London Fashion Week - Marques Almeida and Lucas Nascimento

For the final in my LFW series, I wish to talk about Marques Almeida and Lucas Nascimento, both of whom showed at the Topshop New Gen showspace.

Marques Almeida won me over with their casual, relaxed silhouettes, interesting use of frayed denim and their cowhide boots. Denim jeans was worn lowslung on the hips with a bell bottom cut and paired with denim obi belts which was tied in a dramatic knot as a tube top, suggesting that the Marques Almeida girl's carefree and confident attitude. Subsequent uses of denim also took the form of a jacket with a mandarin collar and coated white denim miniskirts worn over denim jeans, which was a nice reinterpretation of Noughties style.

I especially loved the shoes on the models - skinny strap sandals with a chunky heel - the straps looked very elegant despite the fact that the shoes exposed the foot entirely. A look towards the end with the acid pink jacket and organza pants also caught my eye - the fabric was a great injection to the mix of textures for this collection and definitely a headturner for summer.

Now, excuse me while I go fray up some of my old jeans.



Lucas Nascimento is a Brazilian born designer who was trained at LCF, and given the opportunity to present during LFW under the Topshop NewGen programme. His minimal collection this season was inspired by Brigitte Bardot stepping out in a towel in the film ‘Le Mepris’.

Models stepped out on the runway fresh faced with makeup kept to a minimal, dewy skin and slicked back hair, as though they have just came out from the shower. The dresses resembled towels wrapped around the body - shapeless but yet so beautiful in organza and a towel-like fabric. Spaghetti straps fall loosely down the shoulders and even the sharply tailored jackets and shorts were seamless and came without any fastenings - suggesting a state between the dressed and the undressed. 

I am usually not one to take a liking to minimalism, unless if it is applied together with innovative fabrics and textures, or with a exaggerated proportion, which is why I felt slightly underwhelmed after Lucas Nascimento's show. But when I have gone home and digested the runway looks once again, I found myself appreciating how the dresses suggested intimacy and a subtle vulnerability, despite them being completely shapeless.

And that wraps up my LFW show reports - one month after LFW! Hope you've enjoyed my take on the collections and also the 'film-like' (aka ahem low-res) photos which I've snapped using my iPhone.

London Fashion Week - Fashion East New Gen

Since its inception in 2000, Fashion East has been championing and nurturing emerging British designers. Each season, a seasoned panel selects three womenswear and three menswear designers to present their collection to international press and buyers during London Fashion Week. Lulu Kennedy, as the driving force and pioneer behind Fashion East, also offers these young designers mentoring and in-house PR throughout the season. It is no surprise to find that Jonathan Saunders, House of Holland, Marios Schwab and Meadham Kirchhoff are among some of the notable alumni under the Fashion East programme.

The show kicked off with Ryan Lo's girly, kitschy aesthetic. Models came out in frothy pink tulle and organza skirts, strawberry print shirts and lace dresses in shades of pastel, complete with super cute animal ears. I liked that the skirts were paired with Converse sneakers, which offset the extreme girliness of each outfit. My favourite is a daisy knit cape, which immediately brings me to the warm sun of summer and joyful abandonment. Another favourite is a pink candycane striped coat, with exaggerated volume.

Ryan's maximalist sensibility is a significant departure from the usual runway creations, but at the same time really relevant for today's pop culture. I can totally visualize some of his knitwear pieces on Japanese and US pop stars.




Second to show was Claire Barrow, whose collection in greys, blacks and white cotton drill was a stark contrast to Ryan Lo's. The models paraded down the runway barefoot and many of them were not professional models, but instead casted from the streets. I appreciated the raw, punk feel of Claire Barrow's show, with its unfinished hems, handpainted leather jackets and graffiti-like handpainted motifs.


