Lu Flux S/S 2011 collection was presented in the chapel of No. 1 Greek Street, visit web also known as the House of Saint Barnabas, a space supporting those affected by homelessness for over 160 years. It is an absolutely beautiful building, with an outside courtyard and lovely lounges. The non-for-profit private members club Quintessentially Soho uses the revenue generated by members to finance the House of Saint Barnabas’s support centre.
Illustrations by Alia Gargum
The presentation consisted of live painting, as the illustrator behind the stunning designs on the shorts suit drew the models, lots of cupcakes and fabulous shoes.
I absolutely love the dress the designer was wearing from last season’s collection:
The House of Holland Team! All illustrations by Lisa Stannard
House of Holland’s show this season was held at My Beautiful Fashion, information pills in the disused Old Sorting Office on New Oxford Street. There wasn’t too much hustle and bustle when I arrived and we moved swiftly in , look along with the huge clan of the HOH friends and family who were then greeted with champagne and showed to their seats in a block close to the front of the runway.
Then in came the HOH celebrity friends which included usual suspect Aggy Deyn, who ran in and over to her friends seconds before the lights dimmed to start the show. Nick Grimshaw, Lily Allen, Jamie Winstone and Pixie Geldoff were seated together in the front row. Other celebrities included Nicola Roberts and Amber Rose…
Anyway now I’ve got the celebrities out of the way, on with the show! The show opened with Donna Summer’s ‘Love to Love You Baby‘ when the first girl walked out with an ash blonde laid back 1970s hair do, metallic banana-leaf print blazer teamed with a pleated metallic leather mini skirt and chunky era wedges. I was shocked and pleasantly surprised by the first instalment of sexiness and sophistication.
As the next girls continued to strut down the runway there was a recurring theme with the banana leaves, which were in fact a woven jacquard. These fabrics came in green, purple and blue and were used as part of shirt dresses (another recurring theme) with lots of lengthy fringing, and on cropped pants, fitted cropped jackets and flares. I was really enjoying the styling, it was preppy and cool, yet was mixed with a lot more sophistication than Henry’s past collections.
Then these pieces began to change and along came jumpsuits with appliquéd stars all over followed by flowing knee length pleated chiffon skirts teamed with slouchy vests in a bold pinky/purple print. I liked this look a lot. This was Henry’s recognisable print of the season, which was a lot tamer than past slogans, crazy paislies and polka dots.
My favourite outfit was Henry’s cropped (banana leaf) print t-shirt, with rusty metallic print pleated leather skirt. It had the most amazing oversized backpack with tan leather trims. This wasn’t the only accessory in there; there was a lot of luxe towelling used on even more bags! Huge pom pom earrings, too – which I wouldn’t wear – but great fun for this catwalk show. There were also socks teamed with the huge metallic platforms with crazy fringing on them, I wonder if these will be sold amongst his hosiery range too?
Denim made a reappearance but this time it was decorated with metallic appliqued stars. I have to say that I did enjoy the non-star appliquéd pieces more. The aquamarine pleated chiffon dress and the floor length banana leaf print dress were far nicer.
Henry didn’t leave out the glitz – just when you thought you had summed up the themes of this collection, out walks another 1970s disco queen in a slinky super sparkly gold dress.
I felt that the collection had moved far away from slogan tees and tights and was a more sophisticated reflection of his inspirations. Maybe I am biased – I’m totally with his fun vibe and 1980s references, but I suppose as one of his target consumers that’s entirely the point.
I’m looking forward to future collections from Henry, but desperate to get my hands on that oversized backpack…!
All illustrations by Lisa Stannard
Categories ,1970s, ,Agyness Deyn, ,Alexa Chung, ,Amber Rose, ,Banana Leaf, ,disco, ,Donna Summer, ,Glamour, ,Grimmers, ,Henry Holland, ,House of Holland, ,Jaime Winstone, ,lily allen, ,Lisa Stannard, ,London Fashion Week, ,My Beautiful Fashion, ,S/S 2011
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