Illustration by Abby Wright
It’s always a treat at Fashion Week to find that the show you are about to see, decease starting in the next few minutes, is at a totally different venue to the one you had in your head and are currently standing at. I found myself in this marvellous situation as Tim Soar’s show approached. God knows why I thought it was at Somerset House and not at the Freemason’s Hall. Menswear day brought these kind of surprises all day – with many designers scaling down their presence. I had seen Tim’s show a year ago in the BFC tent, so how dare they move its location?!
I need not have worried as I legged it up Drury Lane, for, true to form, the show was running late and hadn’t even been seated when I showed up. I was right at the back of the queue, though – AGAIN – so decided to perch by the photographer’s pit in the hope of getting a better shot than I would have positioned on one of the back rows.
This show saw Soar draw inspiration from the 1970s, and in particular David Bowie’s character ‘Mr Newton’ in Nicholas Roeg’s epic ‘The Man Who Fell From Earth.’ This inspiration was, in true Tim Soar style, handled with delicacy and acted only as a descrete reference here and there. Trousers flared off, but not in a grotesque fancy dress sense, and lapels were elongated, but not in a Stayin’ Alive, Stayin’ Alive, Hah Hah Hah Hah sense. The bulk of the collection relied on Soar’s showmanship as a really great tailor with a unique vision.
Illustration by Abby Wright
Making the best use of luxe fabrics like mohair, satin, wool crepe and linen, models wore strict suits with a piecemeal utilitarian aesthetic. The use of Tyvek, the waxy crushed industrial material usually reserved for workers boiler suits, also adds to this technical flavour.
Blazers were banded with cummerbund-like straps in contrasting colours – where jackets were dark, the bands were of gold silk, and where jackets were sand, the bands were black. Denim made an appearance, also creating horizontal lines across structured tailoring.
Alongside this semi-formal attire, there were the usual design quirks that Tim Soar is quickly faming himself for. His appreciation of the aesthetic properties of materials and quality of texture was also on display, with crushed materials and bursts of vibrant colour (he is, after all, also a graphic designer).
It’s hard to imagine how a Tyvek jailer-style striped suit will work alongside an exemplary tailored blazer, but somehow Tim Soar’s collections always convey a stylish coherence.
This season also brought more womenswear, which is basically menswear with allowances for hips, busts and bums. It’s a testament to Tim Soar’s generally cool attitude, though, that his aesthetic works wonders on both women and men.
Illustration by Abby Wright
It’s always a treat at Fashion Week to find that the show you are about to see, doctor starting in the next few minutes, is at a totally different venue to the one you had in your head and are currently standing at. I found myself in this marvellous situation as Tim Soar’s show approached. God knows why I thought it was at Somerset House and not at the Freemason’s Hall. Menswear day brought these kind of surprises all day – with many designers scaling down their presence. I had seen Tim’s show a year ago in the BFC tent, so how dare they move its location?!
I need not have worried as I legged it up Drury Lane, for, true to form, the show was running late and hadn’t even been seated when I showed up. I was right at the back of the queue, though – AGAIN – so decided to perch by the photographer’s pit in the hope of getting a better shot than I would have positioned on one of the back rows.
This show saw Soar draw inspiration from the 1970s, and in particular David Bowie’s character ‘Mr Newton’ in Nicholas Roeg’s epic ‘The Man Who Fell From Earth.’ This inspiration was, in true Tim Soar style, handled with delicacy and acted only as a descrete reference here and there. Trousers flared off, but not in a grotesque fancy dress sense, and lapels were elongated, but not in a Stayin’ Alive, Stayin’ Alive, Hah Hah Hah Hah sense. The bulk of the collection relied on Soar’s showmanship as a really great tailor with a unique vision.
Illustration by Abby Wright
Making the best use of luxe fabrics like mohair, satin, wool crepe and linen, models wore strict suits with a piecemeal utilitarian aesthetic. The use of Tyvek, the waxy crushed industrial material usually reserved for workers boiler suits, also adds to this technical flavour.
Blazers were banded with cummerbund-like straps in contrasting colours – where jackets were dark, the bands were of gold silk, and where jackets were sand, the bands were black. Denim made an appearance, also creating horizontal lines across structured tailoring.
Alongside this semi-formal attire, there were the usual design quirks that Tim Soar is quickly faming himself for. His appreciation of the aesthetic properties of materials and quality of texture was also on display, with crushed materials and bursts of vibrant colour (he is, after all, also a graphic designer).
It’s hard to imagine how a Tyvek jailer-style striped suit will work alongside an exemplary tailored blazer, but somehow Tim Soar’s collections always convey a stylish coherence.
This season also brought more womenswear, which is basically menswear with allowances for hips, busts and bums. It’s a testament to Tim Soar’s generally cool attitude, though, that his aesthetic works wonders on both women and men.