And finally, my favourite came from Ashley William, showing contemporary womenswear inspired by Miami Vice. The models looked like they have just came back from frolicking at the beach party the night before and were still soaking in the sun rays till the late afternoon. I especially liked how the show opened with a few denim dresses with pleated raw edge front panels, and then progressed to more tongue in chic references to the Miami beach - speedboat motifs, Dream Boat and SOS slogans printed on glossy silk jumpsuits and netted dresses.

The models clutched bags in the shape of the Great White Shark and Hammersmiths - which I expect would be quite a hit when they drop next Spring. I like how even editors and stylists have taken a liking to "sillybags", and are pairing them with a minimal outfit, thanks for Charlotte Olympia and Kate Spade's recent collections. Popcorn bag, anyone? And finally, the appearance of Gary the Snail printed on bikinis and a halter neck mini dress injected much humour into the collection. Ah, finally a designer who doesn't take her work too seriously.

Watch the full show here.

London Fashion Week - Overheard at LFW

My neighbourhood, LFW Day 4

Somerset House square on a good day, finally

Watching people people watch

The crowds outside the show - tourists and peacocks rolled together

Hiding in Fernadez & Wells on a cold rainy day

Streetstyle photographers and some attention grabbing boots

Transporting some food backstage for Meadham Kirchoff 

London Fashion Week was an exhilarating experience, to say the least. There were so many things that made it so exciting and different from Singapore's Audi Fashion Festival or the Women's Haute Couture Fashion Week that is coming up in less than a week's time.

So here's Top 10 Observations from the LFW noobie:

1. I was first very intimated by the throngs of cool people parking themselves around Somerset House. Everywhere I looked, these people look cooler than me - I spotted people with hot pink and green ombre hair, a guy wearing a hat that was at least 50cm tall, and of course fashion insiders with understated designer outfits. 
2. Also, these cool people are outside Somerset House from morning till evening (6pm), when the last show for the day usually ends. Some of them may just be people who wants to be photographed and looking for a lucky break.
3. Even if you're not invited, you can queue up outside the shows and for backstage access and if you're lucky enough, they'll let you in! (at least true for the Topshop New Gen shows that took place in Regents' Park.
4. I got to experience the "fashion circus", as dubbed by Suzy Menkes, first hand. Streetstyle photographers were everywhere and I had people asking for my photo at least 4 times a day, not counting the many that snapped my photo without asking. 
5. Forget the comfy individual seats you have in Singapore, in LFW, everyone's seating on a bench. Including Front Row. 
6. Which also leads to point 5, once you're in a show, you won't really get checked and asked to see your seat number. But of course, as well-behaving, rule abiding Singaporeans, we seat at our allocated seats. 
7. Umbrella is a must!!! London weather is seriously so unpredictable, it can be having a thunderstorm one minute and then extremely sunny the next. And it also rains 5 -6 times a day. (Thank god the weather for this past week has been mostly sunny or cloudy. Praise the weather gods!)
8. People at fashion week do eat! The canapes at the Topshop Cafe included mini lemon tarts, raspberry tarts, prawns on skewers, Mediterranean salads and more...and these are always grabbed and gobbed up very very fast. 
9. Asian people all look the same to them. 
10. Finally, of course. The works from the young designers are particularly refreshing. On the Fashion East runway, Nike flip flops and Converse sneakers were paired with swimsuits or clothes inspired from woodland animals and paraded down the runway. Or sometimes, the models simply didn't wear any shoes. The atmosphere outside each show was just buzzing and there was this constant energy in the air - the mix of professional fashion editors, buyers and stylists, coupled with anxious PR girls and lots of young bloggers and what my friend here call 'wannabes', just make LFW much more interesting than that of Singapore's. 

London Fashion Week - Burberry Prorsum SS14

Backstage Beauty 

The Burberry SS14 show can be summed up in one phrase - Ladies over Tea. Featuring beautiful English lace and macarame lace pencil skirts and fitted dresses in shades of soft pastel, and paired with soft Scottish cashmere cardigans and wool wrap coats, I would say this is one of Burberry's most feminine collections yet.

