thrown into a madcap mix of overblown ballgowns, puffball skirts, neat fitted jackets and sugar-sweet dresses on a parade of models with doll-like curls and Cupid’s-bow lips – topped off with oversized hats from Stephen Jones.

And what fairy tale would be complete without a real-life princess – well, royalty at least – in the form of Lady Helen Winsor, sat front row with Jasmine Guinness, Nick Rhodes and Trinny Woodall? “It was beautiful. The most beautiful show I have seen in a long time. The hats would be great for Ascot!” said Lady Helen after the show. Jasmine Guinness was equally impressed. “The jackets, the coats and the red dress with the lace insert. I want it all. It’s a nightmare!” she joked. 

“The jackets were great,” said Matches’ Bridget Cosgrave. “He is the king of jackets.”

“The cut was magical,” said Hilary Alexander, clearly enchanted by the collection. “We haven’t seen someone to set things on fire

Noted by Colin McDowell

I hate getting dressed. I may be deeply submerged in fashion, but I’m too fat to be fashionable and I’m too old to care. As a result I have a default style that revolves around Ralph Lauren suits and shirts from the same reliable label or Brooks Brothers. I still wear shoes made for me 20 years ago. Around my neck, Charvet ties will do if I am feeling French and fancy, otherwise it is Richard James around my neck, if you see what I mean.

I made a bid for fashion freedom some years back when I decided to always wear Marks & Spencer underpants, although Paxman is right about the new designs. I am promiscuous over socks, however, and seem to go through them at an alarming rate. They can be Calvin Klein, they can be Jaeger, they can be any label you like, but they must be clean. Unlike most men, I change them at least once a day.

Neither can I be arsed with putting scent on. No jewellery, no frills, no fuss. That’s my default front-row look. All the frills and fuss are in my tortured head.

Talking of which, I was amazed

Column McDowell

“Fairy tale,” said an emotional Kinder Aggugini backstage after his show [see above]. And it was, in more ways than one. 

Close friend, agent Camilla Lowther [see right, with Jasmine Guinness] – also celebrating 25 years in fashion this week – had stepped in like a fairy godmother, not only to supply the creative talents of make-up artist Pat McGrath and hair stylist Malcolm Edwards for free, but also to foot the bill for the whole show. “Yes, I helped with everything,” said a proud Camilla. “I was basically his sponsor this season. He’s a great friend and it’s better the devil you know.” And a grateful Kinder was first to admit, “The show wouldn’t have happened without her.”

The collection, too, seemed as if it had stepped straight from the pages of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy story: outsized polka dots, wild animal prints, crocodile cloqué, dog ’s tooth check tweed, cut-out fluoro silk and metallic brocades were all

ISSUE NO 2, LONDON FASHION WEEK SPRING /SUMMER 2010

like that for a while. I think Kinder would be perfect for a big fashion house like Ungaro. If he doesn’t get offered something by the end of the year I’ll eat one of those Stephen Jones hats!” 

A big fashion house contract? Now that would be a real fairy-tale ending.

It’s a Kinder magic…

L O N D O N F A S H I O N W E E K

I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H PA N D O R A

REPORTING FROM FASHION’S FRONT LINE

Got a story? Email us:newsdesk@lfwdaily.com

VIEW THE DAILY ONLINE:www.lfwdaily.com

SUNDAY 20 SEPTEMBER 2009

Continued on page 2

FROM TOKYO TO LONDON OXFORD STREET / SHOP ONLINE: UNIQLO.COM

Report by David Hayes

Report by David Hayes

Rodnik has never been shy of publicity seeking: forming a ‘band’ with Peaches, wandering around the shows sporting annoying tiny pink umbrellas… but yesterday the label took it to new heights. Turning up in Trafalgar Square with an army of bowler- hatted groupies and a line-up of 10 models, also in bowlers and the new spring collection, The Rodnik Band by Philip Colbert (as it’s now known) stormed the National Gallery with a ‘flash’ event. Result? Jittery security, bemused public, zero buyers or press. Here’s a peek at what we all missed.

THE FASHION MOMENT Kinder Aggugini's fairy-tale show of puffball dreams in perfect cuts left press and guests happy ever after. Photography by Anna Bauer

Odd Rod

Report by Julia Robson

Are flats the new heels? The message from the London catwalks is blurry, but the fashion rabble are voting with their feet. To quote Cheryl Cole… It’s 100 per cent YES!

Doc Martens, Converse baseball boots, plimsolls, brogues, loafers, workmans boots, flat (but not a pump), flatter (lace-up wedges are cool) and flattest (androgynous is best) are the footwear of choice. Handy for negotiating cobblestones at Somerset House, too. Perhaps

Flats vs heels

this explains why the transition from heel to flat has gone smoother than expected. Well, almost.

“My patent River Island brogues hurt,” confessed Grazia’s Hattie Brett after the Kinder show, “I’ve got heels in my bag for later.” “Traitor!” said her colleague, Catherine Nieto, happy in her pink Converse.

“Thank God the brogue is back,” muses Erin O’Connor (well, she would wouldn’t she?). A glance around the BFC tent confirms flats are the future. Heel pioneer Nicholas Kirkwood includes them in his S/S 10 collection.

Meanwhile, Grazia’s Mel Rickey believes she has found the perfect compromise. “Doc Martens heels. The Holy Grail of footwear. These are the perfect in-between boot.”

Photography by Marcus DawesPhotography by Tyrone Lebon

2 NEWS

KEEPING THE DAILY TEAM DELICIOUSLY FED

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NICHOLAS KIRKWOOD’S ROCKING RODARTE SHOE INSTALLATION

180 THE STRAND So much fun and excitement

under one roof!

LOUISE GRAY’S ORANGE HAIR The right sight of bright

BAROMETER BLUE RINSE TRANNIES Still not a good look

TOPSHOP VENUE Too dark, too far away

CLOGGED LONDON STREETS Cycling races DO NOT

rule, OK?

COLUMN McDContinued from front page

at Danielle Scutt, who gave us just about everything there is possible to give on a runway in a glorious confusion, which more or less worked.

