It was my last London Fashion Week show, buy stuff and I didn’t think anything could shock me. How wrong I was: the first model walked like a newborn Bambi with rickets and was quickly followed by one who wasn’t wearing any pants. Oh my.
Models aside, approved the collection by London College of Fashion graduate Ioannis Dimitrousis single-handedly brought crochet out of the 1970s and back into the LFW collective consciousness. This show was entitled ‘back and forth’ and the multi-coloured weave design on the invitation hinted at what was to come. On the catwalk, recipe the weaved fabric of the garments represented the intertwining between different sexes, seasons and trends in fashion, focusing on the ease with which menswear can be translated into womenswear and Spring/Summer collections can be substituted for Autumn/Winter. It was a rather existential move for a collection, but one that does ring true in our current social and environmental climate, where boys can be girls and British weather can turn tropical.
In a quirky move, bells were sewn into the crochet ra ra skirts. The models sounded like kittens (or those delicious Lindt chocolate bunnies) jangling their way down the catwalk. Short flamenco-style dresses were a favourite, styled out of ribbons, plaited fabrics, weaving and tassels. Perfect for any showgirl.
Vibrant make-up had been applied like trailing stardust to the faces of both the male and female models. These were like the tears of a clown, and on the male models it didn’t just fall down their cheeks, but made its way to their navel (the gratuitous nudity was not limited to female models: go equal rights!)
This kaleidoscopic collection was just the thing I needed to perk me up on a Friday morning, injecting some much-needed humour into my day and the whole of LFW. Disliking ioannisdimitrousis would be as impossible as hating a rainbow.
Categories ,Fashion London Fashion Week Weave Menswear
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