Fashion East, the achingly hip new designer platform, and Swedish designer Ann-Sophie Back, who after skipping a season to concentrate on her position as creative director of Cheap Monday, was back on the scene with her AW10 collection.
I arrived at Somerset House, only to be photographed for ELLE, VOGUE and Grazia street style, (wearing mainly borrowed clothes - my sister was very frustrated) and surrounded by international fashion elite.
First up at Fashion East was Nasir Mazhar, whose urban jungle insprired collection was my favourite on the catwalk, amazing latex head pieces sat atop the heads of beautiful black and oriental models, whose legs and bodies were painted with the brightest of colours and glitter, just in case the clothes weren't spectacle enough. Tighter than tight latex mini skirts and boob tubes were covered in slashed back all in ones and worn with thigh high boots, and male models wore greased black denim slouch jeans with visible boxers, bare torso's splashed with glitter, and papier mache-esque coloured head coverings. Considering this was Nasir's first ready to wear collection, it seems there is a lot of promise in this young talent. (See bottom two images above)
Next up was a very different vibe from Heikki Salonen, whose collection, entitled "112358" struck me as John Lennon meets a Russian cold war spy. Rose tinted circular glasses permeated the collection, worn with black and grey tailored boxy pieces. Moody models strode defiantly down the catwalk in flat black suede lace up boots in androgynous pieces which were inspired by the film Leon, and Salonen says, illustrate the transition of girl to woman, and the aggression of the change. Although striking, I personally didn't enjoy this collection as much as the other two, which were definitely unique in their style. However I don't deny that Keikki has a lot more to offer, and will be one to watch for the next few seasons. (See middle two images above)
Closing the show was Michael Van Der Ham, whose second collection at Fashion East brought "a refreshing kind of glamour" to the runway, he says. Usually one for fashion that challenges me, I was strangely in awe of Michael's relatively girly collection. Pale models with barely make-upped faces wore a collection of panelled and uniquely tailored dresses which incorporated girly floral prints, royal blues, and beautifully embroidered gems. His dresses appeared as pieces of material cut at random and sewn haphazardly, effortlessly beautiful and unique in the way they hung from the models and moved as they walked. The appearance of such apparent lack of detail is of course ironically a testament to the tailoring skills of Van Der Ham, as we all know, it takes a lot of work to look like you've just thrown something on. (See top two images above)
Stay tuned for a review of Ann-Sofie Back's first collection for two seasons!
Spindle's London Fashionista, Alexandra Haddow