The highlight of the day was Margaret Howell, whose runway was full of the understatement of the confident designer and her clothes said exactly why she has been a pillar of London fashion for so long. Talking of which, the Fantastic Man party was everything that a bash from such an in-your-face title should be. But I did feel, looking at my fellow guests, that the emphasis was a tad more on the fantastic than the manly. But that’s London Fashion Week, non?

LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Sunday 20 September 2009

A grey matter

Fashion’s learning curve Perfumed halls

Thanks to Joanna Sykes who cast grey-haired models [see below] for her show (older women buy fashion, too), one of my seasonal stresses has been alleviated. Along with the pressure of what to wear during LFW, for a beauty journalist there’s the added burden of grooming. A mani, pedi and blow-dry are mandatory and for the more mature of us, add a root touch-up to that list. But not this season, because thanks to a growing gang of grey stalwarts on fashion’s front line, grey is good.

The Creative/Fashion Director of Harper’s Bazaar and Editor in Chief of 10 magazine Sophia Neophitou,

“I was celebrating beautiful women and how the body of each woman is a wonderful thing to dress,” said Mark Fast, after a presentation featuring three models selected from 12+ UK, an agency specialising in women with curves.

“It was a brave departure,” said Louise Wilson, his MA Course Director at Central Saint Martins, “but Mark should have had more large women on that catwalk, not just three or four dresses. Nobody wants tokenism; it could have been bolder still.”

There’s just one beauty company showing at London Fashion Week and that is the organic aromatherapy brand, Alexandra Soveral. Alex is showcasing her scented wares as well as running a competition to create your own fragrance with the prize of a bespoke scent. The Times’ Lisa Armstrong is one of the judges and, at the time of writing, Vogue’s Harriet Quick is tipped to win.

Fragrance and fashion is something of a recurring theme: the halls of Somerset House are heady with the aroma of Comme des Garçons

who started going grey in her early twenties, attributes her look to “sheer laziness, but that doesn’t go down well with a lot of people,” she laughs. Surprisingly, Neophitou’s Greek community is more critical than her fashion peers: “At home, a woman is still expected to be a youthful brunette in her seventies.”

Vogue Fashion Features Writer Sarah Harris has accepted the greying process. “I look young enough to get away with it,” she says. “But I realise part of that is self-delusion: I think that my hair is still brown, then I catch sight of it in the mirror…”

Florence Torrens who scouts for Neiman Marcus acknowledges the great power of grey. “My most high maintenance New York friend told me it gives me authority,” she says.

Broadcaster and journalist Caryn Franklin is known for her signature Mallen streak, but it wasn’t always considered a positive attribute. “When I was presenting a TV show with 30 million viewers, BBC bosses told me to dye my hair as it looked too old!” Franklin refused and acknowledges her white streak is something of a militant statement. “I’m sick of the cultural hysteria surrounding women ageing,” she says. Bravo to that.

Photography by Tyrone Lebon

Others agreed the delivery was under-produced, needing more preparation and attention. Thongs cutting into flesh under fine or nearly sheer materials revealed a certain lack of confidence and demanded time to finesse.

Putting curvy women on our catwalk really challenged some of our team, Mark Fast’s MD, Amanda May, confirmed. “It came to a head 24 hours before the show. One person walked out and we released another after her rudeness to those models. It really shook

scented candles; John Richmond launched his first fragrance last week, and in New York the Halston collection was inspired by a recently revived house scent.

While perfume sales continue to underwrite ready-to-wear collections for many big name designers, you know scents make cents. Jasper Conran, too, understands the sweet smell of success: he always spritzes the catwalk with a favourite fragrance before the audience arrives. This season it’s Moroccan Rose by True Grace.

Report by David Hayes

Quick! If you haven’t already joined the local WI (the Shoreditch one is packed full of the young and the stylish), get a wiggle on – crochet is emerging as a big story for next season. Homespun craft permeated the New York collections with Rodarte’s tangle-of-textiles thing (inspired by condor wings this season, if you please), Marc Jacobs’ heavy lace and off-beat pretty mix, and uptown Oscar de la Renta’s cool teal-blue crochet two-piece. London designers have also got hooked on holes.

Kicking off day two, Canadian Mark Fast sent out a strong collection of body-con knit dresses that upped his game from autumn/winter’s raw, laddered look with intricate panels of crochet that snaked their way around the body revealing slices of flesh – it must be said, to varying degrees of wearability.

Not surprisingly, John Rocha had a crochet moment at his packed-to-the-rafters show, where Sarah Brown sat front row. Rocha has always played with soft layers of knit and texture, but this season he added a structured edge to his pastel chiffons and raggy frills with moulded crochet dresses and panniered tops that looked as if they would stand up on their own like pieces of sculpture.

It was left to the Spanish-born Ramón Gurillo, making his first catwalk appearance yesterday, to prove that crochet can mean wearable, too. “I come from Valencia where we have a great tradition for crochet,” says Ramón. “We have amazing local artisans, aged from their early thirties to late seventies, who can produce beautiful, fine crochet that is both refined and sexy. We have had a great response from buyers here.”

LFW’S THE DAILY CREDITS

Created and edited by JENNY DYSON & CAT CALLENDER

Managing Editor JANA DOWLING

Art Director & Designer BIANCA WENDT

Chief Sub Editor MARION JONES

Deputy Chief Sub Editor FIONA RUSSELL

Design assistantsTHOMAS ELLIOTT &

KIT HUMPHREY Reporters

NAVAZ BATIWALLA, STEVIE BROWN, CARRIE GORMAN,

DAVID HAYES, ISAAC LOCK & JULIA ROBSON

Beauty Correspondents ANNA-MARIE SOLOWIJ

& ANTONIA WHYATTGuest reporters

CARYN FRANKLIN, REBECCA LOWTHORPE & COLIN MCDOWELL Staff Photographers

ANNA BAUER, MARCUS DAWES,CHRISTOPHER JAMES

& TYRONE LEBON Advertising &

Distribution Manager GEORGE RYAN

Editorial Assistants CATHERINE BULLMAN,

FIONA CAMPBELL, IONA HUTLEY & TODD WATKINS

Web Co-ordinator KILA CARR-INCE IT Consultant

SCOTT KNAPPER BFC Marketing Manager

CLARA MERCERPrinted by

THE GUARDIAN PRINT CENTREPublished by

JENNY & THE CAT LTD In association with

RUBBISH INK LTDThanks to

THE BFC TEAM, SOMERSET HOUSE AND ALL OUR PAPER GIRLS & BOYS.

YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

As if knowing what to wear to fashion week isn’t hard enough, there’s the added curse of an Indian summer. At times like this there is only one thing to do – reach for your Breton. You know it makes sense. At Margaret Howell yesterday the Breton count in the audience exceeded 10 (excluding the two kids who were also wearing them).

The Kinder show provided an excellent Breton photo opportunity. Here, not one, but three Voguettes sat front row wearing theirs. Miranda Almond in a sailing style from Ile

Ode to the Breton

de Ré, Pippa Holt in a Topshop number purchased two days ago (“I was attracted by the subtle shoulder pads”) and Emma Elwick in cashmere Meadham Kirchhoff (“It was meant to be cold today”).

“When I see a Breton, I just buy it,” says Holt, who yesterday teamed hers with Balenciaga jodhpurs, Office shoes and an Hermès bag. “I’ve got Bretons by McQueen, Joseph, you name it...”

“It’s a classic staple,” said Holt. “It’s a uniform!” corrected Elwick.

Photography by Tyrone Lebon

Report by Anna-Marie Solowij

Report by Caryn Franklin Report by Anna-Marie Solowij

Report by Julia Robson

LIVE CATWALK ILLUSTRATION AT DANIELLE SCUTT Drawn by Andy Macgregor

Crazy for crochet

Match of the dayLFW and Matches have got together to create an on-site store with all sorts of one-off goodies to buy at Somerset House from the Matches 4 LFW booth.

To get in on the act, we are running a Willy Wonkatastic Golden Ticket competition every day during LFW for your chance to win a limited-edition designer gift: today it’s a Julien Macdonald bag and T-shirt!

Just go to www.matchesfashion.com and enter code LFWDAILY.

BAROM

ETER

BAROM

ETER

us and we began to doubt ourselves.”I, for one, support this initiative

wholeheartedly and thank goodness stylist Daniela Agnelli stepped in last minute to help. But there is something for us all to learn here if broadening the model offer is going to be accepted by doubters. Acknowledgement, perhaps, that the fashion industry needs to learn how to showcase curvaceous women for the catwalk spotlight.

Nevertheless, the designs, and let’s not forget these, can speak for themselves. Swarovski embellishments

over signature, sculpted knits, in solid colours of buff, black, lemon, eggshell-blue and coral, showcased innovative knitwear techniques. An instantly recognisable look with fashion credible execution is a given with Mark Fast.

There are those who can and will dismiss the integrity behind the intention. But this is a designer who doesn’t need to play the novelty statement card. Mark Fast is one of the most watchable names in emerging designer talent and that is undisputed.

LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Sunday 20 September 20094 BEAUTY

ALL ABOUT EYESBook make-up artists Val Garland, Pat McGrath or Alex Box for your show and you’re guaranteed an eyeful. Of make-up, that is, because so far this week the eyes have been getting all the attention.

Val’s creation for Mary Katrantzou [see left] was based around the show’s theme of colourful Murano glass. Complementing all the kaleidoscopic prints of Katrantzou’s dresses, Val mixed a rainbow of striking shades onto a base of violet to recontour the eye, underlining the colourful statement with a graphic black tick below the lower lid. “It’s painterly,” says Val of a trend that has also surfaced in the clothes this week.

Over at Kinder Aggugini, Pat McGrath played around with the theme of Dark Fairytale, using pink blusher all across the eyes with powdery smudges of colour dripping down under the eye and onto the cheeks. A layer of purple glitter on a base of burgundy added depth and sparkle to the look. Brown false lashes (“Brown looks more childlike and softer than black,” explains Pat) with quarter lashes on the lower lid confirmed the sexy/

innocent theme. Shimmer, applied to the top of the cheekbones, threw light upwards, making a feature of those lower lashes.

Stylist Johnny Blue Eyes’ House of Blue Eyes presentation saw Alex Box painting on a metallic gold visor across the eyes, onto which she layered black eyeliner, huge, fluttering top and bottom lashes and what has become known in the business as the ‘Alex Box brow’ – ie, bold and black. ‘It’s aliens from Outer Space meets Cleopatra,” quipped Alex.

At Louise Gray, fingertip-applied dots below the eyes and 1970s purple-streaked glitter at Olanic continued the theme that was kicked off by the Headonism show at the beginning of the week, when M.A.C make-up artist Caroline Donnelly based the graphic black eyeliner shape on an Art Deco earring design.

Finally, at PPQ, keyed by Shu Uemura Creative Director Uchiide San, a special set of false lashes was created to use on each girl. Great news is that the lashes go on sale, so we all get to have some of that PPQ make-up magic.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY FRONT ROW,THE NEW BACKSTAGE STYLING RANGE

FROM CHARLES WORTHINGTON

Beauty spot

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Report by Anna-Marie Solowij. Photography by Anna Bauer

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EDITOR’S CHOICELouise Roe

Fashion and style expert

My favourite look from H&M this season is this fabulous textured cream cocoon coat, cinched at the waist with a patent belt to give a stunning silhouette.

I love the idea of wearing florals in winter, and the platform boots give the very feminine look an edgier, vampy feel. First off I’d wear this because it’s actually warm, and practicality has to come into it somewhere! I’m all about layering this autumn.

Cream is going to be huge this season; it’s so clean and fresh compared with the duller greys we’ve seen in winters past. This is a very versatile coat – I’d switch it up with a shift dress for evenings and roll the sleeves down.

