london fashion week's the daily tuesday 16th september 08

Shailes Sets Sail Jasper’s Carrot

ColumnMcDowell

BFC New Gen knitwear designer Simone Shailes has been snapped up by Phoebe Philo to join her brand new team at Celine. Shailes accepted the assistant design position on Friday, a week after the announcement that Philo would take the reins as creative director. “I’m very excited,” said Shailes yesterday. “Phoebe Philo has been a major figure in fashion and I’ve always looked up to her.” Shailes won the L’Oreal Professionnel Fashion Design Award for her MA

The Politics of FashionWords by Nicola Copping

Photography by Wil l Matthews

collection earlier this year. “I’ve learnt a lot putting together my first collection since graduating,” says Shailes. “But I will be putting designing under my own name on hold now. I’m sure I’ll learn even more being part of [Philo’s] team and her comeback.” The Celine design team will be temporarily based at LVMH while searching for a permanent studio space somewhere in London.

See Simone Shailes’s collection at the BFC’s New Gen sponsored by Topshop space at the exhibition.

Georgia Dehn is the junior style editor at the Telegraph Magazine

It’s all about colour. My colour and London Fashion Week colour. But first, mine. I guess many of you reading this know that I am the founder and creative director of Fashion Fringe. In case you don’t, our sponsor, DHL, has kindly provided me with a gleaming new and very yellow chariot, or, rather, taxi, to let everyone know about the connection. You can’t miss it. It isn’t to everybody’s taste, perhaps, but I feel that if it gets up a few nostrils I will be very contented. Especially when it starts raining, the umbrella will drive everyone bananas. Colourful pretty maids all in a row at Luella had enough sweet-pea shades to make the Queen Mother smile. Marios Schwab was all about the colours of English ponds and lakes, but with Seventies shapes à la Halston and Julien Macdonald. Jasper Conran gave us aftertoon tea – the colours of Earl Grey and Darjeeling, and roses and hollyhocks, respectively. Everything you could need to feel true Brit next spring.

Jasper Conran based his show on Leaves From a Missionary Notebook, a 1929 book that he always digs out when he’s “feeling blue”. Illustrating the story with a charming series of drawings in the show notes, the designer looked at “the combination of ultra-prim and proper and really very saucy”.

Cue pretty tea dresses, puff sleeves and done-up jackets, along with some sheer pieces and tassled, cut-out gowns to show off

When Downing Street invites the most influential figures of the British fashion industry to a party at their place, it must be time to celebrate. The occasion? Twenty-five years of London Fashion Week (LFW) as we know it today; 25 years of the British Fashion Council (BFC); and 25 years of hard work to create an industry

all your feminine guiles.The audience – including

Emilia Fox, Jasmine Guinness, Alice Dellal, Mary Quant and Jade Parfitt – watched through life-size cut-out trees as the show’s surprise came around halfway through the 44 looks: Alek Wek making a rare (but very welcome) appearance on the London catwalk in a red tassled gown.

Wek and Conran, speaking after the show, are clearly each other’s biggest fans. Wek can’t wait to wear “that hot red dress” from the show while Conran simply says, “I love Alek and Alek loves me.” Indeed.

worth more than £40 billion and a bi-annual event worth £100 million to the London economy. Not a bad reason to pop a champagne cork or two with Sarah Brown.

But the event carries greater significance: this is the first time in decades that Number 10 has invited fashion’s finest onto its doorstep. This is the biggest political acknowledgement of London fashion in years.

At 7.15 yesterday evening the BFC got down to the serious business. They met with ministers and civil servants including Andy Burnham (culture, media and sport), John Hutton (business enterprise) and the senior policy officer of the London Development Agency to discuss the future of LFW, and the industry as a whole.

“We met to discuss the concept of promoting the industry: talent,

training and careers. We want to think about the future, look at where we are, what we have achieved, but largely we want to leave a legacy for the next 25 years,” said Hilary Riva, chief executive of the BFC.

Harold Tillman announced plans to deliver the first industry report to clarify the true economic value of the industry as a whole. “It will allow us to put a stake in the ground to develop a wider

series of initiatives, including a major recruitment and education campaign.”

By creating a fully comp-rehensive report on the full scale of the industry – incorporating manufacturers, designers, retailers and publishers – the BFC hope to illustrate its scale.

“As a whole, the industry does not get projected, nor does it

Words by Colin McDowell

Words by Lauren Cochrane

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Words by Georgia Dehn

Top of the Shops

stunning cobalt-blue smoky eyes at the Temperley show. “There’s a real emphasis on looking like you’ve made an effort. Cheeks are sculpted, eyes are enhanced – at Marios Schwab I made the eye very feline by contouring the socket with a grey-brown to elongate it. Everyone has a feature they can maximise, whether it’s their brows, cheekbones or eyes,” she says. And she’s now bringing her expertise to Boots with Myface, her new makeup brand that launches in October and neatly divides into skin tones; fair, medium, and medium to dark, so it should be easy for mere mortals

Beauty Spot Brought to you by Weleda Skin FoodThe best kept beauty secret since 1926.

