Pop-up column by Jenny Dyson

For those of you who have been swanning around the Georgian landscape of the new, improved, LFW, I’d like to take this opportunity to raise a cheer for our team of intrepid reporters, subs, editors, runners, designers, bloggers, photographers, illustrators and distributors, who have spent the past week doing the following to bring you, the reader, the news from fashion’s front line:

Dashing from our pop-up office (2nd floor West Wing) to file copy in our press-gang common room (in the roof, scarily close to HM Revenue & Customs); scoffing our bodyweight in Wotsits (sushi for slackers); making microwave suppers; fetching more KitKats at 2am; working so late we bring slippers and pyjamas; checking endlessly complicated designer names (Kirchhoff/Katrantzou/Aggugini…); bombing around town in an electric car to ensure the papers are delivered to all the venues and stores; getting up so early we don’t see our kids…

While it has been exhausting, rest assured that the sheer volume of news created every day is nothing but testament to fashion’s most inspiring capital. Three cheers for London; three cheers for the fashion week family.

Column McDyson

ISSUE NO 4, LONDON FASHION WEEK SPRING/SUMMER 2010

The heat of the day

L O N D O N F A S H I O N W E E K

I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H PA N D O R A

REPORTING FROM FASHION’S FRONT LINE

Got a story? Email us:newsdesk@lfwdaily.com

VIEW THE DAILY ONLINE:www.lfwdaily.com

TUESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2009

Report by David Hayes

THE FASHION MOMENT Hot stuff: the front row at Christopher Kane yesterday included Anna Wintour, Natalia Vodianova and Donatella Versace. Photography by Anna Bauer

Report by Carrie Gorman

Timekeeping, people. With the international press in town, our lackadaisical attitude to show start times (x o’clock + 20 minutes = arrival) is being shown up. At 9am prompt yesterday at Meadham Kirchhoff, Anna Wintour made her first appearance at LFW, a vision in gold brocade, to a waiting audience of…. three security guards and a catwalk photographer (possibly still trying to find the exit after Richard Nicoll the night before. No

Time, please

cashmere sweaters, layers of pastel chiffons with floral sequin motifs, sheer pleats and razor-sharp tailoring – thanks to Savile Row tailor Patrick Grant – all sent out to a melancholy gospel soundtrack by Mahalia Jackson.

‘The Jonestown cult and Jehovah’s Witnesses’, ‘Lolita’, ‘covering up’, ‘teenage bras’, ‘a girl who doesn't know who to be’… the inspiration was hard to pin down from Christopher or sister Tammy. But who cares? The results spoke for themselves.

Boy, was it hot at Christopher Kane. Maybe it was the high wattage front- row line-up, including Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Sir Philip Green, Natalia Vodianova and Miss Joan Collins. Or maybe it was the stellar collection from London Fashion Week’s hottest star. But boy was it hot.

Still, even with all the heat and hubbub, Kane kept his cool with a show that mixed oversized gingham checks on dresses cut with corsetry seams and boning with slashed

Backstage, the temperature cranked up a further notch with the front row and teary-eyed buyers vying for Kane fashion hugs. “I liked it very much,” said Donatella in her husky Italian accent, holding on to her daughter, Allegra. Philip Green and daughter Chloe seemed pretty pleased, too. “Great,” said Sir Philip. “Really nice,” added Chloe. You could almost hear the cogs turning. Don’t be surprised to see a fair bit of gingham in Topshop next season.

FROM TOKYO TO LONDON OXFORD STREET / SHOP ONLINE: UNIQLO.COM

So it’s probably time to talk about some models. Thank God the past few days have thrown up some faces who were interesting for reasons other than their weight! As usual, a lot of the really exciting girls have skipped London to go straight to Milan, but casting director Angus Munro reckons the situation is getting better season on season.

“It’s sometimes a bit dribs and drabs, but London is building a head

of steam with the return of Burberry and Matthew Williamson. And with an ever-increasing core of talent emerging with Louise Goldin, Erdem and Peter Pilotto, I have noticed a distinct increase in interest of girls to come. This season has seen the arrival of hot new girls in the form of Patricia, Frida, Auguste and Mirte,” he claims. Munro cast some breakthrough new faces for Matthew Williamson, including Supreme’s Karolin Volter, alongside some major bigger girls, including Freja Beha Erichsen and Abbey Lee Kershaw [see right].

Meanwhile, at Topshop Unique, Russell Marsh put together a really directional casting made up of some of the most talked-about new girls

Girls! Girls! Girls!Report by Isaac Lock

of the moment, including Dree Hemingway (yeah, yeah, the great-granddaughter of ) and IMG’s incredible Frida (who had everyone doing backflips at Calvin Klein in New York), as well as some of the stars of last season, like Ford’s Alla, who opened YSL and McQueen.

Then today Christopher Kane, of course, had killer casting – thanks once again to Marsh. The show was opened by Next’s Valerija Erokhina and closed by beautiful, androgynous Ursula. Lara Stone popped up, too.

Coco Rocha and Chanel Iman are also in town – in Nicole Farhi, of all places, and Sessilee Lopez and Alana Zimmer have both been working their trotters off!

reception to call for help, you see). Anna waited. Refused coffee. And waited. And still no one. She tapped at her watch to the security guards. What could they do?

After New York, where shows began on time and Marc Jacobs wouldn’t even wait for Lady Gaga to arrive, Anna was expecting the same routine here. In one of few occasions, she was wrong. Because London designers are running late, not because of backstage dramas, but while waiting for the press.

Meadham Kirchhoff, Luella and Marios Schwab were all ready to show on time – as was Anna – but the press was still on London time. Lateness is not our greatness.

Photography by Anna Bauer

2 NEWS

ANKLE SOCKSCheap treats. Wear with sandals

AURAThanks for our LFW Daily disco

FRONT-ROW FABRIC BAGSOur favourite fashion freebies

BAROMETER BEING OFFERED A FREE RIDEOnly to be booted out by a non-sharer moments later

FASHION HIERARCHY Must it get in the way of

common decency?

