Daks

Day 2 of fashion week had an even earlier start at 9am for the LFW debut of British heritage brand Daks, who launched their younger, new look under new Creative Director Filippo Scuffi. I’m glad I crawled out of bed to witness the event, as it was such a pleasant surprise! Scuffi did aviator chic, with cute little leather capes and hats, city shorts, golden brogues and a quilted boiler suit I just need to have. It was fun and quirky yet he stayed true to Daks’ quintessentially English roots, which many of these brands often forget when they try to become ‘hip’.

Maria Francesca Pepe



Despite my many pleas I didn’t get a ticket for Charles Anastase this season, so I went to the Maria Francesca Pepe presentation instead, and having seen the pictures of Anastase’s show since, I’m damn happy I did. The young Italian who I wasn’t very familiar with before, showed a beautiful rock ‘n roll Eighties collection with lots of black and nude, strong shoulders and plenty of sheer. It reminded me a bit of a slightly more accessible Hannah Marshall – one of my favourite designers, so not a bad thing. I’m a particular fan of the jewellery, the crosses and the wolf teeth were a recurring theme, from necklaces to belts to rings to this wonderful Wolf T-shirt with gold teeth. (can you spot Susie Lau of Style Bubble?)

Kinder Aguggini

I’ll start by saying that last season’s Kinder Aggugini show was probably my least favourite show of the entire week, so I’m relieved to say I found it slightly less offensively bad. Unfortunately, that’s where the good news stops. Anyone who has the guts to compare their style to that of Coco Chanel, should at least get her name right. Writing “Coco Channel” in the press notes is about as unforgivable as comparing this collection to that of one of the biggest fashion icons that has ever existed. Any credibility went flying straight out the door. So unfortunately, as of the moment I read the press notes, which grandly claimed inspiration by Juliette Recamier and Napoleonic influences, try as I might, I was so annoyed I could only find one positive in this collection – the Stephen Jones hats. From the tacky chandeliers along the catwalk (really? you’re just blocking people’s view) to the hairstyling, it was just too much for me. See it for yourself here. I’m sorry, Kinder, but one just does not mess with Coco.

Topshop Unique



Despite being a high street brand, Topshop Unique seems to have become one of London Fashion Week’s most popular shows. Not because of the inevitable flock of Britbrats. This is really a credit to the talented designers behind the brand, because over the past few seasons, the collections have been on a par with others out there. It is also nice to see a high street brand capable of SETTING trends, rather than just shamelessly copying them. AW10 seemed to be on a whole new level for Unique. The styling by Katie Grand, the crazy animal hats by Emma Cook and even more insane make up and furry unibrows by Hannah Murray turned the girls into very realistic wildlife creatures. The clothes were also a dream straight out of a mythical forest. Lots of (fake) fur, from mittens to coats to boots. Shearling bags and jackets. Big knitted over-the-knee socks. Scouting uniforms so sexy they wouldn’t quite be allowed. It was all so clever and seemingly bang-on-trend and most importantly, we’ll be able to afford it next season. I can only applaud Unique for being right out there with the big guns- and I do so look forward to winter after this one!

Emilio de la Morena


Emilio de la Morena brought a strong collection with a strong focus on prints and sharply tailored dresses. The ruffled skirts and dresses made way for sheer and silk panels. De la Morena also debuted his collaboration with Loro Piana this season, which explained the many knitwear on display. The sky high (15cm) Charlotte Olympia jersey booties were also to drool over! One to keep watching…

What followed then was an afternoon of badly organised shows and PR blunders which really ruined my day. At Mark Fast/Mary Katrantzou the chaos was so bad I did not get in, despite having a ticket. I was made to wait in the entrance hall with dozens of other people, only to be asked to leave after the show had already started. My advice? If you’re going to have a double show with two of the hottest designers around, DON’T HAVE TWO DIFFERENT PR AGENCIES SENDING OUT TWO DIFFERENT TICKETS TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!!!! Fights pretty much erupted at the door, you would not believe who I saw screaming to get to the front of the queue – but hey, Mark Fast is hot stuff, and everyone wants a piece of it. Unfortunately I can’t review it as I wasn’t there. Same with John Rocha later, but I’m not horribly sad about that.
Anyway, moving on.

Louise Gray’s presentation managed to cheer me up immensely, see my separate post here on possibly the funnest collection of the week.

Ann-Sofie Back


Any annoyance I may have had was quickly forgotten at Ann Sofie Back, who triumphantly returned to London after sitting last season out. At the risk of sounding like my mother, I was sat right next to a speaker, which you’d understand if you were there – the music was louder than at a rave, and Ms Back chose to play some pretty hardcore heavy metal music to accompany her collection. The hilarious press notes explained how the collection was inspired by her avatar in “Second Life” where she has created a version of herself, who has to work as a stripper to earn money, but is often thrown out of strip clubs for being too ugly. (This goes on for a while) What she tried to do though, is to capture in real life the image we tend to create for ourselves when we’re allowed to do so virtually, which is often an exaggerated version of ourselves, a tad sexual and a bit superhero-esque. The denim pieces were slightly more commercial and of course in sync with her position as head designer at Cheap Monday. The “POW” shoes were done in collaboration with Topshop, so perhaps another capsule collection is in order again soon?

PPQ


Last on the schedule of this rather packed second day was PPQ. I used to be a huge fan of PPQ, for its fun, young collections, but in the past 2 seasons, they seemed to have lost their way a little. Having Peaches Geldof design your collection really doesn’t do much for your fashion credibility, and you can’t keep banking on the shock or celebrity element in your shows to keep getting press coverage. (Last season, they used only black models, in previous shows, they had the Geldofs make their catwalk debuts) It seemed that Amy Molyneaux and Percy Parker also agreed with my opinion, as they showed a very mellow collection in only black and gold, with some fine examples of tailoring we haven’t seen in the past few season, whilst still maintaining their quirky 80′s influences. It’s both classy and still will go down well with the young partygirls who’ve kept PPQ afloat for so long.

All pictures my own or from London Fashion Week