Britishness a recurring theme as London Fashion Week closes

London Fashion Week draws to a close, and with the uncertainty about Britain’s future outside the EU, there has been a strong sense of Britishness on the runways. Erdem’s show was about the queen, Burberry trumpeted its British roots, and tartan and Prince of Wales checks were all over catwalks.

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There was also comfort in classic, almost vintage, domesticity, with a collection of dresses inspired by children’s arts and crafts from Mary Katrantzou, cushion and pillow handbags from Anya Hindmarch, Irish linen tea towel tops from J.W. Anderson and a collection completely devoted to the domestic goddess from Christopher Kane. Then there was Hong Kong-born designer Ryan Lo announcing at his ‘church wedding’ show that he had just received his British citizenship. We look at our three favourite shows:

Christopher Kane

Kane’s show was loaded with visual puns and a combination of high and low looks, which he says he had a lot of fun designing. A dainty floral print covered a shower curtain coat in a cleaning-fluid shade of blue. Glamorous fluffy white dresses inspired by mops were worn with shiny rubber gloves. Doily-style lace decorated collars and cuffs of a shiny black coat and jacket, and pegs were used to fasten a dress. Overall the theme was cleaning, whether it was the duster-like hems of lace dresses or the mop-like details on shoes.

Did Crocs just get a high-fashion makeover courtesy of Christopher Kane?

Kane wanted to look at the idea of interiors, of a closed domestic world, made into the exterior look of a person. “There is something so OCD about it, something both clean and kinky,” he says. “It’s what goes on behind closed doors.” The references are not so literal when removed from context of the show – the beautiful lingerie slips had a fresh sensuality.