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.

 

LFW Diary AW11: Kirsty Ward

A designer I was really looking forward to seeing at Blow PR's Ones To Watch on the inaugural day of LFW, I was sad to have missed seeing the hotly tipped Kirsty Ward make her mark on the international fashion stage. Unluckily I queued too late and didn't get into the show, but luckily Ward also exhibited with Vauxhall Fashion Scout, where I managed to meet her and obtain a close-up of her inspired AW11 collection a couple of days later.

As dramatic, unique and groundbreaking as I'd hoped, Ward's designs are a vision of sculptured brilliance, breathtakingly playing on the structure of the silhouette, harnessing a clear penchant for boned, textured clothing, that was also highly visible in her debut. Having graduated from an MA in womenswear at CSM a couple of years ago, Ward was instantly whisked off to Italy to join Alberta Feretti’s design team, where she stayed for a year and a half. After founding her eponymous label in 2010, Ward has gone from strength to strength designing jewellery for David Longshaw’s AW10 collection and of course debuting with her own SS11 collection last September.

Focusing on her striking and complex costume jewellery, Ward uses this as the starting point for her fashion collections, taking inspiration for AW11 from images of both funny women and chairs. A designer’s designer, Ward loves to make garments that she would want to wear herself, which for me is the benchmark of a true designer – reflecting your own taste and aesthetic being paramount. With a muted earth colour palette of black ash, snow and lava shades, I’m thoroughly impressed with Ward’s collection, emphatically proving to up-and-coming designers that unique practices are the way forward if you want to achieve this kind of maga-watt result.

SS11 Press Days: Best of Blow

Many, many weeks ago I attended the Blow PR press day and true to form it was one of the highlights of my season. Its quite hard to put my finger on why exactly I love their client list so much, but I'm pretty sure its because they generally support the newest and most progressive fashion talent around, and I love that they promote designers who don't even retail, which as a member of press and an eager potential consumer is both very exciting and intriguing.

With a really subtle nod to S&M I genuinely love these playful latex rubber costume outfits designed by William Wilde. I love the little details such as PVC bows and frills, which I'm certain are no walk in the park to perfect. Entitled Madame Boucherie, SS11 sees Wilde's inaugural collection - which is all hand-glued - transcend the realms of burlesque to create sexy outfits and lingerie, which is worlds apart from the made-to-measure bridal wear he previously turned his hand to.

Another new designer I spied is Flik Hall, whose third collection, Mannequin Parade showcases her aesthetic for bold silhouettes, captivating prints and penchant for toy limbs (as depicted below)!

A firm favourite whom I've now written about on two previous occasions is Fam Irvoll who has gone to town with oversized florals this season. I especially love the yellow high-waisted skirt (pictured below).

I absolutely love the elegance, timelessness and shift dress simplicity of David Longshaw. With kooky necklaces, embellishments and feathers galore, Longshaw is proof that the devil is in the detail.

Another designer showcasing for the third time is Welsh-born Jayne Pierson with her SS11 collection entitled, Twin Parrallel. Vaguely reminiscent of Vivienne Westwood (I suppose the imitable designer's signature style was bound to influence Pierson during her time working for the Dame), I love the different textures and superhero type colourways, which include lots of gold.

At first I was slightly freaked out, as I'm well known for not being taxidermy's biggest fan, but once I got over my preconceived notions about foxes in particular, I really responded to RP Encore's concept. Using skills I didn't even know were possible RP Encore has deftly turned corpses (among foxes and ravens) into beautiful accessories, taking casts of their claws and teeth, typifying her aesthetic with the fox clutch bag which is surprisingly roomy!

Created by mechanical engineer and metal worker Clare Whit, I absolutely love the costume pieces below, especially the rather heavy soldered platform shoes.

Another designer I love, whom I had in mind when talking about designers who don't actually sell their work is Dean Sidaway, who works as a stylist, design consultant and lecturer at Central Saint Martins. Fingers crossed one day I'll be able to afford to privately commission one of his pieces.

SS10 PRESS DAYS: Part Three

A few days ago I had the good fortune of being invited to attend the Paul Smith press day. Having not had the pleasure of attending a leading fashion designer’s showroom before I was very excited to see what it would be like. Upon arriving I noticed that the back wall opposite the reception desk had several framed images and upon questioning I discovered that this photo montage had been created by Sir Paul himself. Like many I used to have one on my bedroom wall when I was a teenager and I continued this through university and it’s something I’d be keen to do again if I were to have a studio space.

As soon as I entered the main showroom space I saw the swimsuit above and instantly smiled as I recognised the print extremely well.

I bought a vintage A-line floral skirt from The Stables in Camden town when I used to work there about 6 years ago, so it was great for me to see this pattern peppered through Sir Paul’s collection– as it means that I am instantly going to be on-trend when I wear it next year.

Strange co-incidences aside I loved that the space was decked out with what looked like an old circus set with old fashioned painted wooden panels which featured everything from playing cards to noir-esque street scenes.

In amongst all this there were also the most beautiful chandeliers (surprisingly I haven’t yet disclosed here my GREAT PASSION for antique chandeliers) which brought a level of decadence to the building and sat well when juxtaposed with Sir Paul’s decadent collection.

Both the mens and womenswear collections were exactly what I had expected. Paul smith’s usual cacophony of bright colour and ethnic inspired pattern didn’t disappoint. Aside from the aforementioned florals other patterns included stripes, check and varying animal prints.

Accessories were bright and bold and had maximum impact. From the stacked sandals to the hot pink clutch there were also a series over over-the-top beaded necklaces which were amazing.

For the boys there were bowler hats in blues and baby pink and an array of brightly coloured woven loafers and brogues. If you look closely at the image below you will also be able to see one of the London Undercover umbrellas which I mentioned in my write up of the Blow press day– how’s that for continuity?!

All in all a great eye-popping collection which made me long for Summer and a higher disposable income so I could buy everything in sight. For now I’ll gladly settle for my cool vintage skirt which genuinely looks as though I picked it straight from the SS10 rack.