There was a real buzz at London Fashion Week yesterday evident at the shows of young and upcoming designers such as Christopher Kane, Marios Schwab and Gareth Pugh, during a day in which newcomers produced fine collections that justified the city's much vaunted status as a hot bed of creative talent.
There were also strong presentations from seasoned industry stalwarts like Jasper Conran and John Rocha, though their approaches differed widely from romantic to hard edge.
"It's really easy for a young designer to get a lot of credibility in London," said 25-year-old Gareth Pugh, a Central St Martins graduate from Sunderland, in an interview before his fifth collection. His all-black show with its somewhat scary line-up of warrior women in flayed and fringed leather, slashed mini dresses and stiff, concertina skirts certainly made as much of an impact as his oversize epaulettes, ape-like jackets and capes composed of white faux mink mice. The mood may have been dark and threatening, but the show had an undeniable power and received rapturous applause.
Another New Generation modernist, Marios Schwab, twisted tight-fitting smudge print dresses into origami folds and used wetsuit zips and pearls as flying panels for a show that lived up to his reputation for precise pattern-cutting.
The eagerly awaited second collection of Christopher Kane, the Scottish designer hailed as the new Alexander McQueen, also lived up to expectation, though his ruffled chiffon dresses in python print were softer and more romantic in spirit. Even conventionally tough and urban camouflage print got a delicate new look in racer back chiffon maxis. The one designer who majored on tailoring was Todd Lynn who cleverly reworked traditional elements of formal menswear like dress shirts and tails into lean, layered suits with a rock-star edge for both sexes.
John Rocha also showed menswear alongside womenswear, each a study in contrasts, the former all tight jackets and shrunken trousers, the latter, loose, airy and free-flowing. It was a lovely show, elegant, graceful and not overdecorated, with trapeze dresses in black embellished with black crystal or in creamy crepe de chine with delicate pearls. There were colourful shifts of thick rosettes and gingham suits of Victorian shapeliness.
Yesterday was a big day for Rocha, marking the official opening of his handsome new flagship store in Dover St in the heart of Mayfair. The £5 million (€7.19 million) development not only showcases his collections of clothes, crystal and jewellery, but also displays a personal selection of modern Chinese and African art, fine fragrance and skincare ranges, along with books on art, poetry and design.