I’m wearing no-slip tights today. They’re meant to stop me skidding around in my Miu Miu heels, but they’re totally not working. Case in point: crashing into Mischa Barton at Alice Temperley. “Omigod, I’m so sorry,” I screeched, as the fringe on her Temperley dress shook from the smack. “What are you doing here? Vacation from New York?” she asks. It’s strange when celebrities talk to you as if they know you, but jetlag makes me cackle back, “What are you doing here?” She excuses herself to go kiss Peaches Geldof (and/or ignore the question). Alice sends a parade of poufs down the runway and I point to one and say “That’s my wedding dress” to nobody in particular. Outside I bump into a photographer I used to think I’d marry, and I stick my tongue out at him and hop into a towncar. Then I wonder if I should buy that Temperley pouf just in case the marriage thing pans out. Then I realise these tights are freaking useless. Whatever; on to Paul Smith!

“Everyone wants to feel happy right now, and makeup is the way to do it,” says Charlotte Tilbury, the ultra-hip makeup artist who keeps the famous looking famous. “If you look at any economic downturn,

there’s always a major beauty and fashion moment following it: the Seventies had punk, the Eighties had grunge and now there’s a return to makeup.” Charlotte tells me this while perfecting the

Words by Faran Krentci l

American at Large

Words by Antonia Whyatt

it for fashion.”So the big reach out to

persuade fashion lovers that John Lewis is where they should be shopping may yet have some way to go. As the woman responsible for putting fashion on TV, Caryn Franklin says: “I don’t shop there for fashion currently, but at least they’ve realised they have to compete on the same level as their competitors. Until now it hasn’t looked as though they really push their product.”

However, never knowingly undersold and all under one roof somehow feels rather comforting. Check it out, ladies.

Qasimi Quick

Would you buy fashion from the same place you buy your fridge? As John Lewis launched it’s £1.5million ad campaign on Monday – Oldham’s first supermodel, Karen Elson (aka Mrs Jack White), shot by fashion photographer Phil Poynter to coincide with London Fashion Week – it seemed obvious to

Just what does it take to get people’s attention when you’re “Off Schedule”? Well, if you’re young label Qasimi, it’s persistence that wins the day.

“They called my agency for years,” explains the lissom and lithe Erin O’Connor, who was eventually persuaded to model the finale dress for their catwalk

explore the question. “When I told my family, they were impressed I was doing a campaign for John Lewis,” Elson tells us. “Mum and I have shopped at John Lewis for years and I frequently pop in to get my bed-linen and bedding, but I never thought about buying clothes there before now.” Many a fashion lover has shopped in the school uniform department for clothes, including Alexa Chung. “I’ve bought pinafores, grey socks, blazers,” she confides. Net-a-Porter’s Nathalie Massenet shops there “all the time online for house stuff. But, to be honest, I’ve not, until now, considered

show yesterday. ‘“I was flattered. Plus they mentioned corsets, so I said ‘I’m in!’”

They also bagged model Jade Parfitt, who explained how she was drawn to the “real couture stuff” in their collection.

Even stitching Erin into her dress as she stepped onto the catwalk, there seemed no limit to Qasimi’s boldness – and that’s not counting the dancing violinists, who were enthusiastically playing pop versions of the brilliant Carmina Burana, with an Arabic twist, beneath the impressively high and airy dome of Central Hall Westminster.

Words by Jo Craven Words by Jo Craven

get the recognition it deserves in terms of its contribution to the economy, culture and its impact on society,” said Hilary Riva. “What about its impact on tourism? How many people are attracted to this country for our fashion stores and heritage?”

A BFC Fashion Fund, similar to the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund in the US, will also be launched, announced Tillman. “This is a rare example where you throw money at something and it sticks. We’re creating a fund on a similar scale to support new designers

and strengthen our worldwide presence.”

“Funding and commerce are key messages for the BFC,” says Hilary Riva. “We are launching the BFC website, relaunching the Princess Diana Memorial fund, and we would like to start providing fashion MBAs. Our aspiration would be to attract more business. This is where the meeting with Downing Street comes in.”

If there is one thing of which each person involved in the industry is certain, it is that London is recognised and hailed as a hotbed of new talent,

which deserves nurturing and adequate funding.

Lulu Kennedy, who spearheads Fashion East, a programme to promote new talent, admires the individuality of LFW: “There’s a lot of goodwill to young designers; they’re becoming more consolidated. It’s great the government are getting involved. I know the London Development Agency help fund the BFC – that financial clout will trickle through to support all the agent projects, like my own.”

Funding is key, and no-one knows this better than a young, up-and-coming designer. Henry

Holland still feels the need for more support. “We need to try and get the big girls to show on our catwalks. Fashion insiders look at the London fashion shots, don’t see the girls they’re used to seeing, and think the shows aren’t as big a deal as the other capitals. The girls don’t come because they’re not being paid enough.”

