LFW Fall 2012: The Favorites (and therefore, the best)

As I’ve said before, London is usually my favorite week because it’s the place for new (and newly established) designers to go crazy and really experiment with their art.  It doesn’t always work, and lately with the huge trend of prints on prints on prints (hear that correctly or we aren’t friends anymore) it can get a tad frustrating to tell which designers have always had that aesthetic and which ones are just trying to hop on board.  I can count on at least four of these brands to always be in my favorites, but I was more than happy to be able to repeat a couple others from last season, and of course have the chance to add one other which is..

1. McQ

I’ve always been baffled by McQ and I think everyone pretty much feels the same.  It does, however, make sense that the source of bafflement was the diffusion line being legally tied up, and only in the past year has it gotten a big makeover with Sarah Burton at the helm.  The first ever runway show made this crystal clear.  Burton intends to make McQ every bit as desirable as the main line, and she has started off on such a beautiful note.  The women’s coats, in particular an olive green with dark, almost fern-like embroidering and the tartan, stood out strongly among the sea of outerwear Fall has given us so far.  The dresses, in true McQueen fashion, were otherworldly.  Burton continuously demonstrates her more than able capabilities to produce a hauntingly beautiful tone within the garments, but here she’s also made that tangible.  Diffusion lines shouldn’t equal cheaper quality or lack of attention to design, and McQ’s new direction has certainly made that clear.  (Sidenote: The military lace up boots. Yes.)

2. Giles

There were no bird headpieces for Fall at the Giles show…okay technically there were, but just feathers not a whole damn sculpted bird.  So already, it was off on the right foot.  Then a sharp as nails tailored three piece suit that would make Carson jealous, came out.  Giles Deacon was working with the idea of what you would take from a burning house and so, many pieces had a really awesome burnt/singed effect going on.  It really was something else.  Everything felt just right- the colors, the cuts, the delicate pieces (like above)- it all culminated into a truly beautiful collection.  The second half of it was mainly pale grays and golds in various dresses (all stunning) and a really lovely jacket suit combo with a high shirt collar.  There was something about the clothes that made them feel almost like heirlooms but the print effect kept them present as well.

Meenal Mistry had this to say: “He quickly segued from governess strictness to lady-of-the-house softness. A painterly print echoed a burnt tapestry; … And in this fairy tale an icy blue brocade tapestry—populated, if you looked closely, with unicorns and other mythical creatures—seemed to have been ripped from the wall and transformed, through some sort of fashion wizardry, into a strapless mullet-skirted dress or an evening jacket to elegantly cover up a burnt and water-stained tulle gown. “

3. Christopher Kane

This collection reminded me a lot of my childhood.  Let me say this, I’m strongly against the 90’s trend.  I was a 90’s kid, I remember the clothes very vividly (and what I didn’t get to wear, my barbie’s did) and it’s not a fashion era that needs revisiting.  This is my own projection onto Kane’s collection- he took inspiration from 80’s and the 19th century- but when purple and blue leopard print popped up all I saw was my Lisa Frank collection.  I also saw hints of Buffy ranging from Willow to Cordelia, to The Slayer herself (and even Faith, if you really want to get into it).  This all made me really happy. These things make the good side of the 90’s, and I love Kane for evoking it even if it wasn’t his intention.  

4. Mary Katrantzou

Tim Blanks: “And she’d chosen deliberately banal subject matter to match the colors. Green meant grass, for instance, rendered as an ornamental lawn working its way down a floor-length gown. Yellow was expressed in a mandala of No. 2 HB pencils, erasers attached. They were rendered in rubber by the Lesage embroidery atelier in Paris—not only the first time Lesage’s artisans had worked with such stuff, but also their first collaboration with a London designer. Clocks, hedges, telephones, spoons, and forks also provided source material. The bodice of a rococo red velvet dress featured a red typewriter, its keys providing a coiling abstract geometry on the skirt.”

It’s hard not to think when you see how many fresh out of school designers are doing elaborate prints, they all want to be like Mary.  But only Mary can do what she is doing.  Sometimes the colors were a little intense and maybe didn’t work as well with the print she had designed, but that is me viewing it as a piece of clothing instead of a piece of art (which is fair to do, because it is a piece of clothing but also, Mary Katrantzou has demonstrated many times now that she makes art not clothing).  She drives me mad in the best of ways, and I’d be elated to own anything of hers…to hang on my body or my wall- maybe both. 

5. Jonathan Saunders

I think what I’m always drawn to in Jonathan Saunders’ clothing is the restraint.  Everything is prim and proper, preppy at times.  As I’ve said before, you could wear it to the office and be stylish but still totally work appropriate.  This isn’t really my thing, country clubs and office attire, etc. - it’s a weird, foreign world to me but I like how Jonathan presents it.  The reason is because his restraint is not stuffy, it’s got playfulness and even subtle sensuality going on.  The restraint is in the literal design but the other elements are in the color and print choices.  The hemline might be knee length appropriate but the shirt is sheer, and the dress necklines plunge deeper than any club restaurant would allow.  And the colors, can you imagine any WASP wife wearing a vibrant red or bright baby blue?  To me, Jonathan’s collections come with a knowing smirk and that’s why I fall for them every time.

6. Matthew Williamson

Matthew Williamson’s pant suits are always my favorite thing in his collections.  The above is purple, that should explain enough to you by now.  There was also an awesome pastel blue coupled with a flat gray/plum shirt that I’ll be thinking of how to replicate for a while.  Among the opening looks were sparkling skirts, ikat print-esque, in jewel and gray tones.  Then there were burning reds and oranges, most paired with sheer tops to dull the color.  It all had a very futuristic vibe, without the campiness.  There were printed pieces, mainly dresses, mixed in but my favorites remained the solids where the color pairings felt much stronger.  Overall, it was a great show and a fitting one for the brand’s 15th (!) year.

7. Marios Schwab

I’m going to refer you to Tim Blanks’ review of Marios Schwab, because he has put it perfectly and there’s not point in repeating:

“Fusing science and sensuality (a signature fusion, come to think of it), Schwab decorated his body-conscious shapes with mathematical patterns inspired by spirographs and harmonographs. The equation printed on his invitation was the golden ratio, the mathematical equation whose perfect balance is a symbol of perfect beauty, but what the designer insisted he was after was something “biomorphic,” almost alien, with dresses molded to skin. Again, it was Dietrich who inspired him, especially the “naked” dresses Jean Louis designed for her cabaret tours in the fifties and sixties. Schwab re-created the effect with evening dresses that featured sequined sheaths glimmering under chiffon veiling, like fish scales viewed through water. They were beautiful. But the same biomorphic effect was realized in more subtle ways elsewhere, with the attention to necklines, for instance.“ 

8. Paul Smith

Finally we end with dear Paul Smith.  The tomboy in all of us yearns for Paul Smith…even those out there without an inner tomboy, yearn for Paul Smith.  This was not the best show for the brand, I wasn’t freaking out from look to look, but it was still a very strong show.  Which I think says something, even an okay day Paul Smith is a million times greater than a good day for other menswear inspired brands.  There’s plenty to pick and choose from within all the looks, and that’s what keeps it enjoyable- knowing that if you went into the store and were able to look at this collection with the intention of buying, you could pick a lot out and style tons of different looks then and there..and then even more with whatever you had at home.  These are staple pieces, why wouldn’t you want the above jacket just in your closet as an option to go with whatever?  You can’t answer that because you would want it.  

This got incredibly long, I apologize but I can assure you the next one will be much shorter.  Goodbye London, you’ve been lovely! On to…Milan.

(Source: style.com)