George Ryan
Advertising Manager
george@lfwdaily or 020 8960 8263

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Photograph by Anna Bauer

Boy, was it hot at Christopher Kane. Maybe it was the high wattage front- row line-up, including Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Sir Philip Green, Natalia Vodianova and Miss Joan Collins. Or maybe it was the stellar collection from London Fashion Week’s hottest star. But boy was it hot.

Still, even with all the heat and hubbub, Kane kept his cool with a show that mixed oversized gingham checks on dresses cut with corsetry seams and boning with slashed cashmere sweaters, layers of pastel chiffons with floral sequin motifs, sheer pleats and razor-sharp tailoring – thanks to Savile Row tailor Patrick Grant – all sent out to a melancholy gospel soundtrack by Mahalia Jackson.

‘The Jonestown cult and Jehovah’s Witnesses’, ‘Lolita’, ‘covering up’, ‘teenage bras’, ‘a girl who doesn’t know who to be’… the inspiration was hard to pin down from Christopher or sister Tammy. But who cares? The results spoke for themselves.

Backstage, the temperature cranked up a further notch with the front row and teary-eyed buyers vying for Kane fashion hugs. “I liked it very much,” said Donatella in her husky Italian accent, holding on to her daughter, Allegra. Philip Green and daughter Chloe seemed pretty pleased, too. “Great,” said Sir Philip. “Really nice,” added Chloe. You could almost hear the cogs turning. Don’t be surprised to see a fair bit of gingham in Topshop next season.

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Photography by Orlando Gili

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Report by Isaac Lock

This season, the LFW celebrity ante was upped significantly. As well as the usual cast of Alexa and Peaches and Pixie Geldof, we’ve had the Olsens, Donatella Versace, Gwyneth Paltrow, TV’s Lorraine Kelly (who had a mumsie moment in the front row of House of Holland) and Nicola out of Girls Aloud. Most intriguingly, Victoria Beckham [see above with Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman] slipped in to sit on a bench by a makeshift runway in a damp tunnel under LFW’s new home, Somerset House, for new-designer initiative Fashion East. “I’m working and haven’t time to see loads of shows,” she said. “But there’s so much great new talent I wanted to make it to this.”

Post-show, she said she loved Central St Martins graduate Michael van der Ham’s patchwork dresses. Mrs B seemed to be there from her own genuine interest. “We don’t court celebrities,” said Fashion East founder Lulu Kennedy, “but Victoria got in touch and said she wanted to come. She insisted she wanted to be treated like everyone else, turned up with a friend and watched quietly. It all seemed very down to earth.”

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“The first fashion-show season with Twitter in full force is like Gossip Girl on crack!” So reads designer Henry Holland’s (henryholland) Twitter, summing up the latest obsession to take LFW in less than 140 characters. If we’re not tweeting about spotting Donatella Versace/Joan Collins/Martine McCutcheon, we’re tweeting mini trend reports as they happen: “RoboCop shoulders at Todd Lynn!”; “Polka-dot shoes at Luella!” in a barrage of sartorial sound bites. But what’s the official code of conduct at the shows? Is it offensive to a designer if we watch-n-tweet or is it a compliment that we can’t wait? “I tweet before the shows but not during,” says Stacey Duguid, Executive Fashion Editor of Elle.

“A designer has spent four months of preparation for a seven-to-eight minute show and people spend four minutes tweeting? It’s rude. Also, you haven’t really formed an opinion about the show, so it’s competitive tweeting. It becomes a big tweet-off!”

For some fashion editors, it’s all for the readers. “We’re about fashion as it happens and opening up our world, so it’s important that we tweet,” says Hattie Brett, Web Editor of Grazia Daily (Grazia_Live). “But I would only tweet in a show if something unmissable happens.” What ’s ‘unmissable’? A model tumble? A seizure? “I tweeted a TwitPic during Danielle Scutt’s show,” admits Duguid, “because the hair was so incredible.”
The buyers are brandishing their BlackBerrys, too, with online stores leading the charge. Net-A-Porter (Luxury_Fashion) tweets at almost every show. But not East End fashion boutique Start. Owner Brix Smith-Start (Brixsmithstart) says, “I focus on the energy of the moment.”

To see fashion pack tweets from the London shows, go to londonfashionwk on Twitter.

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Report by Julia Robson

Photography by Marcus Dawes

Forget fashion’s current leopard-print fad, cats of the domestic variety are the mascots of next season. Backstage at her recent presentation, Suzanne Clements, of design duo Clements Ribeiro, revealed the two reasons why their Spring/Summer 2010 collection has such a feline theme: “Toulouse and Marie, our new British Blue pet cats.” Cat fans will go gaga over the new Clements Ribeiro range, which features embellished cats on preppy cashmere cardigans and a cat print on silk dresses. It’s purrrfect!

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It all started with a smile. On the catwalk! True, an almost unheard of occurrence in the straight-faced business of modelling. The girl in question was prancing down Dame Vivienne Westwood’s catwalk and –boom! – out of nowhere, a beautiful, broad, toothy smile.

And so it was that by the time Nathan Jenden’s models stormed the catwalk at the end of his show – dancing, leaping, laughing and encouraging their audience to do the same – there was no question that London Fashion Week (which ended on Wednesday) was in the grips of an optimistism pandemic.

“They all did it spontaneously, even in rehearsal,” said a breathless Jenden backstage. “It’s all about having fun; fashion should be fun.”

There was much to feel good about – a spectacular new show venue at Somerset House, a landmark anniversary celebrating 25 years of London fashion and an international front row, spearheaded by US Vogue’

s all-powerful Anna Wintour, who had flown in to see what all the fuss was about. Luckily, the designers they had come over to see did not disappoint. How embarrassing might it have been if Christopher Kane had presented a dud or Erdem had started over two hours late? But there were to be none of the usual LFW antics; in their place a slick, professional schedule and polished shows of an international class. Phew.

But more than that, a powerful buoyed-up feeling of positivity. London’s 25-year celebration – a kind of coming of age for the fashion city known for producing sapling talent only for it to leave and make a name for itself elsewhere – could even be felt in the stitches of the clothes. There was a sweetness to the London collections, not just with the proliferation of sugared- almond colours and so many pretty dresses, but also because designers actually used the word ‘pretty’ and talked of wanting their customers to feel ‘uplifted’. Antonio Berardi – a huge talent who came back to London having shown his collections in Milan and Paris for the past 10 years – described his show venue, St Mark’s Church in Mayfair, as ‘euphoric’

.

“Women need to feel an emotional attachment with the clothes they buy,” said designer Marios Schwab. “I want them to feel good. It’s the only way people are really going to buy clothes now.”

So the biggest new trend to come out of London this season? Optimism.

CRIB UP ON THE SPRING/SUMMER 2010 TRENDS WITH THE LFW DAILY’S SNEAK PEEK OF WHAT YOU’

LL BE WEARING Compiled by Cat Catalogue in the following posts…

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Compiled by Cat Catalogue

Photography by Anna Bauer

Take a dip—and leave your hair wet afterwards. Swimmer’s hair is in. Basso & Brooke channelled model Stephanie Seymour surfacing from the pool in that Herb Ritts photo, keeping it wet with L’Oréal Paris Studio Line Design Wet Gel. Guido Palau went for damp and slightly 1990s grunge at Jonathan Saunders [see above] and hair stylist Malcolm Edwards did a twisted-hair look at Amanda Wakeley that recalled a 1970s Marie Helvin. Whatever the inspiration, it makes summer a whole lot easier.

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