The color palette reminded me of one of Claude Monet's water lily paintings - generous swatches of rose pik, mint, lavender and pale yellow, paired off with neutral colors of greys and camel browns for the coats. The collection was well edited and elegantly styled - showcasing a good mix of texture and colors. Belts with applique flowers cinched the waist to enhance the feminine silhouette, offset with a merino wool wrap coat, or contrasted with a macrame lace dress embellished with diamantes. The clutches and heels in neon pops of color were especially beautiful together, with the clutch bags carried folded and crushed, almost as though the lady had left in a hurry to catch her next appointment.

I am personally a sucker for lace, so I enjoyed how Christopher Bailey has made use of lace and garters to make the look of English ladies more playful and modern. Altogether, although the collection did not propose any new ideas, it kept to Burberry's British heritage and classic silhouettes and was very beautifully executed.

I was invited to the Burberry flagship store on Regent Street for the livestream of the show and was pretty much blown away by the sheer size of the store. Spanning two storeys with a beautifully tiled domed ceiling, the store offered Burberry's entire womenswear and menswear range and was outfitted with multiple touch screens to help customers with selection of items in the catalogue. I was served champagne and invited to seat on the stools laid out in the store's 'main square'. As the rose petals softly fell down at the final walk through, applause broke and shortly followed by the glowing screens of iPhones as people hurried to snap photos and Instavideos.

No surprise there, because the entirely Burberry show video and digital brand content was shot on the iPhone 5S, placing Burberry once again at the forefront of digital engagement.

London Fashion Week - AllSaints SS14 Preview

My first appointment during London Fashion Week was actually at AllSaint's 'experimental' store on 14 Earlham Street in Covent Garden, where you can find a lot of vintage and independent retail boutiques alongside Broadway and West End musical theatres.

Born out of Nottinghill in 1994, AllSaints was originally a menswear-only label that sold exclusively to high-end retailers such as Harvey Nichols and Harrods. The brand then moved into womenswear in 1998. Having heard of AllSaints briefly before, I stepped into its showroom space with much curiousity. I was impressed by the brand's strong, singular aesthetic that it does so well - glamorous British rock'n roll. The color palette was kept to its signature muted tones of beige, brown, black and cream, but with pops of red. The silhouette was relaxed and the looks appeared to be effortlessly styled - sharp, angular tailoring of the fitted coats and leather vests set off the harem pants and drape tshirts in soft silks and organza.

AllSaints has a heritage in handling leathers and its easy to tell why - there were a couple of signature motorcycle leather jackets that were beautifully supple and sleek, but the leathers were also made into shorts, shirts and vests. I especially liked the feel of a pair of cream shorts made from nappa leather. All of the leather garments are manufactured in Italy, in the same factories that handles Prada, BCBG and other top luxury brands. A closer inspection at some of the fabrics revealed that the netted mesh blouse (second photo from top), was actually made from tiny embroidered sequins on fabric, giving the netted mesh a sheen, almost like metallic armour.

Shoes were equally well executed, with leather boots of varying styles, but I am partial to the one shown in the last photo - a slightly pointed toe, with black and white print pony hair at the back. Actually, just put pony hair and "cow print" together on anything and I will immediately be drawn to it.

This development is currently still under wraps, but I was told that AllSaints will be coming to our little red dot soon! For a brand that combines chic and sensibility so well together, I'm quite sure that fashion insiders in Singapore would all be excited to get their hands on an AllSaints piece.

Psst, River Island, which I have spotted to be ubiquitous in London is now back in Singapore again through online retailer, Zalora! I'm sure we all remember and miss our River Island stores when they had a physical retail presence here, but now that problem is solved when you can shop the same collections as what they stock in London purely through the click of the mouse.

Head over here to get your retail fix.

See Burberry SS13 LIVE!

Watch the Burberry livestreaming on Naked Glory right here - I'd be watching it with you! Burberry is always the brand to watch during LFW for its extravagant sets, exquisite music and runway pairing and tasteful designs of classic British style.