London | Young designers open Fashion Week

(London) The public braved the storm blowing in London on Friday for the first Fashion Week show, devoted to the autumn/winter 2022 collections, with a poster dominated by young designers.

The week opened with sustainable label SOHUMAN, from Spaniard Javier Aparici, who quit finance to go into fashion under the promise of “radical transparency” about the factories that make its clothes.

He presented an ultra-feminine collection of cocktail dresses in red and black, appliquéd flowers, sheer panels and giant bows.

Young British designers then followed, with the street wear chic by Saul Nash and his merino wool tracksuits, puffy coats and scarves.

Another British brand, Poster Girl, known for its ultra-revealing dresses worn by celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Dua Lipa, made its first après-ski themed show.

Francesca Capper and Natasha Somerville, who studied at the prestigious Central Saint Martins Institute, presented their neon-coloured creations in the coldness of a building slated for demolition.

Models in tube dresses and leggings wrapped themselves in faux fur coats, puffy jackets and a more sophisticated camel coat. There was even a ski suit, accessorized with bright pink heeled sandals.

SS Daley, a Liverpool label whose designer Steven Stokey Daley graduated from the University of Westminster in 2020, presented a unisex collection, with trousers baggy and Sherlock Holmes coats.

Matty Bovan, a designer from the north of England also out of Central Saint Martins, presented an American-style collection under the crypt of a church near Trafalgar Square. An eccentric collection made of combinations of baseball, gingham, denim and crochet jackets, its trademark.

Thirty-seven parades

But these five days of parades are marked by the absence of names like Burberry, which announced a parade in London on March 11, outside the framework of Fashion Week, and Victoria Beckham. The latter has not participated in a Fashion Week, even online, for more than a year, and complained in an interview about the cost of organizing the parades.

Another big name in British fashion, Ozwald Boateng, announced at the last minute that he would be making his comeback at a show on Monday.

The former creative director of Givenchy Homme, the first black designer to hold this position in a luxury house, had not presented a collection in London for 12 years.

Last year at the same time, this event was held in a 100% virtual format, parades with an audience being prohibited in a country in full confinement.

This time, 37 public parades are on the program, including established brands that are used to this meeting such as Simone Rocha, Molly Goddard, Roksanda, Erdem, or Rejina Pyo presenting both women’s and men’s collections.

The stars of tomorrow will be unearthed among the students of the prestigious fashion school Central Saint Martins or the designers selected by the talent incubator Fashion East, whose parades are organized on Sunday.

Among the leading designers in sustainable fashion, Briton Bethany Williams and Irishman Richard Malone will present their creations on Tuesday.

NFT

Also in the spirit of reaching fashion lovers around the world, Serbian Roksanda Ilincic will present her fall/winter 2022 collection in the form of an NFT, certified digital token, created by the Institute of Digital Fashion.

After being hit hard by the pandemic, the British fashion sector, which employed some 890,000 people in 2019, is trying to recover.

Asked by AFP, Caroline Rush, director general of the British Fashion Council, admits that there have been “a few very difficult years” which add to the effects of Brexit.

This one “continues to be a challenge for the fashion industry, whether it’s customs duties, paperwork or visas for people to work in different countries, we continue to engage with the government to see what can be done.

London Fashion Week will be followed by Milan and then Paris.