London Fashion Week's The Daily Tuesday 22nd September 09

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LONDON FASHION WEEK REPORTING FROM FASHION’S FRONT LINE Got a story? Email us: newsdesk@lfwdaily.com VIEW THE DAILY ONLINE: www.lfwdaily.com

ISSUE N O 4, LONDON FASHION WEEK SPRING /SUMMER 2010

IN ASS OCIATION WITH PANDORA

TUESDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2009

THE FASHION MOMENT Hot stuff: the front row at Christopher Kane yesterday included Anna Wintour, Natalia Vodianova and Donatella Versace. Photography by Anna Bauer

The heat of the day Report by David Hayes

Boy, was it hot at Christopher Kane. Maybe it was the high wattage frontrow line-up, including Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Sir Philip Green, Natalia Vodianova and Miss Joan Collins. Or maybe it was the stellar collection from London Fashion Week’s hottest star. But boy was it hot. Still, even with all the heat and hubbub, Kane kept his cool with a show that mixed oversized gingham checks on dresses cut with corsetry seams and boning with slashed

Girls! Girls! Girls! Report by Isaac Lock So it’s probably time to talk about some models. Thank God the past few days have thrown up some faces who were interesting for reasons other than their weight! As usual, a lot of the really exciting girls have skipped London to go straight to Milan, but casting director Angus Munro reckons the situation is getting better season on season. “It’s sometimes a bit dribs and drabs, but London is building a head

Time, please Report by Carrie Gorman

cashmere sweaters, layers of pastel chiffons with floral sequin motifs, sheer pleats and razor-sharp tailoring – thanks to Savile Row tailor Patrick Grant – all sent out to a melancholy gospel soundtrack by Mahalia Jackson. ‘The Jonestown cult and Jehovah’s Witnesses’, ‘Lolita’, ‘covering up’, ‘teenage bras’, ‘a girl who doesn't know who to be’… the inspiration was hard to pin down from Christopher or sister Tammy. But who cares? The results spoke for themselves.

Backstage, the temperature cranked up a further notch with the front row and teary-eyed buyers vying for Kane fashion hugs. “I liked it very much,” said Donatella in her husky Italian accent, holding on to her daughter, Allegra. Philip Green and daughter Chloe seemed pretty pleased, too. “Great,” said Sir Philip. “Really nice,” added Chloe. You could almost hear the cogs turning. Don’t be surprised to see a fair bit of gingham in Topshop next season.

Timekeeping, people. With the international press in town, our lackadaisical attitude to show start times (x o’clock + 20 minutes = arrival) is being shown up. At 9am prompt yesterday at Meadham Kirchhoff, Anna Wintour made her first appearance at LFW, a vision in gold brocade, to a waiting audience of…. three security guards and a catwalk photographer (possibly still trying to find the exit after Richard Nicoll the night before. No

of steam with the return of Burberry and Matthew Williamson. And with an ever-increasing core of talent emerging with Louise Goldin, Erdem and Peter Pilotto, I have noticed a distinct increase in interest of girls to come. This season has seen the arrival of hot new girls in the form of Patricia, Frida, Auguste and Mirte,” he claims. Munro cast some breakthrough new faces for Matthew Williamson, including Supreme’s Karolin Volter, alongside some major bigger girls, including Freja Beha Erichsen and Abbey Lee Kershaw [see right]. Meanwhile, at Topshop Unique, Russell Marsh put together a really directional casting made up of some of the most talked-about new girls

of the moment, including Dree Hemingway (yeah, yeah, the greatgranddaughter of ) and IMG’s incredible Frida (who had everyone doing backflips at Calvin Klein in New York), as well as some of the stars of last season, like Ford’s Alla, who opened YSL and McQueen. Then today Christopher Kane, of course, had killer casting – thanks once again to Marsh. The show was opened by Next’s Valerija Erokhina and closed by beautiful, androgynous Ursula. Lara Stone popped up, too. Coco Rocha and Chanel Iman are also in town – in Nicole Farhi, of all places, and Sessilee Lopez and Alana Zimmer have both been working their trotters off!

Photography by Anna Bauer

FROM TOKYO TO LONDON

reception to call for help, you see). Anna waited. Refused coffee. And waited. And still no one. She tapped at her watch to the security guards. What could they do? After New York, where shows began on time and Marc Jacobs wouldn’t even wait for Lady Gaga to arrive, Anna was expecting the same routine here. In one of few occasions, she was wrong. Because London designers are running late, not because of backstage dramas, but while waiting for the press. Meadham Kirchhoff, Luella and Marios Schwab were all ready to show on time – as was Anna – but the press was still on London time. Lateness is not our greatness.

Column McDyson Pop-up column by Jenny Dyson For those of you who have been swanning around the Georgian landscape of the new, improved, LFW, I’d like to take this opportunity to raise a cheer for our team of intrepid reporters, subs, editors, runners, designers, bloggers, photographers, illustrators and distributors, who have spent the past week doing the following to bring you, the reader, the news from fashion’s front line: Dashing from our pop-up office (2nd floor West Wing) to file copy in our press-gang common room (in the roof, scarily close to HM Revenue & Customs); scoffing our bodyweight in Wotsits (sushi for slackers); making microwave suppers; fetching more KitKats at 2am; working so late we bring slippers and pyjamas; checking endlessly complicated designer names (Kirchhoff/Katrantzou/Aggugini…); bombing around town in an electric car to ensure the papers are delivered to all the venues and stores; getting up so early we don’t see our kids… While it has been exhausting, rest assured that the sheer volume of news created every day is nothing but testament to fashion’s most inspiring capital. Three cheers for London; three cheers for the fashion week family.

OXFORD STREET / SHOP ONLINE: UNIQLO.COM


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