COLLECTION AVAILABLE IN-STORE NOW STOCKISTS 020 7323 2211 WWW.HM.COM

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‘I’ve always wanted to do a white collection,’ said Osman Yousefzada, ‘It just wasn’t viable before.’ He means before he hooked up with Vaprio Stile, his Italian licensee, which makes Givenchy among others. Needless to say, the quality of fabrics (including a weird jacquard that looked like sponge) and the finish was of an international catwalk level. The design… is getting there. He said it had been inspired by a picture of the Duchess of Windsor meeting President Nixon and he had imagined her subsequent journey through North Africa and Japan. Ah-ha! So that’s where the kaftans-cum-kimonos and enormous geisha-esque woodblock shoes came from! What about the giant gold eyelets, the ultra-brief skating skirts and architectural shapes? ‘I always take Eastern influences but try to make it contemporary, strip off all the jangle,’ he explained. He said somebody had called it Ethno Architecture. Right. But who buys this fusion fashion? Sitting opposite were the cream of British fashion stores Browns, Matches and Harrods, appearing to lap it all up.

ADVERTORIAL

Hand-daubed gowns at Kinder, Magic Marker bows at Antoni & Alison, customised shoes at Eun Jeong and Veryta [see right], spray-painted crop sweatshirts at Louise Gray, do we smell an emerging trend? Some of London’s designers have taken a step back from the super-slick cocktail dress beat and found time to play – with customised shoes a clear leader on the trend-o-meter. “There is definitely a return to 1980s self-styling and DIY, and I think that comes from designers wanting

the reassurance that comes with surrounding yourself with the nostalgia of perceived better days,” says the original cut-and-paste queen, Caryn Franklin. “These designers have entered the market at a competitive time and now they’re able to play a bit.” It’s certainly playful with more than a whiff of rebellious punk thrown in. Let’s face it, nothing can tone down the polish on a posh frock better than a bit of creative styling, a roll of gaffer tape and a spray can or two.

Doing it for yourself Report by fashion blogger Disney Rollergirl

Photography by Catwalking.com

Catwalk highlights

MARGARET HOWELL OSMANMARY KATRANTZOUMargaret Howell’s clothes are never going to set off fireworks – that’s not the point. But, somehow, despite the fact that you know what you’re going to get – Breton stripes, boy tailoring, great macs, sensible sandals – it’s always such a beautiful show to watch; a palette cleanser for all the shredded body stockings and laddered knitwear elsewhere. So, what’s new from the quiet designer who never takes a bow? Picture a sun-drenched Oxford meadow, lying on the banks of the Isis, punts gliding by, a gaggle of lithe Brideshead types chinking champagne glasses in their striped cotton blazers and loose trousers with rolled hems; one cheeky girl wears a pair of candy striped knickers, another a sweet cotton dress. It all oozes a bygone era of Merchant Ivory, stately homes and good manners. So what was there for the MH disciple – the kind of woman who gets turned on by the perfect pin-tucked shoulder? Her new duffle-cum-mac? A narrow shin-length navy trench that had a bit of the Lanvins about it? Swoon.

Mary Katrantzou had been inspired by a London glass-blower, Peter Layton, she said backstage. ‘It allowed me the freedom to free-form with the prints,’ she added. Hence her dresses were called things like ‘Yellow Inferno’, ‘Sea Tiger’ and ‘Baracuda’ and boasted whirling-twirling digital prints pulsating with pattern and colour – in a mesmerising rather than headache-inducing way. You’d have to be brave to wear a Katrantzou canvas; in fact, it would have to wear you, being so bold and so unquestionably hers. This is the problem with print designers; the clothes must rely on the print and yet the clothes are rarely as good as the print. And when you have prints as good as these, surely the more simple the dress the better. What did we have here, then? Lots of dramatic ruffles around the chest area, making banal activities such as the drinking of soup utterly impossible. It will be interesting to see where this big print talent takes her design, and her jewellery (exquisite glass ankle straps, anyone?) next.

When the pint-size John Rocha bounced out, a cigarello between his fingers, wearing black suit, Birkenstocks and waist-length grey hair, bowing vigorously at the audience, like a lovable character out of Middle-earth, you suddenly realised how he arrives at his aesthetic. For it seems only fitting that such an eccentric should be able to conjure up clothes that look as if they’ve been stitched by a posse of fiendish sprites. How else can he explain such delicately shredded chiffon bloomers? Or the stiff little crochet corset and dress that appeared at the end of the show like spun sugar? The pretty ruffled white fairies looked as if they belonged atop an iced cake. Sweet? Certainly. Saccharine? Hmmm. What looked really great was the white tailoring at the beginning, whose boyish-shaped jackets had side panels of fine lace, and there were some feathered chiffon dresses in dusty apricot and pink – a bit Comme Light, perhaps, like Japanese design with the caffeine taken out, but exceedingly pretty nonetheless.

JOHN ROCHA

Report by REBECCA LOWTHORPE, Fashion Features Director, Elle (UK)Photography by Catwalking.com

In anticipation of attending the Kinder show, Pandora lined

her mermaid tail with polka dots. Nobody else could see, but she knew,

and that was enough.

Rings worn as necklace and bracelet from

£255, available from Pandora

Interview by Cat Callender

Everything you should know about fashion’s most visionary photographer – in his own fine words…* Contrary to popular belief, I do get out of bed for less than £100,000. I’d spend quite a lot of time in bed otherwise!* I don’t like to wear green because it was the colour of my school uniform. It was the most revolting, unnatural shade of green I have ever seen. It has put me off green clothing for ever. * I don’t have paintings or sculptures in my house, I have large chunks of minerals. I collect them. My favourite is hemimorphite. It’s usually a grey colour, a bit like concrete. But when you get copper running through it, it goes a most beautiful blue and looks like a crashing wave. * I’m not great with dishonesty as a trait in people. * Sometimes my clients think I’m being difficult. But actually I’m working hard to make their image great and I think they want to give up before I do. Sometimes people can mistake that for me being difficult or hard to work with. But I’m not.

