LFW Diary SS12: Ada Zanditon

Each and every season (AW10, SS11, AW11) I wax lyrical about how much I love Ada Zanditon and naturally this season is no exception. As anyone who has met the designer will testify, she is one of the nicest designers around, however it is and always will be her brilliant designs that garner the most attention.

“In the fragile seagrass beds of England’s southeast coast, lives the mythical Poseisus. She begins her metamorphic journey towards the distant tropical shores of Haiti as the rumbled call of the Haitian Kanaval drums ripple and swell the ocean tide, drawing in the ornate Seahorse. She finally emerges from the glistening crystal water, her outer skin transformed into a magnificent Kanaval dress as she steps onto the sand in human form.”

Having presented a film showcasing her SS12 collection entitled Poseisus at Somerset House on the inaugural day of LFW, in some ways you could say that this offering is a departure from what one might expect from this innovative brand. Fusing an East London graffiti cool backdrop with a contrasting colour palette of rather wintry charcoals and blacks, the kooky digital presentation created in collaboration with film makers Andrew and William Ho is fun, memorable and is a great example of how Ada’s eponymous brand continually reinvigorates itself, diversifying and growing with each season.

Another ingenious title for SS12, Poseisus explores themes surrounding Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea, and the fantastical Pegasus, the gleaming white winged horse. Anchored solely in mythology, perhaps more than in previous collections, the fairytale and eccentricity of the collection really shines through, not offering clothes to merely dress-up-in, instead a chance to adopt a piece of theatre into your wardrobe.

Also referencing the form of Greek Goddesses and the elegant structured beauty of the two native species of British seahorse; The Spiny Seahorse and The Short Snouted Seahorse, Poseisus yields enchanting and breathtaking results. Highlighting several new shapes that mimic the structural form of the seahorse and the fluidity of its aquatic environment Ada has created structured crisp outerwear and light, fluid, and voluminous dresses alongside pieces that play on the designer’s trademark geometric cuts. Quirkily referencing the shape of the exoskeleton and the elegant fanned dorsal and caudal fins (that seahorses use to propel themselves as they dance through the water), each appear on the garments as crisp cut shapes and ruffled details extruding from sculptural and heavily structured silhouettes.

The showpiece of the collection, the Athena dress fuses contrasting fluid kaleidoscopic prints with three dimensional structured organza detailing and a distinctive voluminous shoulder. Thematically the collection expresses the interconnected global fragility of island coastal environments in linking British coastal life with the strength, resilience and fierce spirit of Haitian Island life. Echoing both British regality and the creative tribal energy of the Haitian Kanaval in the style and ambience of the pieces, the juxtaposition is also achieved through a combination of luxurious fabrics such as Crepe de chine, French chiffon, a mixture of organic fair-trade materials; cotton shirting, crossweave, denim and jersey. End of the line up-cycled Cumbrian linton tweed and vegetable tanned leather complete the designs and further qualify Zanditon as one of the most prolific S&E designers of her generation.