Indeed, it’s the young designers getting noticed that is crucial. The next 25 years should be about launching the stars of the future.

Caryn Franklin, fashion writer and broadcaster, says LFW is all about creativity. “We are world exporters of creativity. London

Ctd from page 1

“It was all about a psychedelic granny – the tangerine silks and lilac tweeds – I think it’s the most extreme collection that I’ve done. Everything is a bit off whack,” enthused Luella after her knockout show in the divine Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. Luella also added that she’d been listening to a bit of prog rock in the lead up to the collection – this designer is, after all, constantly inspired by music and British street culture; although the hallucinatory Mayfair grannies she sent out were a new kind of fashion tribe. There were great pieces here, that notched up all Luella’s classics: the prom dresses – one in floral with a big visible zip (it’s a detail trend), taping, criss-crossing and tiers was a standout, ditto the bubblegum pink one – skinny tailoring in jockey silks, mini-crini skirts and kooky heels with heart decorations. To celebrate 10 years of business, Luella is hosting a party with Teen Vogue in LA. Maybe the cake will have to wait for the opening of her first Moscow store.

Luella

BY HARRIET QUICK, VOGUE’S FASHION FEATURES DIRECTOR

Marios Schwab

CatwalkHighlights

With an aesthetic that constantly strikes as chic and a little deviant, Marios Schwab returned to transform supple suede and liquid silk-jersey into luxe, glam draped dresses and lounge suits with daring backless and cut-out effects. “I love the relaxed cool of suede, it has a young glamour that I think is so desirable,” said Schwab. His starting point was the Grecian khiton – a garment draped and fastened with rope or chain – and its elements came into play in the shape of fastenings and crystal ropes caging silk-jersey dresses (one all-in-one was slashed from cuffed ankle to thigh). The colours of cocoa and purple and silver foil were sophisticated and fresh, and his prints, by Thomas Gallant, on skinny, thin jersey dresses were a great foil to the sexy slash cuts.Jaeger London has swiftly placed

itself as a favourite in the contemporary working-woman’s wardrobe, and hands up who doesn’t work? The taste, quality and sweet retro tinge give the line an ageless appeal. There were top-stitched coral and mint short-sleeved kimono jackets over high-waisted crop trousers; maxi dresses with bloom prints that went from giant to bud, from tiered hem to bodice; soft silk handkerchief-sleeved summer tunics; and lemon and grey swallow print chiffon all-in-ones that could sweep into terrace parties. “This is not about a head-to-toe prescriptive way of dressing,” said Karen Boyd, the designer of her credit-crunch-savvy line.

Jaeger

Temperley London

LONDON, TUESDay 16Th SEpTEmbEr 2008www.londonfashionweek.co.uk • 03LONDON, TUESDay 16Th SEpTEmbEr 2008 www.londonfashionweek.co.uk02 •

should stop beating itself up about being smaller and revel in its ability to launch and nurture new talent and then send it out there. Gareth Pugh shows in Paris this season for the first time, but he couldn’t have made a name anywhere else than London. We can make the stars of tomorrow.”

The BFC concurs. “We’re not just saying it’s a birthday, we’re saying let’s create a legacy,” said Hilary Riva. “Let’s create a proper set of strata for our businesses, then let’s put the foundations in place that will put business support behind some of our best young talent.” Once the meeting

had adjourned last night, the famous black door of Number 10 was opened for the British fashion industry’s movers and shakers to celebrate 25 years of British Fashion and hear what the government had to say. “On behalf of Gordon,” said the PM’s wife and host for the event Sarah Brown, “the government will work with you [the industry] to develop the creative talent. We want to work to make the UK the creative hub for the next 25 years and beyond.”

Nicola Copping is fashion writer for The Times

The return of Alice Temperley to the London catwalk came with the polish and slickness that often follows a stint on the other side of the pond. The venue of Phillips de Pury’s Victoria HQ also upped the chic ambience. “Don’t sit on the art, please,” as I perched on a rusted-effect shelf in the foyer, that looked to me as if it were masquerading as a bench, I’m sure. The bohemian belle got down to business with her favourite palazzo pants, topped with Thirties style piped blouses, bolero jackets and cloches. Funky stuff came with purple leopard-print all-in-ones with harem trousers, and rocked with studded leather T-back waistcoats over ruffled and tiered white gypsy dresses. The party lover and her husband Lars later celebrated at Bungalow 8.

to start pumping up their glamour factor to cheer themselves up in the face of a gloomy economy. At almost every show this week the makeup has been pimped up, from the cherry-red lips at Luella to electric-blue eyeliner at Peter Jensen and sculpted cheeks at Graeme Black. The only deviation today was at Julien Macdonald, where James Kaliardos kept it simple by enhancing the models’ features with highlighter. “It’s really just like doing portraiture, I’m perfecting the girls features by using illuminator,” he says.

