London Fashion Week 15-19 February 2013
Somerset House was once again the focus of attention during the 5 day London Fashion Week spectacle where buyers, press, celebs and VIPs were invited to view 2013 Autumn/Winter womenswear collections by Britain's leading fashion designers. The subject of UK's triple dip recession was left aside at No.10 Downing Street on Friday 15 February when the Prime minister's wife Samantha Cameron hosted a star studded evening reception with international guests from the world of fashion, film and politics.
Whilst some fashionistas schmoozed and boozed during LFW, I headed to the grand historic Freemasons Hall in Great Queen Street to watch emerging designers showcase their creations at ‘Fashion Scout' catwalk shows. Belle Sauvage's collection consisted of short dresses, tops and trousers with bold prints, coats and stoles made of colourful faux fur and models wore fan shaped head pieces under long pig-tails with some of the outfits. In between shows browsed the Fashion Scout exhibition upstairs at Freemasons Hall. The Runway Collective featured masculine-looking trouser suits and casual wear with simple clean lines by designer Nian and, Janucha-Jale Hurdogan's collection in sober colours consisted of flared midi dresses, long dresses with high splits and knitted outer garments/hats. The final Fashion Scout show on Friday evening was Nova Chiu's colourful ethnic collection consisting of mid length dresses, jackets and skirts with a composition of different, textures and designs some of which had an American Indian look.
Saturday's Fashion Scout shows were even more crowded but I managed to see Zaynep Tosun's show, a designer whose work is gaining recognition in the fashion industry. Zaynep's collection was edgy and dramatic, models wore long coats, jackets, fitted skirts, shirts and trousers in rusty red, tan, mustard, black, white and, choir boy type frilly collars featured throughout the show. Straight after Zeynep's show I legged it over to the Bloomsbury Ballroom for Retrospective Vintage Couture catwalk show which featured vintage pieces by Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Vivienne Westwood, Mary Quant, Bruce Oldfield, Catherine Walker and Ozzie Clark.
Even though LFW appears to be highly glamorous there's a lot of hard graft behind the scenes with teams of designers, models, assistants, make-up artists/hair stylists, interns, PR working to make the shows a success. For people in media covering LFW is a challenge i.e. queuing for hours in all weather, competing to get a good spot to view the shows and take photos and running around in between to get to shows in time. Also joining queues as there are various queues for media/bloggers, buyers/trade and special guests so that's when there's confusion and sometimes it takes twice as long to get in.
On Sunday we visited the LFW exhibition showcasing garments, shoes and accessories in various showrooms at Somerset House. This season, The Scandinavian Showrooms were a special addition to the exhibition.
© Article/photos by Gina Chrysanthou & LFW exhibition pics by Amita Chatterji
Below: Photos from the Fashion Scout shows at Freemasons Hall and at LFW at Somerset House
Below: fashion by Belle Sauvage
Below: fashion by Janucha-Jale Hurdogan
Below left: Janucha-Jale Hurdogan & below right, Nova Chiu
Below: fashion by Nova Chiu
Below left: fashion by Zeynun Toysun
continued below: fashion by Zaynep Toysun
Below: Retrospective - Vintage Couture Catwalk Show
Below: fashion by Nian
Above left: Freemasons Hall and right, bags by designer Taeseok Kang at Fashion Scout exhibition
Above left: Designer Ming and right, designer Hellen van Rees
Above left: Fashion Blogger Marsha Campbell at Somerset House
Below: LFW exhibition at Somerset House
Above: The Scandinavian Showrooms at LFW Somerset House
Above left: Hats by Piers Atkinson & right, Aurora Ozma
Above: Hats by Aurora Ozma
Above & below: Hats by Piers Atkinson
Below two pics: Shoes by Joanne Stoker
Above: Hats by Piers Atkinson
Above: Hats by Aurora Ozma
Above: hats by Piers Atkinson
Please click link below to view Pukka PR's full photo collection in the Gallery: London Fashion Week