Summary of London Fashion Week AW 2013

Over the last few years we have seen a rise of London as a capital of fashion. Brilliant designers, enormous number of young talent and recent graduates from prestigious fashion schools really bring fireworks of excitement during London Fashion Week. It seems that, the London’s talented fashion kids really set up the new direction in design, whether they are trying to break the boundaries with the new shapes and the design or to connect contemporary with vast history of costume we have in our heritage. Without sounding pretentious, London can really state it has it’s own new wave. Creating summary of London Fashion Week using blogger layout is really hard, because you could really publish a book every season. No matter how you try, you will hardly find even one show that is not good. 

Just look at the AW 2013 show of the “youngest”, the Central Saint Martins MA Fashion graduates. They are all brilliant and have their own fresh design and fashion ideas. This year, I found designs of Jaimee McKenna most interesting. Jaimee, knitwear designer and ex freelancer for Mark Fast, played with pleats in attractive forms using monochrome blue dress as a base. Designer’s powerful blue felt like The Blue Epoch of Yves Klien walking on the catwalk. 

Simone Rocha is one more young designer that has proved the status she earned last season with her eponymous label. The fact that she is coming from the family of designer (John Rocha) she takes to try harder. Simone Rocha’s AW 2013 show entitled Respect Your Elders had the task to respect the cut and refined details of clothes. Her connection of unconnected things, also demonstrated she did that pretty well. Risky combinations of heavily embroidered lace, faux fur, pink, leopard pattern can be dangerous for many designers. But not for Simone. Like an experienced designer, she created balance between that teenage edgy vibe and ladylike outline and created the minimalistic outcome. Accessories as loafers in velvet, patent, leopard or glitter, quirky glasses and refined headdresses were topping on the Simone Rocha’s excellent cake. 

Last season, except Simone Rocha, I fell in love with Eudon Choi’s work. The AW 2013 collection from Eudon Choi, which was inspired by Russian women who kept their families together during the Russian revolution, turned me into a big fan. Designer that is initially trained as a menswear designer has an excellent sense for romantic but still powerful womenswear. This nostalgic trip to Russia, brought also amazing collaboration with milliner Piers Atkinson, that created amazing headwear; bloom-filled scarves. 

One more successful attempt of subtle romance was Giles show. It was enough creepy for Addams family and enough romantic for medieval princess. Dramatic huge locks in combination with long shiny and silky dresses with bishop sleeves, created beautiful catwalk story. The kings of creating stories on catwalk, Meadham Kirchhoff duo, showed once again there are two meanings of the word kitschy. Their kitschy is the other one, a good word. In their magical Helter Skelter they connected almost everything; Harlequins, Rococo, Mary Poppins, Goth princesses, Louis IV and Victorian maids. And what can we say except admire them and history we have. 

More Moment to remember: Burberry hearts, Ashley Williams collection as part of Fashion East, John Rocha’s blossoms, Emilia Wickstead’s tartan ensembles.

PHOTOS VIA SHOWSTUDIO