Unmissable trends from London Fashion Week

Sunset colours, comfortable cuts, flowing silhouettes, and lace with a pinch of provocation: these were the key trends that emerged from London Fashion Week's ready-to-wear collection this week.

Sweeping length

Roksanda dresses swept to ankle length with bold bands of spring colours and geometric shapes. British heavyweight Paul Smith sent models dressed in comfortable cuts designed for movement strutting down the catwalk in hemlines that finished below the knee. It was a style echoed at Jonathan Saunders, whose flowing skirts, broad stripes and prints recalled a 1970s feel.

Statement minis

In contrast, Sibling riffed on the mini-dress, with models looking ready for a night on the town in light, sheer fabrics and with contrasting glossy details and pointed high heels.

Felder Felder toyed with aquamarine colours, metallic leather skirts, floaty tops and cowboy boots for a feminine take on rock.

David Koma's dresses ended mid-thigh, with looser pleats and tutus contrasting with sculpted zip corsets and obi belts around the waist.

Lace reimagined

The delicate fabric was front and centre of several collections at fashion week, in particular on the Bora Aksu catwalk. The London-based Turkish designer enlarged lace patterns to create intricate sheer dresses in bold summery colours of fuchsia, orange, white and yellow.

Christopher Bailey of Burberry Prorsum likewise experimented with the fabric, using it to reinvent the brand's iconic trench coat.

Puffed sleeves

Tousled hair, diaphanous fabrics and oversized details created a quirky and romantic collection by Simone Rocha, whose choice of loose and puffed sleeves chimed with the otherwise contrasting work of Jonathan Anderson, who reinterpreted antique shapes in a futuristic style.

Simplicity

Crisp shirts and monochrome colours offset by the occasional pop of lime encapsulated a pared-down and elegant collection by Joseph, with fabrics that tied at the waist and chest. Fabric ties featured in several shows, used by Eudon Choi to nip in garments at the thigh.

Geometric visuals

J. JS Lee's sculptural stripes mixed the horizontal and vertical, wide and narrow, candy-coloured and black and white, with creative asymmetric cuts revealing navels, midriffs and thighs.

The dramatic diamond patterns, chevrons and graphic icons of the Anya Hindmarch collection seemed to riff on consumerism and technology.

Escapism

Giles turned enlarged patterns taken from natural tissues such as granite, flowers and plant fibres to create fairytale creations in fantastic shapes and earthy tones, with models wearing bands of colour around their necks and oversized feathered head pieces.

Mary Katrantzou used bright, intricate patterns to create a collection evoking outer space or deep sea coral reefs.

Punchy accessories

David Koma's belts were black, wound around the body and tied like a kimono. Topshop and Paul Smith chose ribbon-thick belts that tied around the waist to create definition.

Bags nodded to practical lifestyles, from Paul Smith's bright briefcases and shoppers, to Burberry's low-hung backpack and Jonathan Anderson's shoulder bags.
Source: AFP