www.weleda.co.uk Pho

Design Nick Steel and Sofia Leverbeck

at HarrimanSteel and George Wu

Chief-sub/copy editor Vicky Willan

Printed on recycled paper

by Guardian Print Centre , Rick Roberts

Way, stratford, London, e15 2GN

Published for the BFC by RUBBISH

020 8965 7469

With thanks to Ocado

for feeding The LFW

Daily team

THe LFW DAILy CReDITSCreated by Jenny and the Cat Club

editor Jenny Dyson

Consultant editor Cat Callender

Advertising/managing editor

Jana Dowling

Distributions manager Briony Hoare

editorial assistant Jessica Hannan

Production assistant Aislinn Dowling

Reporters Jo Craven, Becky Davies,

Lauren Cochrane, Faran Krentcil,

Antonia Whyatt, Georgia Dehn

Photography Alistair Guy and Anna Bauer

Today’s schedule has been created

exclusively by illustrator ROB RYAN

For further information and important facts, please refer to the key below:

* BFC New Gen sponsored by TopShop

** BFC Fashion Forward supported by LDA

The BFC Tent: Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7

TS: TOPSHOP venue, P3 University of Westminster, Luxborough St, NW1

On Schedule shows: www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

Off Schedule shows: www.blow.co.uk

On/Off: Royal Academy of Arts, 6 Burlington Gardens, W1: www.thedoll.org/onoff

Vauxhall Fashion Scout: Cnr Cromwell Road and Queen’s Gate, SW7

Schedule correct at time of printing - for updates contact the Timeline - 020 7942 3900

DSBDame Shirley Bassey

working the front row at Jaeger London and Julien Macdonald

Polka-dot veils at Luella, Paul Costelloe

and PPQ so far

Talking Heads the catwalk soundtrack at

John Rocha

The Lonesome Cowboy

who can’t find a seat

Goodie-bag thieving

from under the front-row seats

The LFW Daily officesharing one power socket

isn’t fun

Live Barometer

Top of the Shops

stunning cobalt-blue smoky eyes at the Temperley show. “There’s a real emphasis on looking like you’ve made an effort. Cheeks are sculpted, eyes are enhanced – at Marios Schwab I made the eye very feline by contouring the socket with a grey-brown to elongate it. Everyone has a feature they can maximise, whether it’s their brows, cheekbones or eyes,” she says. And she’s now bringing her expertise to Boots with Myface, her new makeup brand that launches in October and neatly divides into skin tones; fair, medium, and medium to dark, so it should be easy for mere mortals

Beauty Spot Brought to you by Weleda Skin FoodThe best kept beauty secret since 1926.

I’m wearing no-slip tights today. They’re meant to stop me skidding around in my Miu Miu heels, but they’re totally not working. Case in point: crashing into Mischa Barton at Alice Temperley. “Omigod, I’m so sorry,” I screeched, as the fringe on her Temperley dress shook from the smack. “What are you doing here? Vacation from New York?” she asks. It’s strange when celebrities talk to you as if they know you, but jetlag makes me cackle back, “What are you doing here?” She excuses herself to go kiss Peaches Geldof (and/or ignore the question). Alice sends a parade of poufs down the runway and I point to one and say “That’s my wedding dress” to nobody in particular. Outside I bump into a photographer I used to think I’d marry, and I stick my tongue out at him and hop into a towncar. Then I wonder if I should buy that Temperley pouf just in case the marriage thing pans out. Then I realise these tights are freaking useless. Whatever; on to Paul Smith!

“Everyone wants to feel happy right now, and makeup is the way to do it,” says Charlotte Tilbury, the ultra-hip makeup artist who keeps the famous looking famous. “If you look at any economic downturn,

there’s always a major beauty and fashion moment following it: the Seventies had punk, the Eighties had grunge and now there’s a return to makeup.” Charlotte tells me this while perfecting the

American at Large

Words by Antonia Whyatt

it for fashion.”So the big reach out to

persuade fashion lovers that John Lewis is where they should be shopping may yet have some way to go. As the woman responsible for putting fashion on TV, Caryn Franklin says: “I don’t shop there for fashion currently, but at least they’ve realised they have to compete on the same level as their competitors. Until now it hasn’t looked as though they really push their product.”

However, never knowingly undersold and all under one roof somehow feels rather comforting. Check it out, ladies.

Qasimi Quick

Would you buy fashion from the same place you buy your fridge? As John Lewis launched it’s £1.5million ad campaign on Monday – Oldham’s first supermodel, Karen Elson (aka Mrs Jack White), shot by fashion photographer Phil Poynter to coincide with London Fashion Week – it seemed obvious to

Just what does it take to get people’s attention when you’re “Off Schedule”? Well, if you’re young label Qasimi, it’s persistence that wins the day.