* When I was a skinhead in the 1970s, people would cross the road so as to avoid me. * I used to dream in French. Now my dreams are about abstract shapes, quite often reoccurring abstract shapes, which is fine, but it doesn’t make them very interesting. * I don’t enjoy parties, dinners or making small talk. Perhaps it’s because I’m 6ft 3in and most people aren’t, so I miss quite a lot of the conversation because it’s lower than my ears. I spend quite a lot of time at such events daydreaming, and then have to catch up on the conversation that I’ve either not heard or ignored! * I have a tattoo of a rose – where, I won’t say – that I had done when

In the Nick of KnightI was about 17. I photograph roses, so I’ve been in love with them for a long time. Architects make buildings and photographers photograph roses. * I wonder whether at the end of my life I’ll look back on it and be able to say, ‘You did something that was of some worth to people.’ That’s a lingering doubt of mine.

The private view of Nick Knight’s exhibition SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution is on Monday at 7pm at Somerset House. It runs until 20 December. For more details, go to www.showstudio.com

Photography Banquet 2004 © Nick Knight

6 NEWS LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Sunday 20 September 2009

Tree huggers of the world unite! The good-time girls are back

Wear your art on your sleeve

Mowering me, mowering you… 

It had not escaped our notice that there’s a real buzz about Estethica this season. It’s not simply the fact that it’s become such an important London Fashion Week fixture; we’re thinking sustainable just got sexier. Which is great because by all accounts eco fashion is not just a fad, it’s the future.  

To prove fashionistas do care about the planet, three of the best – Beverley Malik (former buyer at Browns and Harvey Nics), Yasmin Sewell (currently Chief Creative Consultant at Liberty) and Susanne Tide-Frater (former Creative Director of Harrods and Selfridges and now in charge of developing fashion for Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment) – are proposing to mentor green brands in a bid to haul them to a new, desirable level.

“The idea is to use our combined retail expertise to get

Sarah Mower is probably the most read fashion critic in the world. With a career that spans more than 20 years at the forefront of fashion journalism, not to mention four million regular readers on Style.com – for whom she reviews the catwalk shows in London, Milan and Paris – her influence and global reach is second to none. Designers read her reviews of their shows on their BlackBerrys the morning after. Journalists read Style.com to see how she is thinking, because her thoughts are often the barometer of where fashion might be going, and certainly help pin down where it is now.

 Closer to home in London (where the writer lives with her husband and three children Tom, Maisie and Phoebe), Mower has become an ambassador for the British Fashion Council. Or rather, to give the title its full vent, in May this year Sarah Mower became the British Fashion Council’s first Ambassador for Emerging Talent. When you break down what British fashion is famous for – namely its new, fresh talent that feeds the rest of the world’s design studios – it actually means that she plays a pivotal role in nurturing the next generation of British fashion designers.

  The BFC job involves spotting, advising and promoting to the world the best design talent our art schools have to offer. What’s more, Mower also ensures these fledgling designers

emerging eco brands to a point where they can sit next to regular designers,” says Sewell.

“It’s vital we do this now from a conscientious point as well as from a retail sense. Every 13 year old I know desperately cares about the planet.”

And while The Centre for Sustainable Fashion at the London College of Fashion is busy educating, inspiring and supporting future designers, several brands are helping to change our perception of eco fashion from one of friendship bracelets and coconut hair shirts to that of stylish go-to brands. The fabulous recycled parachute parkas by RCA graduate and current Estethica star Christopher Raeburn are selling like hot cakes at Browns Focus and Liberty. (Look out for the current installation in the

Report by Stevie Brown

In the house of NEWGEN, the new rules for accessories are as follows: they must be big, they must be sculptural and they should look as good in an art gallery as they do on a body. No room for shrinking violets.

Accessory designer Fred Butler’s luminous, origami-inspired headpieces and breastplates literally jump out of her corner at Somerset House. “In recession times I want my pieces to have the power to transform a look,”  she says, “but I also want people to hang them on the wall –they’re multifunctional.”

Meanwhile, doing her best to bring us her futuristic vision on a giant scale is shoe designer Atalanta Weller. She considers her work as

Report by Julia Robson

secure the correct funding and every kind of support to fulfil their potential.

Thus far she is doing a sterling job with a stellar bunch. Of those in her care from day one, Christopher Kane and Marios Schwab lead the charge. Behind them march Meadham Kirchhoff, Peter Pilotto, Mary Katrantzou, Mark Fast and – making his debut this season – Michael van der Ham.  All are at London Fashion Week in large part thanks to Mower’s stewardship. 

  With her uniform of peak-shouldered Margiela tailoring, extremely high heels, dark shades and her penchant for not smiling or making small talk, Mower cuts something of a mysterious dash around the fashion capitals. In actual fact, most people are intimidated by her and find her steely demeanour quite scary. In real life, though, she is simply, by her own admission, “something of an introvert”. What she’s saying is that she’s shy. Behind the veneer is an endearing character for whom the mantra “with great power comes great responsibility” could have been written. Melanie Rickey, Fashion Editor at Large, Grazia

HERE, SARAH MOWER REVEALS TO THE DAILY HER THOUGHTS ON FASHIONI thank God every day for Google. Because when designers start quoting their influences to me, at least now I know what obscure photographer, artist, or blah blah they are on about because I can go and check it.

Feeling the electricity of ideas connecting, that’s what I like. That’s where my Ambassador for Emerging Talent role has come from. You know quite a lot of things about a lot of things and about a lot of people, and you can see who needs what and you can right wrongs, and, knowing how the whole system works, you can enable people.

I know I have a very grumpy face, but that isn’t what I’m like inside. I’ve learned not to be riled at fashion shows. There isn’t any point. You can get anxious about getting into the thing. You can get anxious and annoyed about waiting. You can get annoyed with PRs who don’t know

who you are. What I’ve learned is that it’s just not worth it. Because all that stays with you are the good things. You just have to let the rest go.

I never had the patience to be an artist. My mother was an art teacher. As soon as I was old enough to hold a pen she encouraged me to just draw all the time. All I could do, ever, was draw. Get an idea down quickly. There couldn’t be any palaver between me thinking of an idea and expressing it.

When I started out, I was really scared of designers. And very intimidated. They were older than me. Gradually, they got younger and younger than me and I learned more and more. I now see what it

really takes for a designer to actually be able to do it.

Embarrassingly, I have cried at a show. Oh God! I used to sob at Helmut Lang shows and I don’t know why.

