Things got off to a bad start. A few days before the start of London Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2024, which took place from September 15 to 19, Dilara Findikoglu, one of the most anticipated designers of the event, announced in the columns of New York Times that she was canceling her fashion show. “This is not a decision I took lightly, but the reality is that we simply do not have the financial means to hold a parade at this time”explained the Turkish-British designer.
Little by little, other designers also withdrew from the official calendar: there was therefore no fashion show for Halpern, Nensi Dojaka, SS Daley – stage name of Steven Stokey Daley –, the latter two having nevertheless been rewarded in recent years with the prestigious LVMH prize allocated to young creation. “After Brexit and the increase in the cost of living, it became very difficult for a small company to survive. The majority of young designers do not come from wealthy backgrounds, and the reality is that a fashion show is very expensive. I don’t think we should criticize those who skip a season. “If they need to take a break and make sure the foundations of their business are strong, we need to help them rather than calling it a disaster,” defends Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council.
Because ideas and creativity, London always has them under its soles. Starting with that of Daniel Lee, the artistic director of the house of Burberry, who presented his highly anticipated second collection. Appointed in September 2022, the Englishman has the challenge of restoring the desirability of the flagship brand of British fashion. And he has the financial means to do it. It was under a marquee with a tartan pattern, installed in the park of Highbury Fields, that trench coats with accentuated shoulders, highlighted by belts worn low on the hips or prints featuring chains and metal buckles, gave the kick off. sending off the parade. The tartan pattern, omnipresent last season, is more discreet: it is enlarged on a few fine knit sweaters. The floral or fruity prints (strawberries, cherries, etc.), embroidered on knitted dresses, are a very pleasant surprise, as are the zips that fasten the long dresses. The bags, quilted or in light canvas, will undoubtedly find their audience.
Jonathan Anderson experimented with materials, sizes and proportions of clothing for his label JW Anderson. A little game that is familiar to him and which works quite well for him. “I wanted to find a new type of modernity through experimentation”, he reveals. The first silhouettes, shorts and rigid hooded sweatshirts, which give a very particular approach to the models, raise questions. “It’s plasticine, a type of rubber playdough made in the north of Ireland that was very popular with children in the 1980s,” explains, amused, the creator, happy with his effect. Followed by cargo pants worn with small fitted leather jackets, loose bomber jackets with large feathers escaping, short, braided, close-fitting dresses or even perfect trench coats, essential in British lands.
Petticoats made of royal curtains
Erdem Moralioglu also talks about England. It was in the exterior corridors of the British Museum that the designer unfolded his love letter to the Duchess of Devonshire, Deborah Cavendish, long a high society figure Englishwoman – and grandmother of the late model Stella Tennant – who died in 2014. Thanks to privileged access to her personal archives, the forty-year-old has extracted a beautiful wardrobe, mixing exquisite floral prints, coats stitched with embroidery, long dresses in delicate lace or even jewelry in the shape of a chicken, Deborah Cavendish’s favorite animal. “I was inspired by the idea of heritage, that of darning, of repairing clothes and fabrics, which the Duchess did religiously. We also reused curtains from her family castle, Chatsworth House, to integrate them into the petticoats. » A very beautiful collection, combining precious materials and precise cuts.
It was in the rehearsal room of the English National Ballet in London that Simone Rocha proposed a collection juggling black and pastel, lightness and radicality. The Irishwoman, a face of London fashion week since the beginning of the 2010s, knows perfectly how to tell stories while juggling volumes. “I wanted to confront the fragile and the almost perverse, by playing with the different layers of fabric and gradually revealing what is hidden underneath. » And what we see? Real roses nestled between the layers of tulle of dresses, high-waisted shorts slipped under buttoned jackets or even long fine lace petticoats worn with unstructured silver biker jackets. The designer signs here a collaboration with Crocs shoes, and adorns these unattractive clogs with pearls and rhinestones. After Julien Dossena or Olivier Rousteing, she is the next designer invited by Jean Paul Gaultier to reinterpret his archives, during haute couture week, in January 2024.
Finally, Emilia Wickstead, another regular at the London collections, invited her guests to the Royal Academy of Arts to present her wardrobe inspired by the French Riviera of the 1930s, and female artists of that era, from Lee Miller to Françoise Gilot ( recently died). Beautifully striped and colorful sets, fine knit sweaters over flowing petticoats, long dresses with floral prints or others adorned with sequins, the look is light and refreshing. Finally, London will have been able to deliver a season rich in proposals, to which the absentees would nevertheless have brought a welcome touch of fantasy.