CHURCH BELLS DINGING Elegantly Beau Brummel

by day; starving Dickensian orphan by night

LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Tuesday 22 September 2009

THE LFW DAILY CREDITS

Created and edited by JENNY DYSON & CAT CALLENDER

Managing Editor JANA DOWLING

Art Director & Designer BIANCA WENDT

Chief Sub Editor MARION JONES

Deputy Chief Sub Editor FIONA RUSSELL

Design Assistants THOMAS ELLIOTT &

KIT HUMPHREY Reporters

NAVAZ BATIWALLA, STEVIE BROWN, CARRIE GORMAN,

DAVID HAYES, ISAAC LOCK & JULIA ROBSON

Beauty Correspondents ANNA-MARIE SOLOWIJ

& ANTONIA WHYATTGuest Reporters

CARYN FRANKLIN, REBECCA LOWTHORPE & COLIN MCDOWELL Staff Photographers

ANNA BAUER, MARCUS DAWES,CHRISTOPHER JAMES

& TYRONE LEBON Advertising &

Distribution Manager GEORGE RYAN

Editorial Assistants CATHERINE BULLMAN,

FIONA CAMPBELL, IONA HUTLEY & TODD WATKINSWeb Co-ordinator KILA CARR-INCE IT Consultant

SCOTT KNAPPER BFC Marketing Manager

CLARA MERCERPrinted by

THE GUARDIAN PRINT CENTREPublished by

JENNY & THE CAT LTD In association with RUBBISH INK LTD

Thanks to THE BFC TEAM, SOMERSET HOUSE

AND ALL OUR PAPER GIRLS & BOYS. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

BAROM

ETER

BAROM

ETER

London: polishing up well Good times

If there’s one great positive to come out of day four at the London shows, it’s the look of polish: slickly produced, well-lit, beautifully cast shows – and, for the most part, clothes of a standard you could see in Paris and Milan.  

Of course, it helps that the front row now has an international flavour, boasting the likes of Anna, Tonne, Glenda, Michael et al.

But it’s not just them. Time was when there were only two choices of venue for a London runway

Report by Rebecca Lowthorpe

Exclusive, limited edition scarves and ties created by Hermès using Liberty’s iconic Tana Lawn fabricAvailable now online and at Liberty, Regent Street

www.liberty.co.uk

Hermès pops up at Liberty

final lfw as the daily.indd 1 02/09/2009 15:19

Match of the dayLFW and Matches have got together to create an on-site store with all sorts of one-off goodies to buy at Somerset House from the Matches 4 LFW booth.

To get in on the act, The LFW Daily is running a Willy Wonkatastic Golden Ticket competition every day during LFW for your chance to win a limited-edition designer gift: today it’s a super-duper Erdem bag and T-shirt!

Go to www.matchesfashion.com and enter code LFWDAILY.

A great new venue, a landmark anniversary and the attention of the world’s press and buyers focused squarely back on London Fashion Week: there are a lot of reasons to feel good about the past few days. But more than that, more than the fact that Spring/Summer is by default lighter, brighter and that little bit sunnier, there is a new shared feeling of optimism among designers that is hard to shake.

“I think it is really interesting when everything is really grim in the rest of the world that designers seem to be doing things to make you smile,” says The Sunday Times Style Fashion Director, Lucy Ewing.

And it’s true, many of the best shows have plugged in to the new upbeat mood, with sugared-almond hues (Louise Goldin, Christopher Kane and Nicole Farhi), frills and flounces (Charles Anastase, Richard Nicoll and Graeme Black) and a certain extra spring in their step.

“I got so bogged down with concepts last season that I wanted something pretty and uplifting,” said Danielle Scutt of her frothy, peachy-pink Spring/Summer 2010 collection. Richard Nicoll couldn’t agree more. “We all need frivolity in our lives,” said the designer, whose collection had been inspired by a fun summer in Spain.

Marios Schwab, who still had a very cerebral concept behind his fine, romantic vision, admitted that optimism played a big part. “Absolutely,” he said. “Women need an emotional attachment with the clothes they buy.” And what women want right now, it seems, is to connect with something uplifting.

Even when the clothes came coated in a hard, protective edge, often the choice of venue told a different story. “We have been showing in a church in Paris for the past few seasons,” said Antonio Berardi at his London show space, St Mark’s Church. “It just feels really uplifting and euphoric.”

For some designers, it has been about having a good time despite everything. “I am most inspired when I’m out dancing,” said Louise Gray. “The woman I design for is ultimately someone who is fun.”

So let’s hear it for positive thinking. With what we have seen so far this week, it can clearly go a long way.

Report by David Hayespresentation: the tents (not like now, they were badly lit dungeons of death in terms of generating any kind of atmosphere) or the begged, borrowed and, yes, even stolen venue: a freezing car park/gallery space/warehouse or whatever. The amazing Somerset House and Topshop venues prove that an edgy location is no longer necessary to impress.

Until recently, there were only a few international catwalk girls whose agents would deign to allow

MANY OF THE BEST SHOWS

HAVE PLUGGED IN TO THE NEW UPBEAT MOOD

them to stalk the London runways. And, I’m afraid, size 6 or 12, it doesn’t matter, the top-gear models can lift a collection from mediocre to magnifique like a super-fast 0 to 60 seconds. They are the Ferraris of the collections, and they make a difference.

And then comes the most vital ingredient: the clothes. Where once the London collections assumed a kind of studenty, stitched-together-at-the-last-minute mentality, the look today could not feel more elegant, grown-up or business-minded. Back

in the day, ‘commercial’ was a dirty word. The ‘concept’ was the thing, and it might have led to some brilliant showmanship, but very little in the way of a business bottom line. Hence our long history of crash-and-burn victims; London’s designer bankrupts are legend. Today’s big London names, however – the Chris Kanes and Marios Schwabs of this world – want to sell their creations. The romantic notion of a Galliano in his bedsit cooking baked beans on a camping stove is long gone.

