jacob Kimmie’s February catwalk was one of Tracey’s highlights and I was chuffed to bits that this time I would be able to see his new collection myself. And it couldn’t have been a more delightful evening!!

Instead of a catwalk, we were invite to ‘The Studio’ in Covent Garden to view his latest collection. His collection, ‘Ethernal Delight’, is taken from William Blake’s plate:

“Energy is eternal delight.
He who desires, but acts not breeds persistence”

I loved being able to walk through the rooms and taking the time to look at the models in Jacobs fantastic creations.

The signature dress this season, the trapeze dresses stand, out and are my favourite of what I’ve seen that day. Add to this edgy cutaway jackets, the intricate shaped dress give the collection a the futuristic look.

The collection was accessoried with couture jewellery from Alice Welsh and Fiona Ross and were incredible statement pieces.

This made me do a little dance, when the invite arrived, as it was so amazing last February that it’s the one catwalk I was extra excited about! Waiting to be let in, you could sense a buzz and as we finally got led to our places, it dawns on me that we’ve got a front-row, yay, how much better could it get?

The show started with ‘Lilee’ who’s colour palette of white, grey and navy blue conjured a sense of purity with a nautical feel. This was my personal favourite; clean lines, swishy materials and muted colours makes for one sophisticated lady and I’d be happy to wear any piece of this collection.

Charlotte Taylor’s was a brilliant follow up. Vintage robots, sail making, copper and rust provided the catalysts for this collection. It is colourful, quirky and fun and feels like sunny summer and that you’d be ready to play.

Yes we are!!! And it’s another one we can all go to – we like those

Fashion Fushion is opening its doors next week to showcase a mix of current collections, samples and past seasons’ stock. This exhibition of both young designers and high street favourites offers a unique opportunity to snap up some of the hottest bargains. Discover a diverse mix of styles, cultures and traditional dress.

Watch catwalk shows for ideas on dressing down and dressing up. Clothing, shoes, accessories and one-off pieces you won’t find anywhere else. At prices you can’t afford to miss.

After seeing lots of Autum/Winter10 collections you can’t get your hands on, this is just what we need!

Website: www.fashionfusionexpo.co.uk

Admission: £10 – buy your tickets online

When? 12-13 March 2010

Where? Old Truman Brewery at 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL

Who’s there? Julia Smith, Stamo, Nikolo Bertok, Ahsan Design Studio, N’kya Designs, Side Effects, House of Bunor, Embellished Truth, Trousers London, Choolips, Asake Agoro, Andaluss, Nobelafrik, Ceci, Juzi

The Lako Bukia catwalk followed the running theme of multi-purpose wear with a clever concept of using very long zips over key seams in order to create a different look when unzipped. Each model walked out first with the zips closed and then again with them open. It took me a couple of models to realise this was happening; the transformation on some pieces being more dramatic than others. Good concept and the long white dress was beautiful.

Words from the label:
“The concept behind this second collection from Lako Bukia is emotions and the divide between positive, kind emotions and the darker, evil side. Using colour, shape and textiles to represent these diverse elements of one’s emotional characteristics Lako Bukia has created a strong, innovative collection.

The monochrome palette delineates the separate emotions – expressed through a set of white shirts against the darker black dresses, trousers and skirts. Using materials of different textures the collection also incorporates a range of fabrics including wools for the sharper forms and accents of silks to soften the shapes. ”

24.02.2010 at Vauxhall Fashion Scout

Stéfan Orschel-Read presented his AW/10 collection “Fågeln” on 24.02.10 at the Vauxhall Fashion Scout. Inspired by the beauty of female birds (Fågeln is Swedish for bird) Orschel Read showed classic but subtle shapes in mainly earthy colours and tweeds. I liked the way he sometimes suggested some sort of wings with his designs. And although he used colours with a more heavy character, the pieces looked light and flowing. Probably because I’m a girl, I was quite impressed by the “jewellery” the models were wearing. They looked like a mixture of dreamcatchers, Tibetan prayer equipment and something you should rather put on a wall. Wicked!

As with all our photos we’re always happy to share, but please contact us before and name Emerging Fervour as your source, and Dom Hengge (www.hengge.com) as the photographer.

Click here to view all other catwalk pictures on Flickr.

Doii Paris showed in London for the first time and as I’ve seen her Spring/Summer collection days before I was so excited to see her on the catwalk! And I wasn’t disappointed.

Each design had something special and compared to many other catwalks you could take the collection away and wear it. Her garments are super feminine and I love the way fabrics, patterns and sequins are playfully put together. It was such a nice and airy sight as most catwalks were dominated by grey & black.

Here are some of my favourites but if that’s not enough, you can view all catwalk pictures on Flickr.

The pattern on this coat were sequin skulls and it looks amazing! One of my favourites.

Check out her Spring/Summer collection on her website (www.doiiparis.com) as it’s as nice as the Autumn/Winter.

As with all our photos we’re always happy to share, but please contact us before and name Emerging Fervour as your source, and Mindy Coe as the photographer.

It’s fantastic that we have fabulous photographer friends who help us out with these amazing catwalks we were invited to. We went to the Ada Zanditon show on Tuesday Feb 23rd, and I took my friend Iman with me. She takes really good photos and has one of those fancy Nikon cameras…proper professional we are.

After waiting around in a massive 3-columned queue for about an hour, we finally moved and slowly creeped towards the doors to the huge room. A blessing in disguise, the back row gave Iman the opportunity to clamber onto the ledge behind her and take some nice shots. You can take a look at Flickr for lots more photographs of the show.

Please note: No one was injured as a result of taking these photographs

I really like the jackets, I like the whole over-sized idea and a lot of my favourite jackets are BIG. I also love the accents of bright colours – it’s such a refreshing thing to see after the wave of darkness throughout LFW this February. Don’t get me wrong, dark is good – but colour is priceless.

The anticipation for this catwalk really heightened when I experienced the full force of the LFW pecking order but when I managed to get in along with the rest of “the hopefuls” I was SO glad I swallowed all pride and waited in the naughty corner.

Have a look at some pictures from the Kinder Aggugini AW 10 show I saw on Saturday 20th. Check out our Flickr for lots more images of the show.