London Fashion Week started yesterday, marking it’s 25th anniversary. As per usual, the event, which is held at the Museum of Natural History, opened with the Central Saint Martins catwalk show Friday evening.
Considered by some to be the highlight of the event, the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design show features the designs of recent MA graduates in fashion design and offers a chance for the fashion world to catch of glimpse of the up-and-coming new designers. Many a famous and successful fashion designer started out presenting at the Central Saint Martins show, such as John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and Stella McCartney.
An article from Reuters this morning stated that “[graduates] of Britain’s top fashion design school are so focused on their art that they don’t worry about finding jobs and may even regard the global recession as a blessing in disguise.” And furthermore, “[none] of the students interviewed by Reuters cited the economic downturn as a creative influence, and most said they were content to continue doing what they loved.”
This year’s collection — from 18 recent graduates including Laura Mackness, David Koma, Charlotte La Roche, Abigail Briggs, and Chary Westberg — featured lots of bold colors, emphasized shoulders and shoulder pads, and oversized silhouettes, on one hand. On the other, more classic necklines and slim silhouettes, but with a hint of asymmetry or color.
According to the Telegraph,
Professor Louise Wilson, OBE, the outspoken course director for MA fashion at CSM, said she believed the strong-shouldered silhouette was the students’ reaction against what she termed: “the dreadful bohemian drivel and mish-mash of clothes that has prevailed in mainstream fashion.”
“They’re designing clothes that call for attitude. They’re not clothes that you just throw on.”
Many of the designs on show, she said, “are better than those established designers produce.”
Also on the first day of London Fashion Week was the announcement by the British Fashion Council that future shows would no longer be held on the grounds of the Natural History Museum. Instead, London Fashion Week will be moving to the historic Somerset House in The Strand.
Among the highlights for this weekend include the Vivienne Westwood show on Saturday and the fashion week debut of Twenty8Twelve, designed by Savannah Miller and her sister Sienna Miler, on Sunday.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
- Reuters
- My Fashion Life