LIVE CATWALK ILLUSTRATION OF FASHION FRINGE WINNERS JENA.THEO Drawn by Laura Laine

LIFE HAS ITS MOMENTS.. .

. . .MAKE THEM UNFORGETTABLE

4 BEAUTY

HOW TO NAIL THE LOOK

“It’s mad back there,” shouted nail artist Sophy Robson over the music at Topshop Unique. She’s come out of the backstage area for fresh air and to offload the morning’s angst. “Three of my team were meant to arrive from New York on Sunday, but they didn’t get into Heathrow till 11 this morning, so I didn’t sleep a wink!”

For someone who hasn’t slept, she looks pretty fresh, with a perfectly applied set of Chanel logo nail decals on multicoloured nail tips [see right]. “I found these in Hollywood Star Nails in Peckham and took them along to the Chanel boutique on Old Bond Street for Vogue’s Fashion’s Night Out last week.” (Robson did manicures for the guests using Chanel’s sell-out Jade polish decorated with the CC decals.) “It was hilarious,” she laughs, “the perfect mix of high and low-end.” She ticks off her roster for the week on those nails: “Purple/red, like dried blood, at Veryta; perfect nude at Nicole Farhi.” For Unique, Robson did neon pink. “Katie Grand, who’s styling the show, is walking around with this pink Marc Jacobs scarf, and the theme is ‘Slacker surfer chick who’s

been to London’, so the neon thing is perfect.” A red dot on each fingernail rocked for Westwood, lace for yesterday’s House of Holland [see left], something experimental for Marios Schwab, and The Flintstones is the theme at Jeremy Scott today.

Robson’s daughter Jade, age 11, is her nail model for ideas in progress. “She’s famous – all the girls know her because she comes backstage with me for weekend shows.” So, will Jade follow in Mum’s footsteps? “She wanted to be a model until she saw The September Issue; now she wants to be Anna Wintour.”

BROUGHT TO YOU BY FRONT ROW,THE NEW BACKSTAGE STYLING RANGE

FROM CHARLES WORTHINGTON

Beauty spot

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Report by Anna-Marie Solowij. Photography by Tyrone Lebon

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Charlie PorterDeputy Editor, Fantastic Man

There’s something so lovely about the pattern on this grey suit that makes it so easy to dress either up or down. Layering with greys is a really crisp look for autumn, and the roomy cut of the jacket and trousers makes it a relaxed silhouette, if you wanted to try something more informal.

The shape is hinting at a move away from the skinny-suit silhouette, which has dominated for the past decade, but the thin lapels keep the whole thing looking modern and 21st century.

The suit works beautifully as a whole, but it’s the sort of two-piece that can also be taken apart and used as separates. The trousers would be great on their own with a simple T-shirt and sweater combination, while the jacket is the sort that could work as a totally useful throw-on top layer throughout the whole season, and beyond.

Cardigan, £34.99

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LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Tuesday 22 September 2009

NEWS 5 www.lfwdaily.com

Catwalk highlightsReport by SARAH HARRIS, Fashion Features Writer, Vogue

Photography by Catwalking.com

ADVERTORIAL

Report by Julia Robson

Pandora was particularly excited to see what Erdem had cooked up

by way of inspiration for her upcoming

underwater wardrobe, Spring/Summer 2010.

Rings worn as bracelet from £45, bangles from

£90, available at Pandora

Sometimes a designer’s show invitation can provide clues as to what they send out on their catwalk. Marios Schwab’s invitation was a flipbook comprising three sections of various animals’ heads, bodies and tails. But what was printed there isn’t the point; it’s the mixing and matching. Similarly, his Spring/Summer 2010 formula consisted of three elements. On top, an ultra-cropped chain-mail vest or a sawn-off jacket with a Swarovski-crystal-encrusted collar, layered over a pannier-shaped sheer tunic or a stitched pleated sheath, and finally under that a midi-length skirt, as light as whipped cream, which was scooped and draped just so that it bounced with every step. In a pretty pastel palette of lilac, pale pink and silver (colours that many London designers are experimenting with this time around), it was poetic, and certainly much softer than Schwab’s usual roster of body-gripping dresses. “I was thinking about romance and eclecticism,” said the exhausted designer backstage after the show. “It’s for an eccentric English rose.”

Summer, Paul Smith-style, usually has us wishing for balmy garden parties, fun-packed trips to the British seaside and elegant picnics in the countryside – the kind that involve hampers brimming with cut cucumber sandwiches, smoked-salmon blinis and flutes of champagne. This season, there was plenty to wear to all of the above, with contrasting hot pepper and pink tailoring jauntily accessorised with bowler hats for a thoroughly British look. There was also plenty of Paul Smith signature striped-cotton shirting and some genius ways with a cardigan: incorporated into skirts as if they were tied around the waist or otherwise dangling from one shoulder. Next it was off to Africa with Masai dresses, whose décolletages were decorated with saffron-coloured tribal beads. A leopard print was also thrown into the exotic mix, running across hot pants and jersey dresses. Whether you are off to southern climes or staying closer to home, Paul Smith has your Spring/Summer 2010 wardrobe in the bag.

Ed Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff said they started off where they left last season; taking those puffy-backed biker jackets as a starting point to inform this season’s silhouette. But exactly where they took it – into a series of beautifully engineered draped silk dresses with eruptions of knife pleats, or frayed tiered skirts in sorbet hues of faded lemon, peach and pale pink (yes, Meadham Kirchhoff does pink) – few could have predicted just how beautiful it would be. There was enough familiarity: those now signature skinny trousers with sliced knees made a reappearance, but they were teamed with glittery T-shirts or, elsewhere, layered with navy tulle dresses adorned in tiny velvet bows. Everything was paired with Jordan Askill’s black patent brogues, tied with silk bows and festooned with spiky silver hardware. The duo said they wanted everything to look old. It did. Fabrics felt antique, and white shirting looked Victorian in parts, but their ideas and execution felt brand new. It was a triumph, and exactly where these two are headed makes riveting viewing.

