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London Fashion Week A/W 2011-12
by Marisol 
With the fashion pack already in Italy reporting on Milan Fashion Week, I thought I’d take a final look at my London Fashion Week folder and work out the outfits by our home-grown talent that will make it to my wishlist for next winter.
I have to say the British Fashion Council, Samantha Cameron and UK Trade & Industry have done remarkably well promoting London Fashion Week this time around. It wasn’t long ago that London was considered the ‘poor relative’ in the fashion week family – its schedule unfairly shortened to fit in between New York and Milan -, so it’s been great to witness the return to the London catwalk of British names, such as Temperley (previously showing in New York), and an unprecedented number of international buyers, press, celebrities and fashionistas who flocked to London creating a buzz about the city that hadn’t really been since the days of 'cool Britannia' back in the late 90s.
Back to my wishlist now. Contrary to what happens at Caradiaz , when it comes to my personal wardrobe, I don’t do ‘cutting-edge’ or extravagant. I prefer simple, clean-cut, practical clothes to which I can add my personal touch, be it a gorgeous statement piece of jewellery, a stunning scarf or a to die for bag. Likewise, I don’t like changing clothes during the day, unless my little one has an arty moment and decides to covers me in paint, water, glue… So whether I am in the office, the warehouse or doing the school run, I have to feel comfortable in what I’m wearing. And for the first time in many years, I found myself unexpectedly oohing and aahing over many of the clothes seen at London Fashion Week.
Similar to what happened in New York the previous week, the London catwalks were mostly a sea of black, white, red and grey (Antonio Berardi, Danielle Scutt, John Rocha, PPQ and Todd Lynn, to name just a few) but we also saw nudes at Betty Jackson, camels at Amanda Wakeley and many shades of orange, blue and green at Burberry Prorsum, Mario Schwab, Mulberry, Paul Smith.
However, it wasn’t all block colour, far from it! Some seriously funky prints were seen at Basso & Brook, Erdem, Holly Fulton, Issa, Mary Kantratzou, Matthew Williamson and Peter Pilotto. Topshop Unique caught everybody’s eye with its Dalmatian looks, Giles went for florals and Clements Ribeiro did animal print.
Trends-wise, lady-like was widely spread but we also saw futuristic at Jean-Pierre Braganza, utility at Acne, urban warriors at Sass & Bide, a little bit of Chinese style at Paul Smith, leather biker at Todd Lynn, masculine also at Paul Smith and gothic at John Rocha.
Issa London, Amanda Wakeley
Jean-Pierre Braganza, Acne
Sass & Bide, Paul Smith
Todd Lynn, John Rocha
Source: www.style.com
And in terms of jewellery, I loved the very OTT jewellery used at Danielle Scutt, the tribal necklaces at Sass & Bide, the metal cuff and chokers at Amanda Wakeley and the oversized pendants on long chains at PPQ.
My overall London favourites? Amanda Wakeley, David Koma, Nicole Farhi, Issa, Osman and Roksanda Ilincic, one of whose beautiful dresses I have my eye on already. The same goes for a beautiful skirt and a knitted dress by Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label – she may be the queen of eccentricity but, every now and then, she lets her guard down and delivers a few less unconventional, more wearable items, which is great!
And that’s about it really. Designers have been kind enough to carry some of the current winter trends through to next winter, so I intend to re-use a lot of my existing winter wardrobe and save some cash – or perhaps put it towards a new bag… Mulberry is always tempting and my recently acquired pale blue Bayswater Tote won’t be suitable for wet winter days!
Next stop in the fashion week calendar: Milan
02/24/11 05:42:32 pm, 
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