C3PO

From a galaxy far far away, C3PO, R2D2, Princess Leia and Atryu from the ‘Never Ending Story’ were all paid homage to in the one and only… London Fashion Week. It started off at the Mattijs show with jet black leather, metallic chokers and sci-fi styled boots adorning the models, and carried through to Inbar Spector, showing several gold and pink metallic laser cut cat suits.

Mattijs

Entitled ‘Starburst’ and with a press release that quoted the occasional sci-fi film, it wasn’t too hard to see where the inspiration came from for this show, especially once the Star Wars theme tune blasted through the room. The collection was an explosion of origami pleats, metallics, intricate tailoring and foil tops. Gold’s, ocean blues and mint seaweed green hues were the colour's of the day.

Inbar Spector

The ‘Escapism’ Catwalk opened with a model striding out wearing extraordinary jewellery over the face and perforated leather style trousers. The Israeli born designer stated that her most notable influence for this collection is the destruction of her hometown this year in an aggressive fire, leading her to convey nightmare, hell and violence within her work and the question of ‘where does skin end and the body begin?’. To me you can see this dramatically by relating the leather outfits to skin and the gaps as wounds or burns.

Does this mean that we will all be dressing as if we’ve just landed out of a Star Wars film? Maybe not quite so literal, but I can see the metal/ copper cuffs taking off, as well as sci-fi feminism injectioned into our staple clothing.

Inbar Spector Photographs from Vauxhall Fashion Scout

 

Behind the scenes at Inbar Spector

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMILLA RAVEN

 The face jewellery pre show

Street style- Angel at Somerset House

already ahead of fashion with a head accessory 

Bright Young Things

Last year Selfridges launched their ‘Bright Young Things’ initiative, by giving up-and-coming designers a great support system, stocking their collections in a number of Selfridges.

2012 has seen the initiative return with a series of launch events throughout the week of 13^th- 19^th February for the run up to London Fashion Week. The fourth of these events saw Grazia’s Hannah Almassi filmed ‘in conservation’ with MASC; the design duo made up of Duncan Shaw and Billy Yick. I was lucky enough to get out of work early from Vauxhall Fashion Scout to catch it.

The concept of MASC is ‘equipping the human form with an armored elegance and chic minimalism.’ Duncan explains that the style of MASC is to offer unorthodox silhouettes, expressive draping and captivating detail, but with prices starting from £250, the dresses are not exactly reasonable although they are more accessible then most designers.

From what I saw at this event their clothing is extremely well made yet very simplistic and minimalistic. They have a timeless feel to each piece, which is what consumers buy into while the recession is still at large; clothing that will never date. This gives the minimalistic trend a greater appeal, and since the recession isn’t forecast to end any time soon minimalism is only set to grow.

 Signage in Selfridges to Promote MASC Interview

Mid-Interview

PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMILLA RAVEN

MASC Clothing from Selfridges Online 

Youtube Video Posted By Selfridges

My 2012

Stella McCartney and Adidas have been in partnership for eight years now- creating fashionable but practical sportswear for the stylish fitness fanatic. So when it was announced last year that they had teamed up to commemorate the 2012 London Olympics it was no surprise.

The limited edition ‘My 2012’ collection consists of performance-wear such as leggings, waterproof jackets, track shorts and tank tops. ‘The concept behind this particular collection with Adidas was to project the energy of the Olympic year, to inspire young women to engage in sports and events surrounding the Olympics,’ Stella McCartney explained.

Stella also got appointed the Creative Director for the Adidas Team GB ranges – overseeing the design of the athletes Team GB kit, Paralympics GB kit and fan kits.

Stella McCartney For Adidas For 2012 London Olympics

This collection shows how the 2012 London Olympics has taken over the sporting and sportswear industry, however if you look closer it is also impacting on our lives in every way- London accommodation, tourism, traffic and roadworks in and around the area. Another strong impact is on fashion trends through designers.

Olympiad has taken the designers by storm with Marc by Marc Jacobs featuring a noteworthy athletic reference with a course of red, white and blue, obviously rooting for his home team! At the moment the sportswear element is much more understated with other designers by using sorbet colours and louche, low-key silhouettes but in the following years it will become more prominent as it filters down to the high street.

Marc by Marc Jacobs

More subtle sportswear by Helmet Lang, 

Victoria Beckham and Rag & Bone