MARIOS SCHWAB PAUL SMITHMEADHAM KIRCHHOFFIt must be a lot of fun in Josh Goot’s world. His splashy, vibrant colours, clever clashes, and eye-popping print work makes for a heady energy shot, potent enough to jolt the weariest of fashion editors into action. Goot’s collection of silky T-shirt dresses decorated in pop-art polka dots and geometric patterns certainly had that quality about it – all the more standoutish in the stark, concrete third floor of a Soho car park. Some pieces, namely, the sporty, wetsuit-style scuba dresses with contrast piping and exposed shoulders looked as if they had come straight out of the surf at Bondi beach (well, Goot is Australian, after all). But there was tailoring, too. Sci-fi monochrome narrow trousers were paired with androgynous single-breasted jackets or, in one instance, a silk shirt in toxic orange. But it’s the dresses and the few pairs of easy, silk-jersey pants that you’ll want to pack and take on holiday to warmer climes next summer.

Stands and deliverIt’s amazing what you can find off-catwalk, lurking in the labyrinths of Somerset House during London Fashion Week.

A bra by Yes Master, fashioned out of black feathers and inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe poem The Raven, for instance. Or the jewellery collection by Mawi [see below right], inspired by dynamite.

So will it be flats or heels next summer? Beatrix Ong has all the options covered. “Really high, really flat and ‘flared’ are doing equally well,” the designer told me, “along with the concealed platform.”

Shoe designer Sonya Parenti [see top right], who worked for Prada, Burberry and Dolce & Gabbana before launching her first range here this season, agrees. “You just can’t work the mid-heel with leggings, and they still seem to be strong for next summer.”

Her insider tip? Hand-studded, cage-effect flats with signature, shocking-pink soles.

Linda Farrow [see below] can usually be relied on to come up with the definitive sunglass shape. “It’s between Matthew Williamson’s supersized, graduated-lens Aviators, Jeremy Scott’s Flintstones-inspired TV screens, KTZ Blade

Runner-esque and Gaga frames,” Danielle Xerxes-Searle advises.

White has been a big trend on the runways. Off-runway, too. Erickson Beamon’s statement necklaces made from Lucite – a type of Perspex – encrusted with Swarovski crystals, have been strong sellers.

Over at 180 – the industrial space that feels as if Tokyo’s crucially trendy Harajuku shopping district has crash-landed on The Strand – the profusion of desirable items and fashion-forward trends is intoxicating.

My favourite has to be Alex Monroe’s stand, The Gardener, inspired by his allotment in Dulwich. Here, you can see tiny gold watering cans, pea pods and seed labels, displayed deftly on a bed of moss and accessorised by snails, that appear to have been made by/for elves.

Equally eye-catching was the Liberty of London stand, home to a display of shift dresses, scarves and even leather clutch bags, all printed with paintings by Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones. All very rock’n’roll.

Photography by Marcus Dawes

JOSH GOOT

6 NEWS

An American in London

People who shop for a living

Man, I feel like a (break from) women (swear)Report by Isaac Lock

Let’s hope you’re not running off to Milan tonight – it’s the second ever London menswear day tomorrow, and it’s going to be dead good. After the success of Fashion East MAN, it became apparent that London was turning out too much menswear talent to contain in a single show, so an entire day was born…

HERE ARE FIVE THINGS NOT TO MISS:The first men’s shows to receive support from the BFC’s NEWGEN initiative, sponsored by Topshop, in it’s 16-year history. Carolyn Massey and an excited James Long will be showing back to back, first thing.The Fashion East menswear installations featuring a baffling amount of new stuff, including a cool-dad-fun-son tailoring display from Casely-Hayford, an offering from hotly hyped Harrow boys Jaiden rVa James, shoes from Mr Hare (if you haven’t heard the buzz already, resign), and an odd but endearing collaboration with the Smiley face brand (the guys who own the trademark to acid smileys) from knitwear trio Sibling. PLUS a first-ever foray into menswear from Louise Gray. She says, “I’m just doing one look, inspired by the coal shed down my basement. It’s a kind of bin-man/coalman look. It involves bin bags. As you can imagine, it’s really chic.”Lou Dalton at the Portico Rooms. Her knitwear brand has come into its own, offering contemporary, well-made, wearable menswear, with properly done tailoring, thanks to the million years she spent toiling away for a traditional country brand, and a real forward-focused aesthetic, thanks to her being pretty clever and all. “It’s quite dramatic this time,” she claims. “Looks that are classic at the front, but with Napoleonic bustles and trains from the back. Not that you’ll be wearing them on the streets of London. We’ve done nice cottons,

Report by Anna-Marie Solowij

“Of course I’m here for the shows, but actually I have an equally busy cultural agenda, too,” explains make-up artist and Visionaire co-founder James Kaliardos.

Kaliardos is a regular at London Fashion Week, in his role as International Make-up Artist for L’Oréal Paris. Backstage at Matthew Williamson, touching up Freja’s 1990s minimalist make-up look [see right], Kaliardos appears rested, despite his arrival in London from New York late the night before.

“I used this new gadget – L’Oréal Paris’ Revitalift Pro-Contouring System – to massage my face, and it is amazing! Twenty minutes and you look like you’ve slept for a week,” he quips. “It’s as good as the relaxation exercises I do in my classes at The Actors Studio in New York.”

