London Fashion Week’s new home ground the Somerset House in the Strand was fittingly a fresh start to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Grand mansion house style settings and a rain-free weather gave us a promising start to what was going to be jam-packed five days.

Veryta

One of the highlights of the first day was a newcomer Veryta. The Anglo-Indian designer and fashion illustrator Tanya Ling’s debut collection of sleek silk faille dresses, coats and bell-bottomed skirt suits were unveiled at Claridges ballroom. Veryta is not just about pretty clothes; half of profits and ten percent of sales go to the Veryta Foundation, founded by YSL’s Stefano Pilati and his Indian silk manufacturer friend Filippo Binaghi, to raise money to fund schooling for underprivileged children in India. Having YSL’s designer as mentor can only mean one thing – Veryta is the one to watch in the coming seasons.

Eun Jeong (photos by Olu Ogunshakin)

Last year’s Fashion Fringe winner Eun Jeong updated her angelic lace and frills dresses with silver lame and silver petal prints inside out layered under white inspired by 16th century ballet dancer costumes. The hemlines followed the summer’s ultra-mini trend we saw in New York last week. Frills, ruffles, beads and pearls were still prominent, yet the looks were clearly more delicate and light with sheer blouses, billowy dresses and jackets with sculptured shoulders. “Last season I used 60 meters to make a dress and this time only two and a half meters so it was a lot lighter collection,” said Jeong after her show. No need to have bodybuilder strength shoulders to carry of her dresses then.

Aminaka Wilmont (photos by Olu Ogunshakin)

Designer duo Maki Aminaka Löfvander and Marcus Wilmont toned down their usually black-heavy collection with body-con draped dresses, leggings and skinny leg warmers in dusky tones of peaches, pinks and greys and marble-effect prints leading up to their trademark black leather pieces in the end accessorised with Justin Smith’s exotic cut-out headpieces.
“This season we looked at Michael Park’s paintings and Compagnie Marie Chouinard’s Body Remix the Goldberg Variations and wanted to create an ethereal feel with this collection. We love the fluidity of the female body and like to contrast soft with a bit of hardness” Says Marcus Wilmont after the show. The 22-piece collection yet again demonstrated Aminaka Wilmont’s strength in creating wearable statement pieces.

Sass & Bide

This season saw many big names returning to LFW like Burberry Prorsum, Matthew Williamson, Antonio Berardi and Aussie duo Sass & Bide. Their first show in the UK soil since 2004, Sass & Bide showed plenty of sassy attitude with their Amazon themed collection of Aztec print ultra-mini dresses and playsuits, harem pants teamed with peak shouldered tops, tribal neck decorations, broken mirror chest plates, showing plenty of flesh with cut-out waists. Designers Sarah Jane Clark and Heidi Middleton again demonstrated how a collection can be laid back yet sexy at the same time.

Big designer names have brought back the A-list front row greatly missed in London in the past seasons. Rumour has it that US Vogue’s Anna Wintour is in town, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham. Stay tuned to see who shows up where.

By Karolina Kivimaki

Saturday, 19 September 2009

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