“They called my agency for years,” explains the lissom and lithe Erin O’Connor, who was eventually persuaded to model the finale dress for their catwalk

explore the question. “When I told my family, they were impressed I was doing a campaign for John Lewis,” Elson tells us. “Mum and I have shopped at John Lewis for years and I frequently pop in to get my bed-linen and bedding, but I never thought about buying clothes there before now.” Many a fashion lover has shopped in the school uniform department for clothes, including Alexa Chung. “I’ve bought pinafores, grey socks, blazers,” she confides. Net-a-Porter’s Nathalie Massenet shops there “all the time online for house stuff. But, to be honest, I’ve not, until now, considered

show yesterday. ‘“I was flattered. Plus they mentioned corsets, so I said ‘I’m in!’”

They also bagged model Jade Parfitt, who explained how she was drawn to the “real couture stuff” in their collection.

Even stitching Erin into her dress as she stepped onto the catwalk, there seemed no limit to Qasimi’s boldness – and that’s not counting the dancing violinists, who were enthusiastically playing pop versions of the brilliant Carmina Burana, with an Arabic twist, beneath the impressively high and airy dome of Central Hall Westminster.

Words by Jo Craven Words by Jo Craven

get the recognition it deserves in terms of its contribution to the economy, culture and its impact on society,” said Hilary Riva. “What about its impact on tourism? How many people are attracted to this country for our fashion stores and heritage?”

A BFC Fashion Fund, similar to the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund in the US, will also be launched, announced Tillman. “This is a rare example where you throw money at something and it sticks. We’re creating a fund on a similar scale to support new designers

and strengthen our worldwide presence.”

“Funding and commerce are key messages for the BFC,” says Hilary Riva. “We are launching the BFC website, relaunching the Princess Diana Memorial fund, and we would like to start providing fashion MBAs. Our aspiration would be to attract more business. This is where the meeting with Downing Street comes in.”

If there is one thing of which each person involved in the industry is certain, it is that London is recognised and hailed as a hotbed of new talent,

which deserves nurturing and adequate funding.

Lulu Kennedy, who spearheads Fashion East, a programme to promote new talent, admires the individuality of LFW: “There’s a lot of goodwill to young designers; they’re becoming more consolidated. It’s great the government are getting involved. I know the London Development Agency help fund the BFC – that financial clout will trickle through to support all the agent projects, like my own.”

Funding is key, and no-one knows this better than a young, up-and-coming designer. Henry

Holland still feels the need for more support. “We need to try and get the big girls to show on our catwalks. Fashion insiders look at the London fashion shots, don’t see the girls they’re used to seeing, and think the shows aren’t as big a deal as the other capitals. The girls don’t come because they’re not being paid enough.”

Indeed, it’s the young designers getting noticed that is crucial. The next 25 years should be about launching the stars of the future.

Caryn Franklin, fashion writer and broadcaster, says LFW is all about creativity. “We are world exporters of creativity. London

Ctd from page 1

“It was all about a psychedelic granny – the tangerine silks and lilac tweeds – I think it’s the most extreme collection that I’ve done. Everything is a bit off whack,” enthused Luella after her knockout show in the divine Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. Luella also added that she’d been listening to a bit of prog rock in the lead up to the collection – this designer is, after all, constantly inspired by music and British street culture; although the hallucinatory Mayfair grannies she sent out were a new kind of fashion tribe. There were great pieces here, that notched up all Luella’s classics: the prom dresses – one in floral with a big visible zip (it’s a detail trend), taping, criss-crossing and tiers was a standout, ditto the bubblegum pink one – skinny tailoring in jockey silks, mini-crini skirts and kooky heels with heart decorations. To celebrate 10 years of business, Luella is hosting a party with Teen Vogue in LA. Maybe the cake will have to wait for the opening of her first Moscow store.

Luella

BY HARRIET QUICK, VOGUE’S FASHION FEATURES DIRECTOR

Marios Schwab

CatwalkHighlights

With an aesthetic that constantly strikes as chic and a little deviant, Marios Schwab returned to transform supple suede and liquid silk-jersey into luxe, glam draped dresses and lounge suits with daring backless and cut-out effects. “I love the relaxed cool of suede, it has a young glamour that I think is so desirable,” said Schwab. His starting point was the Grecian khiton – a garment draped and fastened with rope or chain – and its elements came into play in the shape of fastenings and crystal ropes caging silk-jersey dresses (one all-in-one was slashed from cuffed ankle to thigh). The colours of cocoa and purple and silver foil were sophisticated and fresh, and his prints, by Thomas Gallant, on skinny, thin jersey dresses were a great foil to the sexy slash cuts.Jaeger London has swiftly placed

itself as a favourite in the contemporary working-woman’s wardrobe, and hands up who doesn’t work? The taste, quality and sweet retro tinge give the line an ageless appeal. There were top-stitched coral and mint short-sleeved kimono jackets over high-waisted crop trousers; maxi dresses with bloom prints that went from giant to bud, from tiered hem to bodice; soft silk handkerchief-sleeved summer tunics; and lemon and grey swallow print chiffon all-in-ones that could sweep into terrace parties. “This is not about a head-to-toe prescriptive way of dressing,” said Karen Boyd, the designer of her credit-crunch-savvy line.