Kaliardos deserves the title of polymath: multi-talented (he prefers multi-interested), Kaliardos loves theatre, auditioning for acting roles to improve his stage skills (London’s Soho Theatre is a favourite venue). He is also an opera singer (he performed Verdi in Paris last July), while other passions include photography (Ryan McGinley’s Moonmilk show at Alison Jacques Gallery is on his

SUSANNE TIDE-FRATER, FASHION DIRECTOR, FASHIONAIRAs a retailer, I look for clothes that sell. But I also want to see some design flair that translates well for the customer, not just the editor! I loved Jena.Theo, the winners at Fashion Fringe, for their bold, draped jersey pieces that also have edge – it’s a good combination. BRIDGET COSGRAVE, FASHION ANDBUYING DIRECTOR, MATCHESI’ve liked all the strong tailoring and sculptured looks this season – the older models at Sykes (she designs our Freda range) were classy and polished, and made for statement dressing. Design duo LP.BG also did a good job with their pastel, contoured dresses. Mark Fast and Mary Katrantzou were looking good as designers on the fast track to success. Mark was exclusive with another retailer for his first season, but now we’re knocking on his door!ARMAND HADIDA, OWNER, L’ECLAIREURIn Paris, we like the more feminine looks, so Marios Schwab was a real highlight – the pleats and layered looks enhancing the body will work

list this visit), art and culture. “I was once in Qatar with Richard Avedon and we saw this wonderful sheikh – that whole cultural world fascinates me,” he says.

As a film and fashion buff, he saw The September Issue – twice – and despite knowing that world, he says that he learned much about the pressures of producing a glossy magazine like Vogue. “How Anna juggles the creative spirit and commercial obligations… I adore the unparalleled quality of the

LONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Tuesday 22 September 2009

By India Wright

It’s London Fashion Week and I want to be part of it. I’m three years into an architecture degree but am planning a swap to fashion. For part of my portfolio I’ve decided to stage my own show, wearing a dress I designed and made [see right].

I’ve always wanted to be a fashion designer, but somehow ended up studying architecture. Courrèges trained as an architect and I know that Zaha Hadid has designed clothes. Creating garments for living in – rather than spaces – is a dream I intend to make a reality.

I’ve constructed this figure-accentuating, structurally expressive dress of black laser-cut leather that I stitched together by hand. I’ve done my own hair and make-up and I’ll be modelling, too. I want to use LFW as a stage for my ‘show’. If I’m fortunate, I’ll get talent-spotted. I can also use the opportunity to seek advice from people in the business.

Talk about luck, a friend introduces me to Sarah Mower, the BFC’s Ambassador for Emerging Talent. “Go and see Louise Wilson and do the MA at Saint Martins. With that dress and a portfolio, you’ll get in.” Her words inspire me

What’s a girl to do to get noticed around here?

classic knits and chambray for that.”The MAN showcase’s phenomenal line-up. As well as Topman Design, there’s Katie Eary, whose recent work has been shot by Steven Klein and Mario Testino (the latter for the cover of British Vogue), Christopher Shannon, who has cornered the market for progressive sportswear collaborations, and JW Anderson, who has turned what started out as a little jewellery line into a fully

fledged menswear brand. He’s pulled in all the favours he can (namely from Repetto and Winsor & Newton) to come up with something that is well made, young luxury, with not a glue gun in sight!Super-tailor [see below] Patrick Grant’s animated presentation for his E Tautz brand. It’s on Savile Row. It’s posh but not guffy.

Photography by Marcus Dawes

immensely and my slow progress around the courtyard at Somerset House is punctuated with photo opportunities. Twelve people, including photographers from Stylesignal, Facehunter, London Lite and Visit Britain took my picture (they can’t all be wrong, can they?). I then get chatting with two of the Vogue fashion assistants, Michelle Duguid and Gillian Wilkins. They reckon that the transition from one three-dimensional discipline to another would be complementary.

I vow that the next time I show, it will be the real thing.

Photography by Tyrone Lebon

FOR PART OF MY PORTFOLIO, I’VE

DECIDED TO STAGE MY OWN

SHOW, WEARING A DRESS THAT

I DESIGNED AND MADE

fashion imagery – Grace’s work uplifts the entire industry,” he says.

Even eating can be a creative pastime for Kaliardos. “I went to this cute restaurant on Lexington Street [Andrew Edmunds] that was full of characters.” He frequents Claridge’s for tea, J Sheekey and The Wolseley. “And if only Tom’s Kitchen was open 24 hours, I’d come back to London more often,” he laughs.

Photography by Anna Bauer

for our customers looking for something fresh. Antonio Berardi’s sexy dresses with a focus on the bust will also be good for French women, who like to show off their looks!BRIX SMITH-START, OWNER, STARTThe little crop trench jacket is one of my favourite pieces this season. I loved Charles Anastase’s feminine ruching. I also adored Richard Nicoll’s escapist vacation mood – the easy, breezy sporty dresses looked great.YASMIN SEWELL, CREATIVE CONSULTANT, LIBERTYThe colour palette for spring is refreshing, frosted, softer and more ladylike. My three favourite boys nailed it, too: Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab and Richard Nicoll all adapted to the new trend for light, spring colours – and that’s the most important trend to come out of London by far. Oh, and I loved the new longer lengths (an antidote to shorts!). REBECCA OSOBADO, BUYER, SELFRIDGES “Pleating, layering of different fabrics and a Native American vibe are key trends we’re looking out for next season. And shorts! Sportswear

is also coming through – Topshop Unique looked good and we loved Marios Schwab’s triple layering.ERIN MULLANEY, BUYING DIRECTOR, BROWNSChristopher Kane is the most important designer in London right now, for sure. It’s always a pleasure to see what he does next because he always moves his ideas on. The pastel colour palette and the play on contours with gingham checks and soft beading was amazing. Meadham Kirchhoff was another favourite, they moved me to tears again. I loved it because they are so refreshing and innovative.ROBIN SCHULIE, BUYER,MARIA LUISAMeadham Kirchhoff was an emotional show for me. It’s great to see them really pushing the boundaries of what the modern girl should be wearing. It was a statement against all the sculptured dresses and platform heels everywhere. Their take on modern femininity is refreshing – and they worked up such an original idea this season that I’m sure other designers will follow them. I also loved Marios Schwab for pushing his signature look into a new arena: the longer lengths, pleating and layering will be new key looks.