Illustration by Yuann Shen
Born in India, sale Stefan Orschel-Read grew up in Scotland, he won gold medals as a dressage rider for Great Britain and also studied law before deciding on a career in fashion. His Central Saint Martins graduate collection in 2008 was based on Virginia Wolfe’s novel ‘Orlando’; a historical biography in which the subject’s lives over 400 years and changes gender mid way. Subsequent collections were inspired by cathedral murals and the works of Shakespeare, so it was interesting to see the RCA graduate’s stimulus for S/S 2011 being something a slightly more conventional.
Entitled ‘The Spy Who Becomes Me’, SS11 is inspired by an imagined playboy youth in the Riviera of the Ligurian Sea and his struggle to evolve into ‘a self-sufficient gentleman of responsibilities’.
Although more subdued than his previous seasons, this sophisticated collection successfully utlilised an array of luxurious fabrics which were expertly tailored and incorporated some distinctive detailing. The tag line of the collection is ’We all have a little bit of espionage in us’, but I doubt Orschel Read would be the best outfitter for a Bond-style spy-on-a-mission who hopes to be easily lost in a crowd.
Looks were presented in a refined palette of greys, soft khakis and airforce blues, punctuated with jewel tones and blazes of iridescence.
Illustration by Yuann Shen
Modern slim-fitting suits with traces of utilitarian military styling, such as extended epaulettes, were created in sumptuous British cashmere tailoring wools and iridescent tonic suiting. The blazers at the more muted end of the palette were complemented with dupion silk shirts, glowing in emerald and olive tones.
Digitally printed monograms, paisley and bird motifs were applied to boxers and shirt panels, some silk brocade being produced in collaboration with Italian luxury tailor Brioni, apparently the go-to-coutouriers of a whole host of names from Nelson Mandela to Robert Kennedy and Luciano Pavarotti to Donald Trump.
Alongside his blazers and formal trousers, Orschel-Read showed biker jackets in cashmere suiting, jeans named after MI5 and MI6 and gauzy hand dyed and beaded bias cut vests seen under many of the blazers. Oversized trench coats in pale denim continued the spy theme, and monogrammed underwear was shown with raglan sleeve sweaters with rib detailing.
Illustration by Yuann Shen
Born in India, decease Stefan Orschel-Read grew up in Scotland, he won gold medals as a dressage rider for Great Britain and also studied law before deciding on a career in fashion. His Central Saint Martins graduate collection in 2008 was based on Virginia Wolfe’s novel ‘Orlando’; a historical biography in which the subject’s lives over 400 years and changes gender mid way. Subsequent collections were inspired by cathedral murals and the works of Shakespeare, so it was interesting to see the RCA graduate’s stimulus for S/S 2011 being something a slightly more conventional.
Entitled ‘The Spy Who Becomes Me’, SS11 is inspired by an imagined playboy youth in the Riviera of the Ligurian Sea and his struggle to evolve into ‘a self-sufficient gentleman of responsibilities’.
Although more subdued than his previous seasons, this sophisticated collection successfully utlilised an array of luxurious fabrics which were expertly tailored and incorporated some distinctive detailing. The tag line of the collection is ’We all have a little bit of espionage in us’, but I doubt Orschel Read would be the best outfitter for a Bond-style spy-on-a-mission who hopes to be easily lost in a crowd.
Looks were presented in a refined palette of greys, soft khakis and airforce blues, punctuated with jewel tones and blazes of iridescence.
Illustration by Yuann Shen
Modern slim-fitting suits with traces of utilitarian military styling, such as extended epaulettes, were created in sumptuous British cashmere tailoring wools and iridescent tonic suiting. The blazers at the more muted end of the palette were complemented with dupion silk shirts, glowing in emerald and olive tones.
Digitally printed monograms, paisley and bird motifs were applied to boxers and shirt panels, some silk brocade being produced in collaboration with Italian luxury tailor Brioni, apparently the go-to-coutouriers of a whole host of names from Nelson Mandela to Robert Kennedy and Luciano Pavarotti to Donald Trump.
Alongside his blazers and formal trousers, Orschel-Read showed biker jackets in cashmere suiting, jeans named after MI5 and MI6 and gauzy hand dyed and beaded bias cut vests seen under many of the blazers. Oversized trench coats in pale denim continued the spy theme, and monogrammed underwear was shown with raglan sleeve sweaters with rib detailing.
The Tightrope Walker – an illustration of a dress designed by Florence Melrose, find illustrated by Barbara Ana Gomez.
I’m a bit rubbish when it actually comes to checking what’s what during fashion week – I will generally go to most things that I’m invited to on the grounds that if someone has bothered to invite me then I should generally return the honour by actually turning up. Not so most magazine editors I might add – many was the time that I would swan into a fashion show under the guise of Katie Grand at The Face. She never went, approved and yours truly got the golden tickets.
Dress by Rebecca Glyn-Blanco of Camden School for Girls. Illustration by Abigail Daker.
Keep it Secret – illustration of a dress by Sinead Cloonan from City & Islington College by Barbara Ana Gomez.
