Twenty8Twelve
Click
here to see a video of the show
There were rumours that Sienna Miller might skip the debut catwalk show of
Twenty8Twelve, the collection that she co-designs with her sister, Savannah,
in order to be at the Oscars. “As if,” said the actress, before the show. “I
love being part of this, and I'm doing it to help my sister”.
“I hope that's not the only reason you're doing it, Si,” says her big (two and
a bit years older and, at 5ft 10, five inches taller) sister. “Of course it
isn't, Sav, you know that.”
The Miller sisters are so unguarded that interviewing them about this
collection can feel like butting in on a family get-together. Bottom line:
this is an appealing synthesis of their shared penchant for slouchy, hip
clothes, with a nod to strong, Balmain-esque shoulders. There are cute,
cropped trench jackets, rugged khaki parka-style coats, minidresses layered
over denim leggings and luxurious knits. It's eminently shoppable and
unpretentious. Which, with 70 stockists and a solid fan base, should make it
perfect for now.
Some critics argue that clothes this easy don't need to be on the catwalk. But
catwalks are a form of fashion oxygen. “If anything,” says Sienna, “the
recession pushed us into doing this show. It was either blur into all those
other labels or make a statement.” LA
Nicole Farhi
The past few seasons chez Farhi have been crying out for a new departure. How
much floral whimsy does anyone need in her wardrobe? And there's only so
much of an aesthetic that flits between bookish heroine and glamourous
French Resistance agent that one wishes to see in 2009, especially when
everyone around is peddling the 1980s .
Thankfully, Farhi has finally listened. Gone were those floaty numbers and in
their place was something far more structured and dare we say it, even sexy.
Multicoloured tweed suiting, flashes of metallic gold on a leather jacket
signalled a bold change. So too did the exaggerated shoulders and subversive
(to followers of fashion) just-below- the-knee skirt and dress lengths.
Colour was key; cue a riotious mix of fuchsia with teal, inky blues and
apple greens, orange lapels on a raspberry mohair sweater. And there was
also plenty of dramatic black.
Everything was tightly cinched in at the waist, while the decorative
flourishes - appliqué surface texture and brightly coloured, scattered
sequins on niftily cut blazers - were a modern way of prettying an outfit
without veering into tweedom.
Obviously this new Nicole isn't for everyone, but she might just find that she
wins more fans than she loses. CA
Christopher Kane
Kane is a designer who is often cited as the reason international buyers come
to London. In a relatively short space of time (less than three years) he
has emerged as one of the leading voices of the capital. Sunday's show was a
masterclass in coupling bold, beautiful clothing with wearable design. Such
as the superbly cut, charcoal wool jackets or hounds-tooth cashmere knits
with trimmed pockets that kicked off the show.
The rest was equally impressive. A leitmotiv quickly emerged: black velvet or
silk ribbon edges on gauzy, nude-coloured dresses, often employed vertically
and horizontally to give shape and structure to the dirndl miniskirts,
pelmet pockets and necklines, sometimes creating a trompe l'oeil effect. On
occasion these were jazzed up with coloured stripes. There's no doubt that
these are exactly the sort of cocktail dresses that ingenues will be
fighting to be papped in come September.
Anyone looking for something a little more covered up could choose from a
dizzying selection of patterned, fabric shifts on which contrasting swirls
were juxtaposed to create the illusion of a teeny-weeny waist. Recession or
no recession, what woman would say no to that? CA
Richard Nicoll
One of the most eagerly awaited shows of the week. Would Nicoll be able to
live up to the hype set by last season's sophisticated take on loud, splashy
colour? That show so excited fashion editors that many left the venue
declaring (somewhat dramatically) that they'd just experienced a “fashion
moment”.
In the event, it proved all too much. While Sunday's collection was for the
most part beautiful, poised, considered and very cohesive (which is still a
lot more than can be said for other designers), the clothes never quite
translated into real life.
The all-cream statement look (above) was cut so narrowly as to render it
uncommercial, and that's no little fact to gloss over in times such as
these. Cut-out panels on coats, dresses and skirts, suspenders that hung
from cropped jackets and some complicated layering looked awkward at times.
Even on the catwalk, the corseting effect of the gold and cream bustiers
seemed restrictive rather than sexy or suggestive.
The balancing act between confident, interesting design and clothes that women
of a range of sizes will want to wear is never easy, but something that
designers are increasingly going to have to get to grips with. CA
Luella
Luella Bartley is increasingly allying herself with a growing band of
designers who concentrate on providing tempting individual items rather than
applying The Message. If this is a recessionary syndrome, frankly, there are
worse ones.
From tweed to brocade, paperbag-waist trousers to slashed-neck dresses, she
gave the trends of the season a distinctive Luella stamp. A sliver of
frilled lace peeking from the armholes of a military grey flannel dress, a
mini lampshade skirt or two to partner her jackets... she's perfected the
cute angle. Her front row - Kaya Scodelario from Skins, Antonia
Campbell-Hughes, who plays Jack Dee's daughter in Lead Balloon, Nicola
Roberts from Girls Aloud, Peaches Geldof and her sister Pixie, who modelled
- tells us who can wear Luella.
The next step is to take the brand to a wider demographic ( the tweed jackets
and a conker-coloured patent trench were a good start) without losing its
Brit-girl appeal, because there is a limited number of teens and
twentysomethings with the budget for those sparkling prom dresses and mink
jackets. Not all the contents added up to a logical business strategy, but
maybe that's its charm. LA
Follow the fashion team
micro-blogging live from the fashion weeks at Twitter.com/timesfashion