Report by Alison Bishop

The influential buyers unveil the trends they spotted, the pieces they loved, and what we’ll soon be wearing

www.lfwdaily.com DESIGNER PROFILE 7

Erdem earns his stripes

rdem Moralioglu is sitting in his studio surrounded by his Spring/Summer 2010 collection – or rather the sketches, fabrics and inspirations that went into creating it. Bolts of his incredible, trippy floral-print textiles are propped against the walls, which are stuck with fluttering colour swatches (stone, periwinkle blue

and cyclamen pink) and bold, graphic sketches of his trademark bell-shaped tunics, elegant gowns and whimsical dresses.

There’s a wall of tear sheets, too. Portraits of Wallis Simpson (a frequently quoted muse) and Japanese geishas hang beside images of abstracted flowers, pictures from a taxidermy exhibition at the Musée de la Chasse in Paris and watery fashion illustrations. It all looks dreamy and exquisitely pretty – two words that sum up Erdem’s recent collections, too.

“I’m interested in creating clothes that you can understand and make you feel beautiful. That has always been my driving force,” explains the designer succinctly. Erdem’s knack for creating knockout dresses really hit home last year with his Autumn/Winter 2008 collection. It wholeheartedly gave in to what really makes him tick – luscious colour, sumptuous fabrics and extremely feminine shapes – and suggested that up to that point Erdem had been resisting his all-out feminine side. “I’m an aesthete,” he continues, by way of explanation. “I like things that are beautiful, and if that means something that is wearable as well, then so be it.”

It was, and is, an aesthetic that seems slightly out of sync with the rest of London. Then again, it’s probably what makes him stand out as one of the city’s most bankable talents. “He combines romance and prettiness but with a bit of an edge. And the prints are a major selling point – they get stronger each season,” says Averyl Oates, Buying Director at Harvey Nichols. “For us, he’s one of the most exciting designers in the city.”

Interview by CLARE COULSONPhotograph by TARA DARBY

As well as Harvey Nichols, Erdem has 35 stockists, including Barneys (Fashion Director Julie Gilhart is a big fan), Net-a-Porter, Dover Street Market and Matches. “As a former designer at Diane von Furstenberg, you would expect him to be a master at dresses, but he also has his own distinctive style,” says Bridget Cosgrave, Matches’ Buying Director. “Erdem has a unique, coquettish-type vibe with a pinch of Parisian chic, which is really refreshing. He makes some incredible contemporary pieces with a lovely, young fresh feeling.”

That youthful feeling has snared some great celebrity endorsement – Keira Knightley, Thandie Newton, Claudia Schiffer and Chloë Sevigny are all fans. “It’s always really flattering when you see someone wear your dresses, like Keira, who looks lovely and beautiful,” Erdem says. “It’s a great compliment to see your clothes live on past the lookbook or the show. They become quite real.”

Born and raised in Canada by his Turkish father and British mother, Erdem, an Anglophile who grew up on Merchant Ivory films, first came to London in 2000. After an internship at Vivienne Westwood, he won a place to do his Masters at the Royal College of Art. On graduating, in 2003, he moved to New York to work for Diane von Furstenberg, but after just one year realised that what he really wanted was to start his own label. Encouraged by his partner, he entered Fashion Fringe in 2005 and won. And then showed for the first time at London Fashion Week in 2006.

It’s a whirlwind trajectory – he is only 31 years old – but Erdem gives the impression of being utterly focused on his endgame. Although chatty and fun, he answers questions in a considered way. He has engineered deals with fabric mills and suppliers such as lace manufacturer Sophie Hallette (which supplies Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Louis Vuitton and Nina Ricci, among many others). And he has organised collaborations with Mackintosh, and this autumn Smythson, with whom he has created diaries featuring his floral prints.

Despite the buzz that now surrounds him (his Autumn/Winter 2009 collection was in Style.com’s top 10 international shows), this is still a small company. Erdem employs four full-time staff and two part-timers and runs the business himself. “I’m OK,” he says modestly with a shrug, when asked how good he is at managing the business. “But I work with a really good team and it’s impossible to go into this without understanding that you are running a business as well. If you are designing under your own name, it’s important to understand all aspects of it.” He certainly gives the impression of running a tight ship: there’s no crazy last-minute making of clothes the night before an Erdem show.

The starting point for the collection that he shows today was a trip to Japan this summer with one bag, no itinerary and a rail pass. “In Kyoto, I found pictures of these women called moga, which is Japanese for modern girls,” he explains. “In the 1920s, you had this group of young women that shrugged off Japanese society, stopped wearing kimonos and took on western clothing.”

The result was what Erdem describes as a ‘contained’ modern girl, who has cut up her kimono and made fitted dresses. “It’s not about being Japanese per se, but that mood of independence. It’s a funny thing talking about themes because I never feel our collections are thematic at all. It’s always a continuation and a narrative of ‘our girl’.”

A visit to a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn), originally opened by three sisters in 1957, may have also had a subconscious effect on this collection. Erdem describes the sisters, now in their seventies with tiny waspy waists and big hair, as “like the Japanese Supremes. They were so elegant and there was a pencily shape they had that was so cool.”

As usual, he has designed the prints for the collection himself. He spends anything between a few hours or five days to complete a print design, which he does by starting with an old piece of wallpaper or an image of a floral or antique etching and “scanning it, distorting it, printing it and drawing on it” on his Mac until he has the final pattern.

For Spring/Summer 2010 he has a fabulous, multicoloured blossomy print that’s halfway between a French and Japanese floral. And the same design has been printed in black and white, too – a major departure. “I banned black ages ago,” he laughs, “but for some reason, this time I was really interested in exploring black and white.”

