Basso & Brooke, the label from duo Bruno Basso and Christopher Brooke has been showing at London Fashion Week since 2005 and even 6 years on, it’s definitely one of the hot tickets every season.
According to the designers their trademark is “pioneering digital prints within fashion” and I don’t think anyone would disagree with that – their ability to merge both clashing colours and patterns so effortlessly has given them huge success within the industry in recent years.
For a label like a Basso & Brooke who triumph bold colour and fun prints the summer seasons are where we really see them flourish. For SS12 they showed at The Old Sorting Office – a large warehouse venue which upon entering was barely lit and barely dressed – the perfect empty shell waiting to be filled by an explosion of bright.
From the first look to the last, every piece was both captivating and interesting. The clashing colours perfectly contrasted eachother and the range of prints which included birds, florals, spots and swirls were matched together like pieces of a jigsaw, the designers cleverly slotting the combinations together in exactly the right way.


The colour palette was of course trademark brights, particularly vibrant shades of deep purple, aqua, lime green, brilliant orange and yellow alongside monochrome and neutral blocks. The ready to wear collection took in everything from summer suits to silk day dresses to full length glamourous flowing gowns. The models were styled to suit a hot summer’s day with loose messy buns, natural make up, bold Aztec jewellery and large sunnies supplied by unique eyewear brand Kirk Originals which all added to the illusion of high summer glamour. It was easy to forget we were in a cold empty block in the middle of Oxford Street.


Key pieces included a sheer trouser and shirt combo with a colour block panelling design and fantastic cut, a cream dotted short suit with yellow and black palm print and a punchy orange silk batwing sleeve dress – the print exploding outwards from the chest.



The Talented duo say that they want their collections to resemble ‘a journey through clothes’ and their show definitely defined this – the colours and prints being introduced in small patches and gradually growing on every look before fading back out to give way to the next.
A summer haven… shame the lights had to come back up and remind us we were in rainy London and fast approaching Winter…