New York/ London Fashion Week Highlights

New York/ London Fashion Week Highlights

Hello Everyone!, hope your doing great:)!! Today's post is all about Fashion Week, more specifically my favourite shows from New York and London Fashion Week for the Spring/Summer'18 Season, although not invited, due to the wonders of modern technology I am able to view the collections hours after they finish to give you all the deets!

Lets start with New York Fashion Week, because it had a real appreciation for classic Spring/Summer looks and colours with the use of sheer fabrics, pastels colours and oversized shapes, this idea was executed seamlessly in the show for Michael Kors Collection where he took us, almost literally to the beach to give his collection the right backdrop and to make use of these fabulous colours and shapes to be in a more fitting setting, when they hit the runway. I particularly loved his breadth of colour as we were taken on a rainbow-like tour of the spectrum, but still retaining his very classic nautical look throughout, a look that is synonymous with his brand.

Secondly, Calvin Klein gave us a really coherent and beautiful collection that was quite masculine but used a confident use of colour to really ramp up the volume. Raf Simone gave us Metallics (look 7), Plaid, neon colours (looks 8, 9 and 12 ) and leather (look 17 ) as well as beautiful tailoring (look 11 ), elegant dresses (look 46), fishnet vests (look 73) and denim (look 18 ) to really give a collection full of texture and variation that is seriously engaging to the viewer and would therefore stand out on a clothes line in a boutique or department floor. Its so nice to see a daring designer unafraid to push the textual boundaries of fashion, and to use unconventional materials and textures to redefine gender barriers in fashion, an attitude other designers need to follow in order to be up to date. Also, who can ignore Kaia Gerber's entry to Fashion Week?, making her debut in this show as look 4. At only 16 she is the daughter of Cindy Crawford and I can say without doubt, that she will be a fashion week favourite for seasons to come.

Kaia Gerber

lastly for NYC, Rihanna's Fenty X Puma collection embraced the athleisurewear trend wholeheartedly and I think she did a really good job at being a real showman as a designer. Set in a pink desert in the Park Avenue Armoury she finished with a trio of motorcross stuntmen to achieve a sense of fun in fashion, that I think tell viewers to avoid taking itself to seriously. Like with Klein, Fenty X Puma used a breadth of texture and shapes and fabrics, all to create diversity in the looks, Rihanna is passionate about diversity, and her beauty line Fenty is only a few weeks old, but celebrates skin tone in the sheer range of foundation shades (40) to cater to everyones unique and beautiful skin tone. She used Lycra (look 18), Bodycon shapes (look 6) and oversized outerwear (look 38) to give her collection a real Binary opposition in just a few looks apart (look 19 and 21). I particularly like her use of straps and lacing that make her collection inherently fashion forward, but still classically athleisure. Favourite moment? the flipflop heel that naturally went viral...

Love them or loath them, admit it, you still want to try them on!

Now lets go to London!

What struck me the most with fashion week was how, even though London has had a tough summer, there was still a great resilience and "can do" British attitude shown by the designers that showcased at Fashion Week. Designers like Temperley London, Peter Pilotto and House of Holland had really positive collections, full of colour and dynamic shapes to emulate total positivity.

Temperley London 's collection was insanely pretty, and thoughly wearable and beautiful collection with a nautical feel that ran through every look, I think one of Temperley's strengths is putting on a show that has just incredible gowns, because it calls for such sheer variety, and every piece is unique, but with a common theme that looks concise. We saw a variety of materials and fabrics, (seen previously at NYFW by designers like Calvin Klein), sequins (Look 36), stripes (Look 4) and geometric prints (look 26) all teamed with glowing skin and a red lip gave the collection a slightly vintage feel, but without feeling grannyish due to the range of patterns and fabrics! 

Erdem's collection was definitely one of my favourites because it was so classy and elegant. Rich fabrics and vintage shapes called for a collection that was not typically British looking and with some elements I could see at a Dolce and Gabanna show or at other Italian labels, but it didn't matter, the collection was beautiful high fashion and runwayish. I loved how the colours were rich and bold, but still tasteful with not a neon in sight. The metallic accents were done perfectly, not flashy or vulgar but oozing sophistication and class. And those white gloves? simply Erdem!

Finally, lets talk about Burberry because it was major!! The show was set in The Old Sessions House in Clerkenwell, London, which in itself is very exciting because as locations go, it was a beautiful space to hold the collection as it is so unique and current. The Old Sessions House is currently being used by Burberry at the moment to house a photographic exhibition called "Here We are", and is being curated by Burberry’s chief creative officer Christopher Bailey, as well as housing their S/S '18 collection for public viewing. The exhibition is available until October 1st. The collection was filled with their classic house check patterns in both Camel and black, (a print that has been used by the brand since the 1920s) as well as on trend pastels and electric coloured knits, a truly patriotic take on Spring and Summer fashions, as your Grandma knitting you jumpers comes to mind!. A perfect example of this modern heritage is having an old style military skirt and vest (harking back to Burberry's military past) pared with clear perspex sleeves!.




‘This collection finds the humour, and the beauty, and the pathos, and the sheer glorious eccentricity of the British way of dressing.’ Christopher Bailey

 So overall, it was an exciting two weeks full of variation and colour, almost makes me miss summer :( I cannot wait for Milan and Paris (coming soon!!)