Not that he’s about to abandon the vivid sense of colour that has become his calling card. Last season, Sarah Mower wrote that Erdem could “almost be called the Christian Lacroix of London: a super-decorator and colourist who commands print and embroideries in ways that surpass expectations.”

“I love colour,” he says emphatically. “I love finding different colours to put together in a weird way – it’s an aspect of design that I really enjoy.” When asked who he takes advice from, he pauses for the longest time before offering his twin sister Sara – a documentary film-maker at the BBC – as his toughest critic. “She will look at the clothes and sometimes not even take them off the hanger, and she’s a great person to bounce things off.” He’s also been given some sage advice by Anna Wintour, who has seen each collection since Autumn/Winter 2008, including his resort line, which he launched for the first time in New York this summer. “On one of the evening dresses, I had used this wool fusing and she suggested it would be too warm for the type of customer I would be selling it to, which is true. It was great advice.”

And there is no question of Erdem’s rising-star status going to his head. He lives in the same house that he’s lived in for the past five years and walks to his East End studio every day, including weekends. “I’m a workaholic, I love working. That’s going to sound so lame on the page. But I love my job. I just want to improve what I do to get better at what I do.”

Clare Coulson, Fashion Features Director, Harper’s Bazaar. Erdem’s show is on today at 11am at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, SW1

A self-confessed aesthete and lover of Merchant Ivory films, it’s no wonder that Erdem Moralioglu’s dreamy designs can induce a swoon. Add a head for business,

a panache for print and a youthful edge, then watch him rise through the fashion ranks

8 PARTIES

PartiesLONDON FASHION WEEK’S THE DAILY Tuesday 20 September 2009

GARY CARDIGAN

GEORGINA GOODWOMAN

MARK SPECS AND KATE LOLLIPOP

TODD AND LULU FASHION-EASTA

LILY GORGEOUSON

SAM BACKSTAGE, PAT MAKEUP AND KRISTEN MCSUPERMODEL

RICHARD AND JUDY

GILES AND KATIE GRAND

MADEMOISELLE VOGUE

JADE PERFECT

ANDREW LOVELY AND JUSTINE FAIRGROUND

AITOR FOOTBALL KIT AND ROB STUDIO

ZOOM AND ACE

MICHAEL POP

“HELLO, THE TIME AT THE BEEP WILL BE FASHION O’CLOCK”

SHOWstudio: Fashion Revolution

Giles accessory line launch

Photography by Tyrone Lebon

Photography by Christopher James

www.lfwdaily.com RUBBISH 9

DESIGNER DISHINTRODUCING TODD LYNN’S DESERT MIRAGE

Interview by MRS RUBBISH Photography by EMMA HARDY

FASHIONABLE CREATURE NO 8 BY ANDREW GROVES

DEE SIGNERHides the late nights behind Cutler and Gross sunspecs

You could say the first thing I ever toasted was my fingers. When I was three, I crawled up to the stove and stuck my hand on the gas burner. My mum said it looked like she had tortured me. It is my earliest memory of being in our family kitchen.

I grew up in a small town with a population of 9,000, in-between Toronto and Montreal. Rural Canada as a landscape is all very well, but let’s just say I wasn’t really surrounded by great food. What’s Canadian cuisine, anyway? It doesn’t really exist. If it’s interesting, it’s European, so I didn’t have a big food upbringing and consequently I don’t cook a lot myself.

When I was a kid, we used to eat out a lot and I always ordered a side of bacon. I was obsessed with thin, streaky, crispy rashers. It’s one of the tastes embedded in my mind. I do still love a bacon sandwich.

One particular place I remember going to regularly with my family was a cheap Italian restaurant called Gerbo’s. We nicknamed it Gerbils. The crazy thing is it is still going! I visited my home town a year ago while making a documentary, and I was completely shocked that it was still there, serving customers on paper plates.

Because my parents worked a lot, I don’t have big recollections of baking at home with my two brothers and three sisters. I do remember everyone trying to be creative with their cooking and sometimes the concoctions were a little odd. One of my relatives used to open a can of mushroom soup, tinned salmon and a tin of peas. All of these things I hate. She’d stir them up in a pan and pour it onto a piece of toast. It was absolutely disgusting.

I do really like the creative process of cooking. It’s not difficult to cook, but it is difficult to cook really well. To be amazing at it is a kind of art. I find I don’t improvise at all as I’m not very confident with

it. Because my whole day revolves around making endless decisions, when I do cook I just want to follow a recipe. It is so relaxing for me to let a cookbook tell me what to do.

I have tons of cookbooks. They are the best presents. Nowadays the recipes are so easy to follow, unlike those crazy, over-the-top, old-fashioned cookbooks where you have to make gelées and endless reductions. Jamie Oliver and Nigella make you feel like you can actually do it.

The couscous recipe I’ve cooked up is inspired by my latest show, as it’s based on a warrior desert queen from the North African Sahara. As with everything I do, it has a rock’n’roll twist, hence the Jack Daniel’s in it.

Left to my own devices, my biggest vice is ice cream. I used to work in an ice-cream store when I was a teenager. In fact, my first-ever job was at Baskin Robbins. We were only allowed to eat a small amount each shift, but my head was in the cabinet. I could eat barrels of the stuff. I could totally live off ice cream. And I eat it really fast. I have to confess I don’t even mind when the ice burns the inside of my throat. I just wait 30 seconds and eat more.

I’ve got an ice-cream maker at home. It’s good fun, but you actually don’t want to know ice cream is made from a container of double cream. You’d never sit and drink that, so it just makes you feel guilty.