Jaeger

Temperley London

LONDON, TUESDay 16Th SEpTEmbEr 2008www.londonfashionweek.co.uk • 03LONDON, TUESDay 16Th SEpTEmbEr 2008 www.londonfashionweek.co.uk02 •

should stop beating itself up about being smaller and revel in its ability to launch and nurture new talent and then send it out there. Gareth Pugh shows in Paris this season for the first time, but he couldn’t have made a name anywhere else than London. We can make the stars of tomorrow.”

The BFC concurs. “We’re not just saying it’s a birthday, we’re saying let’s create a legacy,” said Hilary Riva. “Let’s create a proper set of strata for our businesses, then let’s put the foundations in place that will put business support behind some of our best young talent.” Once the meeting

had adjourned last night, the famous black door of Number 10 was opened for the British fashion industry’s movers and shakers to celebrate 25 years of British Fashion and hear what the government had to say. “On behalf of Gordon,” said the PM’s wife and host for the event Sarah Brown, “the government will work with you [the industry] to develop the creative talent. We want to work to make the UK the creative hub for the next 25 years and beyond.”

Nicola Copping is fashion writer for The Times

The return of Alice Temperley to the London catwalk came with the polish and slickness that often follows a stint on the other side of the pond. The venue of Phillips de Pury’s Victoria HQ also upped the chic ambience. “Don’t sit on the art, please,” as I perched on a rusted-effect shelf in the foyer, that looked to me as if it were masquerading as a bench, I’m sure. The bohemian belle got down to business with her favourite palazzo pants, topped with Thirties style piped blouses, bolero jackets and cloches. Funky stuff came with purple leopard-print all-in-ones with harem trousers, and rocked with studded leather T-back waistcoats over ruffled and tiered white gypsy dresses. The party lover and her husband Lars later celebrated at Bungalow 8.

to start pumping up their glamour factor to cheer themselves up in the face of a gloomy economy. At almost every show this week the makeup has been pimped up, from the cherry-red lips at Luella to electric-blue eyeliner at Peter Jensen and sculpted cheeks at Graeme Black. The only deviation today was at Julien Macdonald, where James Kaliardos kept it simple by enhancing the models’ features with highlighter. “It’s really just like doing portraiture, I’m perfecting the girls features by using illuminator,” he says.

www.weleda.co.uk Pho

Design Nick Steel and Sofia Leverbeck

at HarrimanSteel and George Wu

Chief-sub/copy editor Vicky Willan

Printed on recycled paper

by Guardian Print Centre , Rick Roberts

Way, stratford, London, e15 2GN

Published for the BFC by RUBBISH

020 8965 7469

With thanks to Ocado

for feeding The LFW

Daily team

THe LFW DAILy CReDITSCreated by Jenny and the Cat Club

editor Jenny Dyson

Consultant editor Cat Callender

Advertising/managing editor

Jana Dowling

Distributions manager Briony Hoare

editorial assistant Jessica Hannan

Production assistant Aislinn Dowling

Reporters Jo Craven, Becky Davies,

Lauren Cochrane, Faran Krentcil,

Antonia Whyatt, Georgia Dehn

Photography Alistair Guy and Anna Bauer

Today’s schedule has been created

exclusively by illustrator ROB RYAN

For further information and important facts, please refer to the key below:

* BFC New Gen sponsored by TopShop

** BFC Fashion Forward supported by LDA

The BFC Tent: Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7

TS: TOPSHOP venue, P3 University of Westminster, Luxborough St, NW1

On Schedule shows: www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

Off Schedule shows: www.blow.co.uk

On/Off: Royal Academy of Arts, 6 Burlington Gardens, W1: www.thedoll.org/onoff

Vauxhall Fashion Scout: Cnr Cromwell Road and Queen’s Gate, SW7

Schedule correct at time of printing - for updates contact the Timeline - 020 7942 3900

DSBDame Shirley Bassey

working the front row at Jaeger London and Julien Macdonald

Polka-dot veils at Luella, Paul Costelloe

and PPQ so far

Talking Heads the catwalk soundtrack at

John Rocha

The Lonesome Cowboy

who can’t find a seat

Goodie-bag thieving

from under the front-row seats

The LFW Daily officesharing one power socket

isn’t fun

Live Barometer

Battle of the decades

Thanks to a knockout show and big backing, Julien Macdonald has lots to smile about

Words by Jo Craven

New Young Pony ClubWords by Antonia Whyatt

Three seasons ago, in her capacity as unofficial big sister to the catwalk models at LFW, Erin O’Connor, with the BFC, created the Model Sanctuary. It is a place for models to rest, receive support and nutritional advice between the hectic show marathon. This season it is in a swanky W1 hotel suite. “It’s a treat to come here,”

