London Fashion Week – colour clash, pattern mash and photo flash

Leutton Postle at London Fashion Week. Photograph: Rosie Higham-Stainton

There were bleached fan hairpieces, glass encased catwalks, manufactured rain and colour clashes. People speculated about the non-trend trend, Kanye West swaggered around Somerset House and the street style photographers rose in number, to startling new heights. These are just a few of the treasures that London Fashion Week bestowed on us this season.

The AW12 collections (I realise this is a difficult concept to get our heads around right now), showcased in various forms from catwalk to presentation, and in various locations from Somerset House to Billingsgate Market; offering verification that British fashion is at the top of it’s game, both creatively and commercially. London has it’s own unique brand of style, an aesthetic that draws from the cultural revolutions this city has witnessed (from punk to Mods) and the history of textiles, tailoring and craftsmanship it is famed for.

And this season saw the big names have fun with London’s identity – Christopher Bailey made it rain for the Burberry show and Stella McCartney’s return from Paris was celebrated with a dinner-come performance-art piece to a soundtrack of live music by Ronnie Scott’s orchestra. However ‘super brands’ and their spectacle shows aside, what shone the brightest was a whole host of fledgling and emerging designers, whose creative flair and adoration for this city manifested itself in inventive and trendsetting collections. It is no surprise that a majority of these designers are based in east London, drawing on their surroundings and exploring the cultural and social diversity of the area as well as their own national heritage.

NEWGEN, an internationally recognised showcase for the best emerging British talent awarded by British Fashion Council, sponsored catwalk shows by J W Anderson and Simone Rocha, both based in Dalston and leaning towards a sharp, contemporary aesthetic. Rocha produced a highly accomplished collection- jackets, skirts and collared vests came in sheer cream lace, jet black pony skin and shiny silver leather, to great effect. Jeweller Kyle Hopkins, who works from a studio in Haggerston, exhibited intricate bracelets and pendants cast from animal bones and teeth along with chains of tiny linked stick men.

Off schedule and outside the confines of Somerset House, Vauxhall Fashion Scout hosted a series of catwalk shows and exhibitions to showcase established and emerging designers. Hackney-based Jennifer Morris exhibited a collection of womenswear in a palette of salmon, indigo and citrus, with extreme fringing on coats, dresses and jacket sleeves.

Word on the street was that this season did not offer a formula of trends, it did not hark back to one specific era and optimists envisaged the end of regurgitation. As varied as the collections were, some details appeared and reappeared: Christopher Kane and Louise Gray, amongst others, employed longer length and loose-fitting skirts. Metallic details, in panelling, appliqué and collars were present at Leutton Postle, Louise Gray and Meadham Kirchhoff. Digitalised floral prints, as seen at Mary Katrantzou and Peter Pilotto along with mauve, black and red colour combination at Christopher Kane, are also set to be trends for the coming season.

Hackney designers set the tone in brights

Hackney-based designers represented their everyday experience of the east end, street style and cultural variety with collections that felt daring and alive; rebellious perhaps in an era that is seeing a lot of cultural and political change.

Amongst them, there was a clear trend for clashing palettes and patterns, shiny glittery things and a definite relishing of bad taste. Meadham Kirchhoff’s collection saw models display attitude, on a disco-lit catwalk, wearing everything from leopard print lamé flairs to metallic fringed rainbow suits.

Louise Gray’s hugely well-received catwalk show on Sunday evening, expressed what might happen if bad taste got a makeover. Gray, whose studio is situated on Mare Street and who sites nail bars and nightclubs as her cultural hotspots, is recognised for her punky edge and bold knitwear. This season she offered up a more wearable (and therefore commercially realistic) collection, whilst retaining her trademark look. Held in the beautiful Billingsgate Market building down by the Thames, and to a soundtrack mixed by Hanna Hanra, the Scottish designer sent models streaking down the catwalk in giant afro fan hairpieces, clad in bold panelled pattern-clashing trouser suits and tunics.

There was a definite Eighties urban street vibe to the collection, with Gray drawing on African fabric prints and geometric shapes for inspiration. By creating sharp but modestly cut suits and dresses, with nearly-to-the-knee hemlines and high necklines, Gray was able run riot with pattern, incorporating zigzag, graffiti scribble and QR codes. She paired cobalt blue, acid yellow and turquoise with either black or white and layered it up, from boots to tights, dresses and under-tops. Wanting to maintain a punky edge, the designer collaborated with experimental London milliner Nazir Mazhar, to create giant peroxide Mohawks. She like many of the designers this season, played with metallic details on panelling and embellishment.

Leutton Postle, a collaboration between Central St Martins graduates and friends Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle, showcased their second collection together on the Vauxhall Fashion Scout catwalk in Holborn’s Freemasons Hall. The pair, who are quickly acquiring a recognition for their experimental knitwear and focus on craftsmanship, displayed a certain progression and sense of identity with their AW 12 collection. They worked with a foundation of putty and neutral hues, injecting, like Louise Gray, bold primary colours and building texture through the use of reverse appliqué, pompoms and tassels. A tribal face motif runs throughout the collection, repeated to create patterns on trouser suits, and oversized on tunics. A trouser suit with cropped jacket, made up of faces in plum, metallic pink and electric blue, makes for a daring yet playful look. Pompoms, already associated with the Leutton Postle aesthetic, appear in primary hues on beautifully crafted floor-length cardigans. Pink and plum tones against a murky beige backdrop, offers a sure nod to more conventional autumn hues.

There is an element of the organic and primal in Leutton Postle’s rough weave and tribal motifs; and yet paired with their tireless craftsmanship and skill they have managed to achieve something fresh and yet very much complete.

Away from the bright lights of the super brands, there is a really creative and experimental aesthetic taking hold, identifiable in this handful of Hackney’s most up and coming names. Reservations aside, we have Topshop and the British Fashion Council to thank for offering ever-expanding platforms for these young designers in the commercial market.

Street style East

Everyone knows trends often start far away from the catwalk and designers draw inspiration from the streets more often than not, especially in east London, where the streets are lined with style gold- from the kids relaxing in the park to the students and creative’s that believe anything goes. Trends are extracted from the street before finding themselves on a designer’s mood board; hence the rise of street style photography. Over the last year or two we have witnessed blogs, and specifically those documenting the looks on the street, skyrocket in popularity. Some of those very same bloggers now gain access to top catwalk shows and can, if they have an ample online following, take up endorsement or sponsorship.

Jennifer is a street style photographer who works anonymously and does it purely for the love. She set up her hugely popular blog Styleeast a couple of years ago, photographing both in east London locations (Brick Lane, Shoreditch and so on) and people who have an east London street style about them. She explains: “I go for people with natural flair, who look relaxed and casual in their own style.”

When asked what trends were big, in terms of street style, at LFW this season she says ‘‘The ‘grunge’ look has hit the mainstream in a big way, although it’s been a key style in east London for some time.  I also spotted a lot of fluoro and neon colours at fashion week.” Unlike some self-style bloggers, Jennifer never photographs herself and doesn’t go for preened girls in designer garb, but what she does offer is an invaluable tool for documenting and promoting street style in all it’s glory. Catch a look at some of her favourite street style looks from LFW in the Hackney Citizen soon.

London Fashion Week saw east London represented, on and off the catwalk in a myriad of ways, but always with self-belief and a healthy dose of bravado.