Being a fashion critic is very complex. You have to judge or assess what a designer is doing in relation to everything else: the trends that are coming up, or the feeling or mood that is rising from the season. You also have to connect how it relates back to their body of work. So you are judging them against their own track record. I know all this inside me when I sit down to a show.

  I have Googled myself. I am happy to say I have only ever found two spiteful things about me. One was hilarious: it said, “Who is Sarah Mower? Has she ever done a day’s work in her life?” And that really did make me laugh. That is because those who know me will know I work every single hour I could possibly work. And I love it.

  I’m big in Japan. I have an illustrated column in Japanese Vogue. They like me in China, too. When

I was in Shanghai, a girl came up and said, “Oh, Sarah Mower! You’re like a manga hero!”

Back in the 1990s, Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan were putting on the most incredible shows we will ever see. It was beyond fashion. It was Barnum and Bailey. It was absolutely mind- blowingly theatrical, visceral, moving and terrifying. They were rivals. It was like the Blur and Oasis stand-off.

  I don’t get my legs out much because I’ve got terrible legs. And you can write that.

Know who you are. If it’s a frilly moment and you are not a frilly person, you can’t give in to frills. When I was a kid you had to wear a miniskirt or bellbottoms. Now fashion is so diverse. And thank God.

A lot of people ask me what makes a good designer. It’s when they’re able to articulate who they are, while capturing something about the times, while making clothes that can be worn; that’s the key. A designer is bad when they are derivative, run after every trend and don’t have the skills to make things properly.

After 9/11, London fashion was so dead. Everything was so hopeless. The rest of fashion became so polite. Then suddenly all those kids – Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab and Gareth Pugh – came up with this sense of confidence. But it wasn’t an aggressive sense of confidence. They weren’t snotty. They wanted to learn. I didn’t know if I could help them, but I was going to try.

  For me, the less identifiable clothes are, the better. I wouldn’t wear the obvious thing by a designer. Dressing for me is a process of many things: trying to dress your own body, accept your own body. And whatever age you are – know it and celebrate it. 

I’ve met Martin Margiela [the famously private Belgian designer, who hasn’t been photographed for over a decade]. He is the best mentor and teacher there could ever be. He talked to me about how he does things. I can’t tell you what I learned from him, because I swore to him that I would never, ever break that confidence. And I never will.

“A GIRL IN SHANGHAI CAME

UP AND SAID, ‘OH, SARAH MOWER! YOU’RE LIKE A

MANGA HERO!’’’

She is the fashion writer par excellence with four million readers and an acute eye for new designers. Now Sarah Mower is the BFC’s Ambassador for Emerging Talent. Students, look sharp…

Interview by Melanie Rickey Photography by Chris Brooks

menswear dept while you’re there.)  Meanwhile, the ‘face’ of UK-

based The North Circular, featuring handknits from rescued rare-breed Wensleydale sheep, is none other than the tree-hugging, eco-warrior model herself, Lily Cole [see below].

  “The green fashion movement is changing in perception and growing quickly,” explains Gary Kingsnorth, Creative Director of the first online eco fashion and beauty magazine, Cocoecomag.com, based in LA and currently a guest of pioneering eco brand People Tree at its Estethica stand.

  Finally, Susanne Tide-Frater herself believes that it’s only a matter of time before the first sustainable eco superbrand emerges. Could it already be lurking at Estethica, we wonder?  

Photography by Sean Michael

Report by Isaac LockPhotography by Tyrone Lebon

Even by halfway through today, it was obvious that the party-girl feeling that dominated a lot of the New York shows is trickling into London. After Mark Fast’s show first thing, everyone was a bit too busy talking about the “juicier” models he sent down the catwalk to really notice that Mary Katrantzou, who showed alongside him, sent out a collection that was made up more or less entirely of party frocks.

But she did: some were glitzed up with Swarovski crystals, some were cut down into tops and teamed with shiny trousers and all were finished off with shoes by Charlotte Olympia, the brand conceived by natural-born party girl Charlotte Dellal. The heels were falling off them on the runway, but the sentiment was there. At the Headonism showcase for new milliners, the girls were all glitter- sprayed up like Christmas trees.

And then there was Louise Gray [see above right], who did her presentation dressed up as the living, breathing incarnation of her bold, bright, cobbled-together fun-time frocks, complete with hair freshly dyed bright orange with Crazy Color by John Vial. She’s collaborated with Judy Blame this season, who has provided embellishments in the form of trash bags and trinkety tat. “Judy is celebrating his 25th anniversary this season as well as LFW,” she explained, “so it was great to work with him. He’s the ultimate good-time girl, and at the moment it feels like that’s what it’s all about! So far this career isn’t so well-paid for me, and I think, like a lot of people, the best solution is to overcompensate, dress up and have fun. It’s like a f*** you to the recession. It’s saying, “We may be broke but we’re all still fine, so let’s have a party!”

“somewhere between sculpture and footwear”. If her enormous orb shoes and extreme wooden platforms are anything to go by, then scanning the feet at House of Holland’s show tomorrow for her work is a must. 

Also working with catwalk designers, Michael Lewis has provided Luella, Jaeger and Loewe in Paris with their runway heels. Not bad going, two seasons in. Lewis’s main collection offers up sharp, sculptural footwear for ‘dark ladies’ at his fantasy shop stand. 

Darker still and just a little bit twisted is Dominic Jones. His claw, fang and thorn-inspired pieces are so wonderfully sharp the police would probably classify them as dangerous weapons. Truth be told, though, the real talk of the area is not about trends or other such trivial natter – it’s still all about NEWGEN’s exciting Friday-night outing to Number 10 Downing Street. Makes us wonder if Gordon and Sarah have maybe commissioned something for the mantelpiece…

www.lfwdaily.com DESIGNER PROFILE 7

On the top floor of the townhouse near Shepherd Market in Mayfair, where Matthew Williamson’s fashion empire is based, there are two rooms: a design studio and the office where Matthew works with his business partner, Joseph Velosa.

Erin O’Connor once came for a fitting and walked into the wrong room, catching the designer sitting at the computer. “Oh my God, you’ve got a desk!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea. I just thought you threw chiffon in the air all day!”