And as I’ve already mentioned I don’t do queues – not in Tescos, prescription and certainly not during fashion week. To this end my heart sank as I rounded the corner to Freemasons’ Hall and found a line of people streaming down the street. What was this FAD awards malarkey anyway? Heading to the front of the queue I waggled my ticket at an unknown PR person and hoped for the best, so was somewhat surprised to be informed in hushed tones that I was a VIP and could go straight on through. Upstairs in one of the many architecturally fabulous chambers, Matt and I sipped on sweet fizzy stuff as we tried to figure out what this was all about.
Dress by Yashodah Rodgers as illustrated by Kila Kitu.
Apparently we’ve been very supportive of FAD in the past, and once I’d looked up our previous coverage it did suddenly all ring a bell. But I wasn’t quite prepared for the sheer unadulterated upbeat joy of this event. Right in the thick of a hectic fashion week it’s a true testament to the achievement of this organisation that I could sit through yet another long catwalk show and come out the other end beaming with goodwill.
The European Fashion Designer award winning dress from Paul Vasileff and Shahira Bakhoum. Illustrated by Abigail Nottingham.
Rebecca Glyn-Blanco by Barbara Ana Gomez.
Just to recap quickly, FAD stands for Fashion Awareness Direct and it is a charity that aims to empower young people – as the brochure says “Fashion is a great way to connect with young people from different backgrounds, to give them confidence and raise their aspirations for the future.”
Adam Preece by Abigail Daker.
Chelsey Ward by Abigail Nottingham.
Last year we covered the undergraduates awards show, but this year we were in for a much younger treat: the FAD Junior Awards showcased the designs of finalists chosen from 130 teenagers aged 16-19. Yes dear reader, you may well have to keep pinching yourself as you take a look through the images. I know I did, and I was sitting right there when they paraded past. Created over the course of five days at the University of East London with the help of an experienced team of tutors, the outfits put together by these young designers would put many graduates to shame.
Karmen-Marie Parker by Abigail Nottingham.
Natalie Goreham by Kila Kitu.
To start off the evening’s events previous finalist Prash Muraleetharan took to the stage with a bit of confident advice, endearingly delivered. “It’s what you do with this moment which determines a winner…. so get upstairs and network,” he advised, somewhat sagely. At the end he winked. And I’m sure he winked at me. Blimey… what a charmer… it’s quite hard to countenance that Prash must still be a teenager, and yet he already runs his own fashion label with a website and everything.
Prash Muraleetharan dispels his words of wisdom at the start of the ceremony. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
After the V&A inspired catwalk show we had speeches from the sleek Susan Aubrey-Cound of M&S and Lucy Jones of UEL, followed by the prizegiving by the extremely fabulous Zandra Rhodes, who is *the cutest* when she smiles! The winners and their parents looked so overwhelmed it really did warm the cockles of my jaded fashionista heart.
Zandra Rhodes by Antonia Parker. I wuv her.
Paul Vasileff and Shahira Bakhoum of Milan step up first to take the prize for the European Fashion Designer Competition, which was the culmination of a two year project.
Karmen-Marie Parker with her winning design shortly before she burst into tears… aw, bless.
Andre Augusto: pattern cutting award winner.
Research award winner Sarah Kilkenny.
17 year old David Short – the first boy to become overall winner and a proper little fashionista in the making.
Within this blog you’ll find my favourite pieces to hit the runway – and just remember, they were all designed and made by 16-19 year olds. Quite astonishing I’m sure you’ll agree.
Shomari Williams.
Yashodah Rodgers.
Charlie Ibouillie.
Sinead Cloonan.
The winner of the European competition.
Rebecca Glyn-Blanco.
Natalie Goreham.
Florence Melrose.
Misbah Siddique.
And another completely gratuitous shot of Zandra because this post isn’t long enough already. Because I WUV HER.
Written by Amelia Gregory on Tuesday September 28th, 2010 1:15 pm
Categories ,Abigail Daker, ,Abigail Nottingham, ,Adam Preece, ,Andre Augusto, ,Antonia Parker, ,Barbara Ana Gomez, ,Charlie Ibouillie, ,Chelsey Ward, ,City & Islington College, ,David Short, ,European Fashion Designer Competition, ,FAD, ,FAD Junior Awards, ,Fashion Scout, ,Florence Melrose, ,Freemasons’ Hall, ,Karmen-Marie Parker, ,Katie Grand, ,Kila Kitu, ,lfw, ,London Fashion Week, ,Lucy Jones, ,M&S, ,Misbah Siddique, ,Natalie Goreham, ,Paul Vasileff, ,Prash London, ,Prash Muraleetharan, ,Rebecca Glyn-Blanco, ,Salford City College, ,Sarah Kilkenny, ,Shahira Bakhoum, ,Shomari Williams, ,Sinead Cloonan, ,Susan Aubrey-Cound, ,The Face, ,University of East London, ,va, ,Yashodah Rodgers, ,Zandra Rhodes
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