London Fashion Week AW17 - Day 2
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London - The second day of London Fashion Week began early Saturday morning with a catwalk show from Hussein Chalayan, who returned to show his collection in London for the first time in 16 years at Sadler's Wells. The British designer presented a collection reflecting his structured, minimalist style, with loose tailoring that was inspired by Greek folk culture.
Later on in the morning Parisian-born designer, Faustine Steinmetz, hosted a static presentation of her 009 collection at the Topshop Show Space in the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern. The collection was described as a textile study of how denim has been worn in numerous different countries across the globe over the past 30 years and featured references from Bogota, Vancouver and Tel Aviv. Original reference pieces of denim were presented alongside of Steinmetz work, which included a denim puffa jacket, an acid washed denim track suit as well as a denim jumpsuit and pencil skirt. Alongside of some of the denim pieces shown was a description of how many hours it took to craft the denim garment, how much natural indigo it contained as well as how much cotton.
Faustine Steinmetz explores the history of denim at LFW
The second day also saw Canadian-born, British designer Edeline Lee host a moving presentation for her Autumn/Winter 2017 at the OxO Tower Wharf. Visitors were first welcomed to the space with a performance from pianist Belle Chen, which was layered over a track of daily news, before moving to the stairwell where the noise was further broken down with electronic percussion from Jaeva. In the presentation space, models moved around a set featuring deconstructed and reassembled photomontage elements from Hannah Hoch, who Lee was inspired by for her collection, and looping film footage playing on screens, creating a layered and multi sensory experience.
The collection included sharply tailored and refined pieces, which Lee is known for, in rich deep colours such as navy blue, brick red, saffron yellow and muted aqua. Some garments featured layers of shapes over each other, such as circles layers in top over breasts in reference to Hoch's work, a dadaist artist. "I was inspired by how Hoch's work concurrently addressed the issues of female identity and her historical context," said Lee on her collection. "In my work, I have been searching for a way that the Future Lady dresses. We are also experiencing an uncertain moment in history, We had a strong idea of how a 'lady' was supposed to look in the past…but how can she dress now with relevance, power, femininity, grace and dignity, without being nostalgic, unnatural or uncomfortable?"
Jonathan Anderson Autumn/Winter 2017 catwalk show for his eponymous label J.W Anderson received warming reviews on Saturday afternoon. Described as "uber-feminine" by the designer himself, the collection featured a range of sophisticated looks which highlighted the female form, such as asymmetrical patchworked dresses, dropped-waist skirts with ostrich feathers inserts at the bottom, paired with cropped leather jackets and draped jersey dresses. Most of the collection included neutral shades for AW17 such as beiges, greys, black, tan and whites with hints of red floral prints, shimmery blues and shiny purples. The outfits were finished off with high, squared-toed black boots, tan sneakers with white laced and bejewelled wedged sandals.
One the main highlights on Saturday was Simone Rocha's catwalk show. The Irish designer showed a collection which aimed to reflect the current uncertain political times, while offering women the armour and protection needed to continue battling on. The show opened with military inspired coats crafted from heavy fabrics such as velvet in darker, more somber colours, such a brown, khaki and black before moving into lighter colours and prints, such as primroses, and organza with embroidered flowers offering a more feminine take on traditional camouflage. The show notes featured the key words of inspiration for the collection: "armours, camouflage, foliage, peace, peace of mind, protection, feminine, famine, archivists, dirt and grit." The show also embraced diversity by featuring a range of models from all different ages.
Other highlights of day two of London Fashion Week also included a presentation from Globe-Trotter, which saw the British heritage luggage brand celebrated its 120th anniversary with a showcase of some of its most-celebrated luggage designs. In addition, the leather goods manufacturer also unveiled its AW17 collection with included leather accessories, handbags and clutches inspired by the brand's rich history. Henry Holland, the designer behind House of Holland presented a collection inspired by the cowboy-life style of the wild west for Autumn/Winter 2017, which included cowboy shirt dresses, flared trousers and playful cowboy boots adorned with flames and stars. Held at the Topshop Show Space in the Tate Modern, House of Holland also presented its "Woody Woodpecker" 15-piece capsule collection, which featured bright tops, jackets, jeans as well as dresses all inspired by the beloved cartoon character Saturday evening.
Photo credits: JW Anderson and Simone Rocha via Catwalkpictures
Faustine Steinmetz Photos: Courtesy of Faustine Steinmetz