Williamson laughs as he tells me the story, adding that his job is nowhere near as glamorous as people expect. Which is just as he likes it. It is two weeks before he’s due to show in London when we meet, and August is the cruellest month for most designers – the factories are closed, and most of the new collection won’t be arriving for another week. “I just can’t wait to get moving,” he says. “It’s doing my head in.”

He’s gone for bold, almost psychedelic prints in this collection, partly inspired by the Scottish artist Jim Lambie’s installations, and a more polished look overall. “It’s not so much about kaftans in Ibiza. But quite what it is about, I don’t know! I’m literally getting clothes in now and pulling it together, but the idea is a quite strong, sharp silhouette, and the prints are fabulous – huge, overblown orchids.”

Since he was 11, Williamson knew that he wanted to be a fashion designer, but then it was all about making clothes, having a shop, putting on a show. “That was my fantasy as a little boy,” he smiles. “Fortunately, as it evolved, I realised that I actually love the other aspects behind the glamour and the glitz. My favourite part is always the period after the show, when I’m creating. It’s that cyclical nature of fashion that I love, that moment of going, ‘Right, it’s done. Let’s look at the good and the bad of that show, decide what we want to pull forward and start afresh.’ Those weeks of fabric sourcing and sitting with my staff and teasing out the ideas for the next collection are definitely the best part.”

Just WilliamsonHe’s had the help of his mum, his dad and a fair few celebrities and supermodels along the way, but there’s no denying Matthew Williamson knows how to design a hot dress

I’d always thought of Matthew Williamson as a bit of a social butterfly, flitting around the world looking for new inspiration and making new connections. Jade Jagger, Kate Moss and Helena Christensen appeared in his first show in 1997, and since then he’s forged lasting relationships with the women who wear his clothes – from Kylie and Cheryl Cole to his close friend Sienna Miller. In fact, he’s surprisingly shy and low-key in person. He doesn’t like texting, he says, and he’s not even big on phone calls. He only has five really close friends, and he prefers seeing them face-to-face.

He’s well aware of the value of celebrity, however. The tulip dress that Cheryl Cole wore on The X Factor last year became a best-seller, and when stylist Rachel Zoe recently wore one of his dresses on her US reality show, his New York store was unable to keep up with the demand. To up his profile in the US after opening his shop there last February, he even did TV himself. He featured in the new season of Project Runway and is about to make a cameo appearance in Mischa Barton’s new, fashion-centred TV drama, The Beautiful Life.

On the whole, these connections have developed organically. “I’ve been fortunate to have women like Jade and Sienna who have really helped express who I am as a designer,” he says, but points out that for any stylish woman the clothes come first. “She’s not going to wear it if she doesn’t feel great in it.”

If he sounds defensive here, he has reason. His label is a very British success story, and we often fail to celebrate it in a very British way. I often hear that Matthew has been lucky to have big breaks so early in his career and to keep his company afloat for 12 years, when so many others have floundered. But you make your own luck: people willing to work hard, and to put their work out there, tend to be luckier than those who sit passively sniping at the success of others.

It also helps that Matthew was never interested in difficult clothes, in art for art’s sake. “I am quite a commercial designer, and at the end of the day I make the clothes that I make because I want them to get bought. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I still get a thrill out of going in one of my stores and seeing someone buy something.”

A handsome but slight, almost fragile figure wearing skinny jeans and a black jacket, which he later explains was for a formal Vogue photo shoot earlier in the day, he has always been drawn to bright colours, in his clothes and in his home. “To me, it’s hard to wear black. I find it quite a draining colour.”

Fashion always seemed a way to escape the greyness of his native Manchester and enter a more colourful world, and he pursued it with a single-minded determination. At 17, he was the youngest student on the fashion and print degree course at Central Saint Martins. With hindsight, he says, this was probably a mistake. “I didn’t really know what my style was at college. I’d never say I regret going, but if I had that time again I’d have gone in my early twenties. It was really tough, competing with students who had experience behind them and some clarity about what they wanted to do.”

In his third year, he took his first trip to India, where the bright saris and the skill of the craftsmen he met in Mumbai and Delhi opened up new possibilities. “I became fascinated with the country and the culture. It was the opposite from where I was born and brought up.”

The designs his travels inspired went against the prevailing trend for understated, androgynous clothes. He used bold prints, bright colours and went for an unashamedly feminine feel, with details such as beading that often made his pieces look like vintage finds. The resulting boho but chic feel was perfect for girls who had grown up with rave culture, who liked to dress up but also loved going to Goa, Ibiza, even Glastonbury – which is exactly why Jade, Kate and Sienna were initially drawn to his work.

“It’s definitely not about me creating a uniform or a working wardrobe,” he says. “It’s much more of a lifestyle collection. I want the wearer to feel exuberant and special. Not in a garish way or a glitzy, obvious way, but my customer definitely wants to walk into a room and be noticed.”

It was his then boyfriend, Joseph Velosa, who encouraged him to send some samples that he’d had made up in India into Vogue. When the magazine said they’d write about him if he could show some sales, it was Joseph who worked out the costings, drew up an order form and got shops to take them. After the first show, when orders flooded in from prestigious stores all over the world, Joseph stopped their fledgling company overstretching by choosing to supply to just four of the stores. “Even then, he worked out that we’d have probably gone bust if we’d taken all those orders and then couldn’t fulfil them.”

In the early years, Joseph worked part-time at Air France while Matthew designed for the M&S Autograph range to keep the company afloat. (He still has a successful diffusion range with Debenhams, and

this year did a collaboration with H&M.) Later, when they separated as lovers, there was never any doubt that they’d continue as friends and business partners.

“It strengthened our working relationship in lots of ways, because we were out of each others’ pockets and in separate homes,” says Matthew. “It was difficult, don’t get me wrong. There was a period of time in which it was uncomfortable. But we had a lot at stake, so we just had to work through it.”

