Bolshie S/S 2012 by Sam Parr.
The invite to Romantic Poverty – a Madonna with a vast gold chain badly photoshopped around her neck – said it all: Bolshie means business with this here fashion malarkey. She’s been to London Fashion Week dressed in eye-catching outfits, sale she’s done a stand at Fashion Scout and now she’s gone one step further and staged her own fashion show.
Bolshie S/S 2012 by Barb Royal.
The show, on Thursday night, was held on the top of a car park just off Old Street, and it was a vibrant reminder of what London does best – breeding up and coming designers who don’t let tiny budgets get in the way of creativity.
It’s been a long while since I went to a show in an interesting or edgy location, but this was certainly it. Visitors were packed into a vast car lift and then delivered to the top floor under the glare of orange lamps and the looming twinkle of nearby office blocks. Seats were bulging with goodie bags, full of Bolshie branded tat.
The show began with a brilliant bit of raw energy in the form of rapping from Mic Righteous, and then the models were off down the catwalk (such as it was) with a swish of their ponytails and a sweep of their talons. Bathed in the yellow light they primped and preened (the girls) or clutched at their balls (the boys).
Bolshie S/S 2012 by Barb Royal.
Gone were Bolshie‘s previous sculptural pieces covered in glitter: in their place was a thoroughly wearable collection with an eye to the kind of market Cassette Playa services. Prints reigned large, with dollar signs ago-go and cash stuffed into waistbands. Girls wore tight fitting catsuits, bikinis and tiny shorts and boys wore baggy trews. The collection didn’t bust any design barriers but it was done with such ballsy panache that it left me grinning from ear to ear.
Bolshie may have swapped the baby doll leg accessories and chicken fillet boobs for a more comfortable velour tracksuit and dreads down to her knees, but she’s a 19 year old with more ambition than many twice her age.
Her approach to fashion is as rough and ready as her artworking and she’s got a way to go before she settles into her own design groove but Bolshie, it seems, is here to stay.
Bolshie with Mic Righteous. All photography by Amelia Gregory.
Categories ,Baby-leg girl, ,Barb Royal, ,Blow PR, ,Blow Presents, ,Bol$hie, ,Bolshie, ,Fashion Scout, ,London Fashion Week, ,Mic Righteous, ,Old Street, ,review, ,Rhiannon Jones, ,Romantic Poverty, ,S/S 2012, ,Sam Parr
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