On the weekend of the 13th and 14th September, expect a rare warm front to build over London heading in from New York. Lasting all week and well into the evenings, watch out for some lightening; London’s young talent is electric after all. A slight breeze should help to keep one’s cool for Spring Summer ‘09, before moving south to Milan and finally whisking its way north to Paris. Yes, it’s Fashion Week time again.
As autumn’s golden leaves begin to fall and summer’s evenings become shrouded in darkness, fashion continues the warmer season’s theme on the catwalks in New York, London, Milan and Paris this month. With a jam-packed schedule of shows, presentations and parties, this September is fashion overdose.
The Natural History Museum has morphed from being swamped by hundreds of school children on their holidays to the banging away of builders constructing London’s main fashion week venue. Here’s a sneaky preview of what to look out for both on and off the catwalk. For a city famed for its edgy creativity and originality, London can sometimes be seen as being less of a commercial fashion centre then ‘big bucks’ New York and moneyed Milan. Yet London seems to be keeping a grasp of its big name talents season after season these days. When Luella showed at Claridges a couple of seasons ago, fashionistas thought it was a one hit wonder in celebration of the opening of her store on Brook Street. But good things come in threes and Luella will again treat London to her vision for the warmer months of 2009.
Vivienne Westwood showed her Red Label last season to celebrate a memorable anniversary in London and she’s returning to town, no doubt to a star studded front row and model line-up.
Look out for a suitably sporty morning on the Tuesday of fashion week as Stella McCartney presents her Adidas collection. Better shape up soon!
The established old guard will be fully represented. Paul Smith, Aquascutum, Margaret Howell, John Rocha, Betty Jackson and Nicole Farhi will all preview their collections next to London’s current young stars. Look out for Marios Schwab, Christopher Kane, Richard Nicoll, House of Holland, Erdem, Duro Olowu and Giles, all of whom will be closely watched by buyers and press from around the world, monitoring their progress season by season.
Mulberry goes from one great step to the next. With the departure of Creative Director Stuart Vevers recently for Milan, ladies everywhere were wondering who would be at the helm of delivering such treats as the Bayswater and the Roxanne. Fear not girls; Emma Hill, the accessories superstar who has fine-tuned herself for the job in hand at the likes of Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein and Gap will host a presentation on the Wednesday of Fashion Week. We’ll also be hoping to see a further foray into footwear from shoe superstar Jonathan Kelsey in the shape of his new collection for Mulberry.
Now onto the new names to watch from the On schedule, the on|off shows and Off Schedule shows. London will be awash with new talent this September. Tongues are already wagging and we’ll be tipping you off as to who to watch out for Spring Summer 2009.
Of particular note is Peter Pilotto to, showing on schedule for the first time. This will be the third collection from Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos who graduated from the renowned Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. Their last collection was rich in layering and deep in colour – who knows what we’ll see this time around.
MeadhamandKirchhoff is the brainchild of St. Martin’s graduates Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff. Formally trained in Menswear, their collection is expected to be heavy in denim but with a couture focus infused with lace, folds and zips. It sounds better than a summer pudding.
On the accessories front, Nazar Mazhar is a 25-year-old hatter whose designs would sit happily in a gallery as well as one’s coiffured bouffant. This former hairdresser’s pieces have graced the heads of Kylie and Madonna – claim yours now!
Check in soon for part II of the Fashion Week Forecast.
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James Tregaskes
Fashion Commentator
The Fifth Medium
Images from www.style.com
