#TodayImWearing – Katie and Helene on day four of LFW

It’s day four of London Fashion Week and with the weekend over Team S&TS is considerably depleted. Most of our gang have gone back to work but LFW continues apace for photographer Helene and I. Today I was excited to be premiering a new blazer I got especially for fashion week (don’t believe anyone who tells you they don’t make extra effort with their outfits for the shows) and I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty pleased that I got snapped by about 5 street style photographers after the Michael van der Ham show (which you can see a video of over here).

Katie – Zara blazer, H&M shirt, J+ Uniqlo trousers, vintage shoes and bag.

Helene – Muji cape, Urban Outfitters shirt and boots, H&M leggings.

Not exactly the highpoint of our London Fashion Week: House of Evolution SS12

What?  House of Evolution at London Fashion Week

Where? Vauxhall Fashion Scout, Freemasons Hall

When? Sunday 18th September, 6.30pm

Who? No one famous, which is always a bad sign.

If a show is 15 minutes or so late (that’s basically industry standard) I can deal with it. If it’s 45 minutes late on a Sunday night when getting home to catch up with two episodes of X-Factor is all I want to do (don’t judge, it’s great TV) I start to get mildly annoyed. If it THEN turns out the show is abysmal, I really get annoyed. That’s what happened yesterday. Katie Mogridge and I queued outside and then got herded in the ‘holding area’ for ages only to have to stand through a half hour long show (the usual is about ten minutes) featuring three designers in which the clothes got progressively worse.

It didn’t start off too badly to be fair. First up was a harmless, at times even quite pretty, collection of billowing Grecian inspired dresses with rope detailing. Some of the bright saturated colours were lovely.

The second collection was so forgettable I honestly can’t remember what was involved, and my photographer Katie Mogridge didn’t deem any of the photos interesting enough to send over, which I think says a lot.

The third and final collection was really something to behold. Bird calls squawked irritatingly on top of the soundtrack and the models wore huge feather false eyelashes. There were feathers aplenty on the clothes too, and just in case you hadn’t worked out there was an avion theme going on, one of the models spread her ‘wings’ theatrically at the end of the catwalk.

There were a whole host of ruffly, badly cut outfits, but the finale look was the piece de resistance. The lights went down and a glow of blue appeared at the top of the catwalk. I wish the lights had stayed down because when they went back up they revealed a sprawling, open, ivory lace coat which had been shot through with blue fairy lights. It looked like a decaying wedding dress, which could have been kind of cool in a Miss Havisham sort of way, but why the fairy lights? I have no idea, which basically sums up my feelings about the entire show.

VIDEO: Michael van der Ham SS12

We’ve just got back from the Michael van der Ham spring summer 2012 show at the Topshop venue in the Old Eurostar Terminal at Waterloo. It was a beautifully light and fresh collection with lots of van der Ham’s signature prints. Full review and photos coming soon, but in the mean time here’s a video of the final run through.

 

Dancing down the catwalk: Jayne Pierson SS12 (VIDEO)

What? Jayne Pierson at London Fashion Week

Where? LSO St Luke’s, Old Street

When? Sunday 18th September, 5pm

Who? Pandemonia, the latex blow up doll-woman who has become a bit of a LFW institution, and fashion week veteran and journalist Caryn Franklin.

I like it whenever fashion week gives me the opportunity to visit a building I would never normally get to. Today I got that chance when the Jayne Pierson spring summer 2012 show was held in LSO St Luke’s on Old Street, which I thought was a regular old church. Turns out it’s now the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, but today it had been kitted out with a catwalk. Adding another twist, it wasn’t models that walked the show but ballet dancers. And they didn’t just walk – they swirled, twirled, pirouetted, jumped and teetered delicately en pointe. Pierson, who is now in her fourth season at LFW, studied performance art and drama before turning her hand to fashion, which probably explains the dramatic production. My photographer for the day, Katie Mogridge, and I sat up on the balcony and got a birds eye view of the show, but for a show this action packed video was more useful, so I shot a few clips.