FASHION EAST – Marques’ Almeida
SUCH is the spotlight on Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East catwalk every season that the designers she picks to star on it have to be 100 per cent confident in their ideas – indeed, part of Lulu’s role as London’s “fashion godmother” is to instil that in them, and Marques’ Almeida’s opening debut today was a perfect example.
Ripped denim was on the agenda and there was no stopping these Portuguese designers (who trained at home before coming to London for work experience at Vivienne Westwood [for Marta Marques] and Preen [for Paulo Almeida] before launching as a duo once they got to the Central Saint Martins MA course): bleached, shredded tunics hung off the body over jeans, all that remained of which were baggy leg warmers hanging out from the calf and pulled into the ankle via the only bit of tidy stitching in evidence.
Sheer white jersey knits and long translucent muslin dresses maintained the sun-bleached grunge feel, while white tractor soled sandals and oversized ribbed rubber boyfriend sweaters took the look to the extreme.
FASHION EAST – James Long
JAMES LONG’s second womenswear collection was second up on Fashion’s East catwalk at the Burlington Arcade today and he’s set to remain the new darling of the new generation. Even if you can’t wear spray-on snakeskin jeans, you can dream about it while you busy yourself buying one of his gorgeous lamé backed cardigans that feature the same snakeskin print picked out in sequins on the front.
More sheer lamé knits were not quite hidden beneath black chiffon blouses that later came with heavily jewelled collars – before the embellishment took over on one noisily embroidered mini dress of multicoloured sequins and beads, followed by a jacket to match that was teamed with a full black chiffon skirt.
Gold tasselled V-necks and one nicely fitted black silk dress made the point that however bold Long makes his statements, he can dress it down too – making him even more friends on the front row.
FASHION EAST – Maarten van der Horst
THIRD up on the Fashion East catwalk today was Maarten van der Horst, making his debut loud and clear with colourful Hawaiian shirts featuring jungle prints of purple and green or bright blue, Capri shorts to match.
Trained at the Artez Institute of the Arts in the Netherlands before taking on the Central Saint Martins MA course via an internship at Chloe, this one is no shrinking violet. He splashed chiffon ruffles over the front of palm frond prints to suggest huge pink knickers worn on the outside, while shirts were drawn in by matching bustier tops.
After such an explosive start, a calmer second half felt refreshingly elegant, with the prints paired down into black and white versions and one cute sleeveless mini dress with a mid-thigh length hem of knife pleats a pretty and much less eye-popping option.
Then came sherbet bright lilac, mint or orange colour blocked tailored jackets and shorts – there are clearly plenty of ideas to be explored here and, as always with the Fashion East line up, we’re looking forward to seeing what happens next.
With thanks to Mercedes Benz.
SEE THE MARQUES ALMEIDA FASHION EAST SHOW
SEE THE MAARTEN VAN DER HORST FASHION EAST SHOW
SEE THE JAMES LONG FASHION EAST SHOW
SEE THE FASHION EAST SHOW ARCHIVE