LFW Diary AW12: Fam Irvoll

 

Entitled ‘Monstermash’, Fam Irvoll's AW12 collection is everything I'd hoped for and much more. A designer who I've admired for many years at Blow PR's press days, it was exciting to hear the Norwegian would be making her catwalk debut at LFW.

Renowned for her quirky and kooky designs, Irvoll is slowly working her way into the public's consciousness dressing celebrities such as Marina Diamandis and Paloma Faith, and this Vauxhall Fashion Scout showcase will hopefully garner the acclaim this talented designer deserves.

Always weaving a jungle tale of animals throughout her collections, elephants are a common theme as are basic everyday products such as fruit and vegetables. Playing up to childhood iconography, Irvoll's collections instantly take me back to being a kid and to a place in time where cuddly toys never left my sight and bright neon colours accompanied by a clash of pattern was de rigueur.

Set to a soundtrack of the Ghostbusters theme tune, the mood was fun with models sashaying down the catwalk, clearly enjoying themselves and playing up to the drama of their outfits, such as tassel come antennae shoulder detailing or the Alex Box inspired bold make-up by Lan Nguyen.

An array of Irvoll's signature stuffed animal rucksacks and other accessories accompanied the outfits as did a range of witty Irvoll designed headpieces, silly specs (complete with extra-long false eyelashes) and Perspex dummies which had a variety of retro newsprint mouth pictures affixed to the front. Footwear was a combination of kooky printed and embellished custom-made brothel creepers produced in a collaboration between Irvoll herself and Underground.

In addition to the major pieces - think knitted elephants, oversized bows and three-legged octopus’ - prints were used throughout the collection to startling effect, enabling, I suspect, Irvoll to develop cross-over appeal, creating several wearable separates for those not bold enough for her trademark aesthetic.

A selection of cute Scandinavian kids came out at the end of the show rather unexpectedly, wide-eyed and full of energy; skipping, dancing and jumping along the catwalk, adding a really wholesome appeal to the show. A great way to propel her brand info the mainstream, Irvoll will surely be lauded as a designer who has made this LFW extra special.