Matthew’s parents also played a big part early on, selling their house in Chorlton and coming to London to help. His mum sewed the cashmere jumpers together after that first show; his dad did

“…I MAKE THE CLOTHES THAT I MAKE BECAUSE

I WANT THEM TO GET BOUGHT”

everything from painting walls to delivering clothes. They’d planned to come down for three months, but ended up staying for seven years. By then, his mum, who only ever wears Matthew Williamson, was working part-time in the London shop. She was a brilliant saleswoman, her son says proudly, often encouraging mums who’d come in with their daughters to try things on. “The mothers would be like, ‘Oh no, it’s not for me; it’s for skinny blonde 20 year olds.’ And my mum would say, ‘Look, I’m 60! So it’s clearly not. Let’s work it out.’”

This inclusiveness is what I like about Matthew Williamson, and despite the recession he has plans to expand his colourful world still further: he is showing a small menswear collection this year and is launching a range of homewares with Debenhams. But he’ll be 38 next month, and though he’s still working just as hard, he’s also more relaxed about the future, less driven.

“I’m getting less anal about plans as I grow older,” he says. “I hope I’ll carry on doing what I’m doing, but I’ll only do it while it makes me happy.”

Matthew Williamson’s show is on today at 1pm at 7 Howick Place, SW1

“I WANT THE WEARER TO FEEL EXUBERANT AND SPECIAL… MY CUSTOMER WANTS TO WALK INTO A ROOM AND BE NOTICED”

Report by SHERYL GARRATT Photography by CHRIS BROOKS

LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Sunday 20 September 20098 PARTIES

People and parties

TALI FRUCH

TMAN

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JADE PARFITTDAVID KOM

A

CECILIA CHAN

CELLOR

CARYN FRAN

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WITH

HER DAU

GHTERS

ROSEBY AND M

ATEDA

YU AN

D PAL

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GEORGIA MAY JAGGER, SUKI ALICE, MARITS ROBERTS

HANNAH MARSHALL AND FRIEND

Photography by Christopher James from the All Walks bash

MICH

ELLE RYAN

At the Ashish front row“THE LIZARD MAN HAS ASKED ME ON

A DATE. HE’S A BILLIONAIRE. I’M THINKING ABOUT IT.”

At the Danielle Scutt second row“IT’S GREAT GETTING DRESSED UP

FOR FASHION WEEK, BUT YOU DON’T HALF FEEL A PLONKER AT

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In The Daily office“PASS THE SKIPS.”

RIGHTBlographers:

THE NEW GUARD Lev, brainsbeauty.wordpress.com

VS

THE ESTABLISHMENT Scott Schuman, thesartorialist.blogspot.com

Photography by Tyrone Lebon

Overheard

www.lfwdaily.com RUBBISH 9

My earliest memory of food is from when my parents got divorced: my dad threw a cabbage out of the kitchen window in frustration at me and my sister’s behaviour. It’s become a running family joke ever since to watch out for flying cabbage.

I learned most of my culinary skills from my stepmum. I grew up with her and my dad in Perth, Australia. She was a keen cook and made quite adventurous dishes. She’d make her own sushi and all sorts of fancy stuff. I remember for one of my birthdays she made kangaroo steak with tomato relish and couscous. The downside to this was that my sister and I always had to do the washing-up and it felt like every utensil in the kitchen had been used. I think that’s why today I love one-pot meals. Out of dish rebellion I make simple, easy, no-fuss food.

When I cook, I add lots of lemon juice to everything, even if it’s Italian. I also add Tabasco to everything. We just bought a big bottle of it for the studio, as without my hot sauce I can’t design.

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DESIGNER DISHRICHARD NICOLL COOKS A BEANY FEAST

Interview by MRS RUBBISHPhotography by EMMA HARDY

Find out what happens next in Tomorrows daily!continued...

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FASHIONABLE CREATURE NO 3 BY ANDREW GROVES

MO DELLECherishes her Mulberry

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I’m not really one of these people who grazes. I don’t think about food that much. When I’m getting into a manic state and when my thoughts become a bit fractured it’s a sign that I need to eat something. That normally means a snack of crunchy peanut butter on toast until I’ve managed to get downstairs to prepare something more substantial.

I’m really into healthy eating. When I grew up it was all about fresh, organic ingredients, so it’s just permeated my cooking repertoire. I’m also really into my mum’s vegetable soup with toasted Vogel’s bread. Your palette forms a familiarity with the food you are raised on. Perhaps that’s why I’m not big on sweets and puddings. I love a bowl of chips at The Royal Oak on Columbia Road. And I love fish pie – it’s one of my favourite stodgier meals.

This will sound neurotic, but I truly do prefer salad to pudding. The only exception is Tip Top’s Hokey Pokey ice cream. It’s the best flavour in the world and you can only get it in New Zealand. It’s almost worth flying there to have it.

One of my favourite dishes is chicory salad at the Rochelle Canteen in Shoreditch. I often go there just for that dish. I do drink coffee, just one or two max a day. Peppermint tea is a big favourite and I’ll have the occasional mug of sugary builder’s tea. I have plenty of other vices. I smoke when I drink, which is quite often, but I do do Bikram yoga and try to go to the gym when I can.

The intention of a healthy lifestyle has been passed along by my parents. Dad’s a retired ophthalmologist and, at the age of 62, has just won the world rowing championships in Croatia in his age group. He’s flying over with medal in tow to see my collection, so I’m excited that he’ll be at London Fashion Week for the first time. My mum stills runs marathons, too.

The dish I’ve chosen to make is something I throw together almost

every day. The basis of it is very simple. It’s healthy and filling and really virtuous if you’re feeling a bit rough. It’s immediate and comforting in its integrity – which kind of mirrors what I’m planning in my spring/summer 2010 collection. I wanted to make an urban wardrobe with a spirit of escapism. There’s a Tahitian influence: I’ve done

luxurious versions of grass skirts and sarong drape dresses in simple, earthy colours. It’s very optimistic.

Richard Nicoll’s show is today at 7pm at TS, NW1. To find Richard’s beany feast recipe go to WWW.DAILYRUBBISH.CO.UK

FASHIONABLE CREATURE NO 4 BY ANDREW GROVES

IVAN EGOSees it all in his lovely Cutler and

Gross specs

LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Sunday 20 September 2009

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