“I don’t have to worry about the gas bill anymore,” said an excited Julien Macdonald after his slick, safari-inspired show yesterday. And relax he should, with major investment from Jamey Hargreaves – son of Matalan’s billionaire boss, John – touted as a majority per cent. “Julien and I have been friends socially for quite some time,” said Jamey after Julien’s show. “I knew he was

Report by Becky Davies

Model Hideaway

He’s Lovin’ It

says model Rosa, 19, who’s had a facial after the Louise Amstrup show. “I’ve just had a massage,” says Isabelle, also 19. “I’m booking in with the life coach for later. Fashion week can be really hectic and leave you feeling quite detached. The sanctuary is very central, so I can come between castings and fittings, too.” Trays of afternoon cake, piles of chopped fruit and bowls of lentil salad cover a table. Plenty of eating goes on. Four friends chat on the giant sofas while Chris (Erin’s cousin and Boy Friday), mother of two Glyn Reid and student/fashion model Mike dispense tea,

What do you think when you hear the words “gorgeous-granny-meets-equestrian”? Sounds like the latest Jackie Collins novel, but it’s actually the inspiration behind Guido’s high, braided ponytails at Luella. This season the pony-tail has undergone a revolution, from it’s default bad hair day look to ultra-done and polished. At Marios Schwab, hair was combed straight back, so that it looked androgynous and slightly Twenties from the front, and then twisted to make a rope-like shape at the back. At Temperley, hair was slicked into a deep side-part with wet-look gel, before being put into a ponytail that was then twisted and tucked under so the models looked like dressage horses. Of course, it helps to have soaring cheekbones and flawless skin for skull-tight hair. So, if slicked isn’t quite suitable for your bone structure, take a leaf out of Topshop’s book, where the ponytail was more exuberant and worn backcombed and high on the head. Cue filly gags.

LONDON, TUESDay 16Th SEpTEmbEr 2008 LONDON, TUESDay 16Th SEpTEmbEr 2008www.londonfashionweek.co.uk www.londonfashionweek.co.uk04 • • 05

goodie bags and calm. “We had 20 people in here a minute ago,” says Mike. There’s no pressure to do anything, it’s meant to be a refuge. “When you’re 16 you’d never think of seeing a nutritionist or a life coach, so I think it’s good that they’re all free here,” adds Isabelle. And Chris has also designed a goodie bag containing rose-scented Weleda products and a box of daily vitamins, and all the information any model could need to stay calm and collected – and not a scented candle in sight.

For booking information, models can contact 07518 963740.

looking for an investor. We are now working on refreshing the brand, and that has started with the grown-show location.”

In line with this change, Julien is set to leave his beloved Golborne Road studio for Mayfair – once the acquired Grade I Listed-building has undergone a refurb.

Other planned changes include the opening of several stores and creating a logo appropriate for a

planned accessories line. Although yesterday’s show was

scaled down in terms of length and venue size, it was injected with a fat dose of grandeur courtesy of its location, a Georgian palace originally built for the Duke of York and Albany in 1825. “I was delighted with the show and venue,” said Jamey, “Julien’s in charge of the creative side, which he does really well, and I look after the business side, which is my area.”

And it is not just his investor who is a fan. The front row was also raving: “Sophisticated, beautiful. What women want,” declared Bianca Jagger with a flourish. Shirley Bassey was full of hugs and kisses for Julien backstage. Natalia V waved at old friends, Mariacarla and Jessica Stam, who appeared on the runway. “I was influenced by my recent safari, but this girl spends her time sipping Martinis and looking fabulous; while waiting to pick up a man,” said Julien of his show, that even had his animal-loving sceptics applauding.

Marits Roberts, 22, dapper in velvet bow tie, is the newest addition to the BFC marketing department. As a straight boy among girls, the fashion preening is already rubbing off. Despite working a nutty-professor-meets-smoothy-chops look, Marits says he keeps grooming to a minimum. “When it comes to washing and all that, I’m more of a weekly splash guy.” Hmm... JH

These little piggies went to LFW! Guests at the Luella show – including Team Vogue, who are, apparently, obsessed with them – were treated to the sugary delight of the world’s only organic pink meringue pigs. The little porkers were created by Judges Bakery in Hastings, and perfectly matched the hues on Lu’s runway. Oink oink! LH

Marios Schwab’s antique, silver-coiled-rope dress dazzled yesterday. It took an entire week to painstakingly embroider the 25,000 Swarovski crystals, millions of tiny sequins and tonnes of glass beads onto the frock. The ingredients were sewn onto the rope, which was in turn stitched onto tulle, and the result is made to order (of course). GD

