Sophie’s LFW Day Two Diary – tweeting @sophiecharara:

Rushing into The Portico Rooms at the beginning of Day Two (thank god I chose flats – again), we discovered that Craig Lawrence’s two hour presentation was in fact a rolling salon show – thankfully BlondeKatie and I made the last one. And talk about informative – no pounding music, just the set designer James Barnett telling us over the mic how each garment was crafted and out of which materials.

Lawrence darkened his colour palette for Autumn/ Winter after his mesmerisingly light, metallic mermaid-esque dresses last time at LFW. Stand-outs included the opening high-necked, long sleeved and sombre black and metallic navy look which set the tone for the rest of the 15 piece collection. Lawrence’s techniques, materials and styling all felt fresh: from the crushed velvet hooded jacket with knit dress and horizontally striped tights to the hand-knitted electric blue cellophane, tube dress.

One of my favourite shows this season at LFW was Lako Bukia at Vauxhall Fashion Scout. Her collection continued some empire line shapes from last season but it was the ammunition inspired touches with bullet holder belts and leather details on cuffs and collars that really delighted.

Coffees, mauves and maroons brought a touch of country autumn to LFW whilst leather shorts and black sheer blouses wouldn’t have looked out of place in City offices. Yet the collection was one of the most cohesive I’ve seen, even including the shift in feel with the romantic golden pailettes on necks and tunics for the final three looks. I already can’t wait to see what she brings us next season.

Images londonfashionweek.com and Bumpkin Betty

Sophie’s LFW Day One Diary – tweeting @sophiecharara:

This season kicked off for me with my first ever show inside the BFC Showspace tent: Paul Costelloe. Along with celeb spots in the form of Janice Dickinson, Kimberley Walsh, Diana Vickers and Twiggy it’s true that Fashion Week definitely gets more glam the higher up the food chain you get. If you’ve got the blue sticker or gold star, you’re laughing. Here’s my pick of a few shows at BFC, Fashion Scout and On/ Off.

First up Falguni and Shane Peacock’s deacdent display of sequins, print, leather, mesh and feathers – sometimes all on one dress. Models walked to the sounds of heavy bass pumping into Mercer Studios with smoky eyes, strong red lips and clipped back, rocky hair. Looks were bodycon and bolshy: holey jumpsuits, leather gilets, knee length boots and spiked black gloves. Sex appeal came in the form of plunging  necklines and elements of corset and lace. I loved a camp, blue sequinned knicker one-piece with a long train, very ice skater-chic and a spectacular, romantic peach and gold full length gown.

Over at Vauxhall Fashion Scout, Krystof Strozyna showed a collection of secretary separates meets space age, restrictive detailing. Tunic silhouettes ruled with high-waisted skirts in stiff fabrics paired with psychadelic orange prints. Cuffs on wrists and ankles with a few prim collars added an air of buttoned up restraint even when skirt lengths were mini. There was also some lovely turquoise and blue chiffon draping on black bases with lots of asymmetric sleeves and necklines.

Last but not least, the “overcrowded” Bora Aksu show in the BFC tent again with front row seats going to Twiggy, Keisha Sugababe and Marina (from Marina and the Diamonds, in an incredible jumper). Some more bright green (after Krystof Strozyna’s splash) which isn’t really my thing but other than this – the grey and black palette was right up my street. Sashaying to a soundtrack including Marilyn Manson’s version of ‘Sweet Dreams’, models were adorned in exquisite crocheted knits on top of metallic foil details and beautiful heavy tweeds. I loved the skilfully laddered tights and headgear- snoods and bandages wrapped round faces – in fact this season I’ve seen a lot of veils too. Maybe next Autumn/Winter we’ll all be coyly hiding our faces under masses of fabric?

Images courtesy of londonfashionweek.com

Having spent five days hanging out at Somerset House and suroundings at London Fashion Week, I’ve put together a top ten spring/summer 2011 collections based on the general chit chat amongst the fashionable show-goers I encountered, and my own humble opinions.

1. MARY KATRANTZOU. In the hands of another designer, the ambitious concept of room interiors rendered trompe l’oeuil-style on dresses with lampshade skirts could have gone horribly, horribly wrong, but Katrantzou pulled it off with visionary aplomb.

2. CHRISTOPHER KANE returned to neon, the focus of his wildly successful debut collection, but this time hems were set firmly at knee length. Prim Princess Margaret was Kane’s muse, combined wth far-from-prim prints inspired by Japanese yakuza tattoos.

Photos: www.weknowwhatyoudidlastnight.com

3. HANNAH MARSHALL – a sleek and brilliant collection where sheer black silk featured heavily. (Shameless plug for my other blog: read my full Hannah Marshall review over on Style My Wardrobe.)

4. MARK FAST didn’t stray far from the skimpy skin tight groove he cut last season, but branching out into pastel colours and adding oodles of swishy fringing was more than enough to please me.

5. MICHAEL VAN DER HAM showed a beguiling collection of patchworked, asymmetrical, hotch-potch outfits that really shouldn’t have worked, but somehow did.

6. ERDEM. For my money, the mags can rave about it as much as they want but people simply do not wear white. Still, Erdem provided more evidence that all white will be a major trend next spring, as well as tablecloth floral prints and ladylike lace.

7. RICHARD NICOLL gave us fetish-inflected sportswear separates balanced with ultra-femme frocks and pleats aplenty.

8. BURBERRY. I was fairly worried for the first half of the show – winding a skinny fluoro belt around a trench does not a groundbreaking Burberry collection make – but then suddenly it all made sense. The essence of the collection was crystallised, for me, in the two blazer-length bikers jackets (on silver, the other black) that I predict will be on all the glossies must have lists come spring

9. ANTONIO BERARDI took a minimalist blueprint and added surface-level embellishments. A ruffle here, a scattering of rosebuds there, plus a couple of silver biker jackets to rival Burberry’s own.

10. OSMAN. It was a worrying start with brown sack dresses that appeared to be made of actual sacking material, but Osman’s collection soon segued into look after look of cerebral off-kilter beauty.

Photos: www.londonfashionweek.com

By Katie Wright

First off, a confession. There’s no easy way to tell you this dear Ballad Of… readers, but I can’t hide it any longer: the truth is, you’re not my only blog. You may have noticed I’ve been a bit distant the last couple of weeks, and the reason for that is, I’m just going to be honest with you, I’ve been away at London Fashion Week, writing for another website. Well, two in fact. There, I’ve said it. I’m sorry. But now I’m back and I’m going to make it up to you, I promise.

So to make up for lost time, I thought we could spend some quality time this week crystallising everything I saw at LFW into some pretty little trend boards for Autumn/Winter 2010, before trying to play catch up on Milan and Paris. First up, the textures and fabrics you WILL be wearing next winter… 

Photos: Style.com and londonfashionweek.co.uk