In the run-up to my show I can’t sleep, so a couple of nights ago I got up at 4am, crept downstairs, broke some cooking chocolate into a bowl of vanilla ice cream and ate it while watching MTV. I do get up in the middle of the night and eat. It’s so bad for you, especially recently, when I’ve either been not sleeping or practically sleepwalking. I think it’s a comfort thing. When I’m very stressed during the day I don’t eat – I’ll have one apple all day. Yesterday all day I just had an apple. When I got home at midnight I had supper. It’s not good for you but now it’s all over until next season.

Todd Lynn has created a special apron to celebrate Philips’ stylish new Robust Collection of kitchen appliances, launching next month. See www.philips.com/kitchen. Todd Lynn’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection debuted yesterday at Somerset House, WC2. To find Todd’s Desert Mirage recipe go to WWW.DAILYRUBBISH.CO.UK

FASHIONABLE CREATURE NO 7 BY ANDREW GROVES

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CALLING ALL MODELS. VISIT THE MODEL SANCTUARY TO RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES,

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MODEL SANCTUARY

Report by Julia Robson

Fittingly, the first truly international-feel show of London Fashion Week was pulled off by its greatest export and most accomplished crowd-pleaser. Who else could have newly arrived big shots, like Anna Wintour, Natalie Massenet, Jefferson Hack and Kate Lanphear, perched on the edge of their gilt chairs in a converted dairy, waiting for the show to start like a pack of Pavlov’s hounds? No pressure. Happily, this is one blonde mother who knows exactly how to mix the right amount of oomph with the right amount of aaaahhh.

It takes a tomboy to understand that somewhere deep within every grown-up woman lurks a little girl, who misses dressing her dollies. Luella tapped into the Zeitgeist for childlike innocence and came up with something cheerful, polished and pretty, in that edgy London way she has made her own. Her collection felt like the sort of wardrobe young teenagers (like Tavi?) dream of. It also made hardened hacks, along with fervent Luella Utd supporters, including rock chicks Peaches Geldof, Alexa Chung and Fran Cutler, stare in

Report by Julia Robson

Just when you thought everything that could ever be done to a bag has, along comes Katie Hillier and reinvents the shopper, clutch and attaché case, all in the same day. The only thing more incredible than her bubble-wrap black patent shopper at Luella was the frilly lady-on-the-loo-roll clutch. Or, perhaps the Uptown bag with its tortoiseshell-link strap and contrast trim? Katie’s ‘pompom sweeties’, made from Fimo clay, swung back and forth and instantly kick-started a trend. Hillier also created the patent bow clips in the models’ bird’s-nest updos. The 35-year-old accessories designer later did the bags for Henry Holland. “The starting point was a house, as in House of Holland – Henry wanted more of a proper handbag, so I constructed a strap, which became a giant H on the front with stitching in a contrast colour.” Her lace-covered clutch and safety-pin earrings were other highlights. And look out for Hillier’s snake, suede and nappa bags today, on the Jonathan Saunders catwalk.

Photography by Marcus Dawes

Report by Anna-Marie Solowij

He wears the best suits and frequently occupies the choicest seats at LFW, adjacent to Sarah Mower, Natalie Massenet, Hilary Riva – some of the most powerful people in the industry. Meet Hugh Devlin, fashion’s family lawyer. He’s the man who makes the introductions to broker the deal that secures the finance that puts the show on the catwalk. Devlin’s role as fashion’s power broker has evolved since the mid-1990s, when he acted for Helen Storey. He met a group of her contemporaries and has, over the years, acted for Valentino, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan and Matthew Williamson, Ali Hewson and Bono [he brokered the deal between Edun and LVMH]. More recent clients include Christopher Kane, Kinder Aggugini, Henry Holland and Louise Goldin.

A self-declared matchmaker, Devlin observes the potential connections between people that might lead to a creative spark. With a background in investment banking and as a partner in the law firm Withers LLP, he is perfectly placed to execute introductions and then, more importantly, commercialise those alliances.

“Creative people typically don’t have the vocabulary to express the value of what they do in a business way, which is where I can help,” he says. There are exceptions, however. “Jonathan Saunders gets it – he even does his own cash flow. And Luella’s journalistic background means she understands the importance of the ‘story’.”

For others, Devlin can help point them in the right direction to get their infrastructure in place, whether that be finance, an accountant or a manufacturer. “Yes, designers get offers of investment and that’s great, but if they don’t know where to get a collection made that’s a problem.” Unlike New York, Milan and Paris, there is little manufacturing here. “And we don’t have access to people with experience, either,” he laments. “One of my clients has been looking for a chef de produit for over a year. These people are hard to find.”

So, how does Devlin get around the fact that (by his own admission) creative people are scared of lawyers? “I can talk hemlines with the best of them,” he replies. He has clearly done his research and it is this absolute attention to the interests and business of his clientele that means Devlin can talk their language and be their translator in business.

Also, the fashion industry is a fairly small place – word gets out and people get to know one another relatively quickly. “If you’re nice and respectful and on the same wavelength, it’s easy to do business,” he explains. But Devlin can be tough, too. “Some people groan when they see me coming,” he laughs. “You see, I know all about their previous deals because I did them!”

Bartley’s jam

The bag lady

Fashion’s power broker

wonderment as their future paraded before them on models wearing Minnie Mouse bows in their hair. Key pieces, including a structured dress with a sticky-out skirt (created with detachable hip pads, to be sold separately), worn with pretty shoes (by Michael Lewis) and frilly bags with swinging pompoms (Katie Hillier) were equally charming, directional and preposterously commercial.

“We used formed seams and tulle hip pads to get across the feeling of prettiness emanating from hips and shoulders,” explained the laid-back designer backstage.

“I loved it, especially the spotty trousers,” said Alexa Chung, who took photos throughout the show, “to remind me when I’m shopping”.

“I want the black dress with the cut-out heart,” gushed Mary McCartney backstage. “It’s so good to see real-life clothes that are fun, not boring. It made me want to rush out and shop!” Kerching! Surely Anna Wintour would approve?

Photography by Marcus Dawes

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