Canapé of the Day

Hot Dishof the Day

Frock of the Day

La Vendôme proved harder to get into than a McQueen corset on Sunday night, as Peaches Geldof and friends took over the tiny playhouse for PPQ’s infamous after party. While Alexa Chung and Henry Holland bopped about inside, a throng of thongs (and the girls who wore them) stood outside, pleading and screaming to get in. Even Vanity Fair and Vogue staffers were left out in the cold, thanks to a slew of photocopied invitations wielded by wannabe designers and models who’d made counterfeit passes in their St Martins’ classrooms. Ingenious? Sure, but what a pain in the ass. Once The Daily team was safely inside, we bumped up against the The Horrors, who were blasting Nancy Sinatra from the rotating silver DJ booth. But when they finally played a live set, at 1am, the outside clamour disappeared and the real panic at the disco began. Shrieking girls, face-to-face with their fantasy dark side, we loved being among you. And, now, back to please, thank you and Luella.

Panic at the Disco

lls (E

Je suis officially overwhelmed! Everywhere I placed my lacquered Louboutins yesterday I was blinded by the lights of a thousand paps. Resisting the autograph urge, and with dark glasses fixed to face, I slipped into the Temperley London show – a dazzling affair blooming with English roses ready to welcome Alice home. Laura Bailey chatted with Rosamund Pike, Jacquetta Wheeler with Emilia Fox. Honorary all-American girl Mischa Barton was a perfect front row blonde fit. On the opposite side of the runway the new generation of It Girls held the front row; Peaches worked it for the paps with London pal Alice Dellal, sporting a get up including a bondage dress bought from a sex shop in Amsterdam. Not very Knightsbridge Alice! The young rebel came to support her sister, Charlotte, whose shoe line Charlotte Olympia supplied footwear for the occasion. I hardly had time to rub the stardust out of my eyes before the display at Julien Macdonald in the très posh surroundings of Lancaster House. Natalia V held up the front row opposite a metal-clad Joely Richardson and striking Bianca Jagger. The Glamour! The Stars! And that was only Monday!

Words by Jessica Hannan

Miss OuiName drops her way through Monday.

Maude is styling Giles’s show and is right in the middle of sorting out her running order. Percy the intern and his many copycats are distracting her from the important job in hand. “The only way to keep you lot still is to sit on you,” she says. And does just that.

Maude & Dorisa Fashionable children’s tale for grown-ups. Created by David Longshaw, with Jenny Dyson. photography by George Bamford

There’s a tug-of-war going on at LFW, as the Eighties and Nineties jostle to secure the title of Most Referenced Fashion Decade of the week. Topshop Unique paid homage to the Eighties with Etam-coloured denim jumpsuits. Katie Grand, styling the collection for the first time, was adamant of her inspiration. “It was Eighties Danceteria,” she said post-show, name-checking the New York club where Madonna first got her

big break. John Rocha’s oversized suiting recalled David Byrne (whose band, Talking Heads, provided the soundtrack for the show), while Luella’s strapless dresses appeared to reference Eighties film Pretty In Pink. Marios Schwab, meanwhile, retained the Nineties references that he kick-started his career with, and Julien Macdonald paid homage to Helmut Newton’s photography from the early Nineties. Round one to the Nineties.

Fashion is a notoriously fickle beast. And the mass exodus East has now turned into a mass exodus West, leaving London’s East End streets looking a little empty this week.

The preferred habitat of the capital’s cool crowd, East Enders are making a cameo appearance uptown. Fashion East’s Lulu Kennedy is taking her Brick

The New East EndLane-based talent initiative to Quaglino’s on Wednesday. “It feels nice to come uptown,” says Kennedy.

Meanwhile, the audience at yesterday’s Marios Schwab show in W1 was peppered with many a Shoreditch face. From Hoxton-based i-D stylist Francesca Burns to Richard Mortimer, the man behind East London’s best parties

(and new fashion site, Ponystep). Other signs of the East End

vibe migrating West include the pearly kings and queens on the runway at Topshop Unique, a greasy spoon themed cafe to serve fashion’s finest at One Marylebone Road and Queenie – a hotly tipped Dutch model at Graeme Black, with a name straight out of East Enders.

Overheard“Oh my god, did you see they’ve even got a Tampax machine in the toilet!” Guest at Downing Street

“I just tried on my wedding dress. I’m having a second wedding, a big one, in London, and PPQ made it – it’s got bell sleeves and it’s long.”Peaches Geldof, front row

“I’m so sorry I missed it – it was the first show in the history of London Fashion Week that’s started on time.”Tara Palmer-Tomkinsonat Jasper Conran

“Alice? Yes, I haven’t got a ticket and they wont let me in, and I’m stuck here with the pushchair. Can someone sort it out?!”A frazzled Temperley sister outside the show

“It’s always good to come home to London. You see things here you never see anywhere else in the world. I used to love the adrenalin when I was doing the shows here – with Jasper, Rifat and John Galliano showing. I’d love it if we could get that back.”Naomi Campbell,at Jaeger LondonP