Modern romance: trends and looks from London Fashion Week 2016
Knitwear, dark dresses, military chic with lavish embellishments, short, girly styles mixed up with sensuous, hyper-feminine collections
Frill seekers
Frilly dinner shirts aside, designers have been dusting down their history books in their quest to find new ways of making a white cotton shirt interesting. Alexa Chung favours a Victorian piecrust frill (shades of Lady Di circa 1981) and there were plenty to be found at Mulberry and Paul Smith where they were teamed with long pleated cuffs.
Flick flares
Wide-legged and high-waisted trousers ruled the roost in New York, which is great if you happen to be a beanpole, but not for everyone else. So London’s cropped kick flares might be the answer.
Top brass
It was all polished and parade ready at Burberry, Mulberry and Temperley when military coats (and capes at Mulberry) came with shiny gold and silver buttons.
Dark drama
Sarah Burton’s dark dreamy world had the Alexander McQueen audience on the edge of their seats watching her ravishing boudoir dresses embroidered or trimmed with dreamlike symbols and trinkets. This mood for Gothic romance was pervasive: spun out in beautiful ruffled black dresses with pale chintzy blooms at Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, or twinkly black tweed pouffy-skirted dresses, distressed and unravelling at Simone Rocha. Black velvet and sheer fabrics added a sensuous allure to embroideries at Erdem and Temperley. These dark romantic looks were the most dazzlingly poetic dresses on the catwalk.
Precious moments
Girls with their hair whipped up in deconstructed chignons at McQueen or pulled back at the nape at Peter Pilotto had their mussed-up tresses scattered with precious jewels – Peter Pilotto’s were the fruits of its collaboration with Atelier Swarovski. It looked so beautiful it is bound to spark a raid on the family heirlooms.
Christopher Kane talked about “beauty expired” and the notion of “lost and found” in his collection and pinned sparkly antique gems on dresses and jackets. No two earrings matched and it didn’t matter where you pinned a brooch, even on a short dress sleeve, as long as there were plenty.
Modern cocktail of ideas
Bag (and shoe) ladies
Anya Hindmarch’s spectacles are a highlight of London Fashion Week and her big pixilated cube show set was repeated in the multicoloured pixilated marquetry on her bags and coats. The Orsett is her new release, a relaxed long tote with a handle that can be converted into a hobo. Big straps are quite a trend and the new Patchwork bag at Burberry featured a trench belt buckle. At Mulberry, bags were tough looking and capacious or as tiny as a key fob on a long chain. Making her catwalk debut was Charlotte Olympia, whose shoes ranged from silver rocket-heeled ankle boots to Perspex heeled sandals with a fur foot strap
Say it for the boys
Officially, Burberry and Tom Ford will show their men’s and womenswear on the same catwalk come September. Julien Macdonald, however, has been adding the phwoar-factor to his runway with hunky, muscle-packed beefcake wearing his storm-trooper trousers and flashy tuxedo jackets for the past couple of seasons. Osman is the latest to do menswear, sending Little Lord Fauntleroys down his catwalk in poppy-patterned suits and floppy neckties. Clearly, binary shows, the new buzz phrase, have a future.