AW12 Press days | Mickey Mouse meets Mumbai

Last week, Million and Naomi went along to the Blow PR press day and discovered some beautifully unique designs from around the world.

Located in a very underground basement just off Regent Street, Blow PR is one of the most well-established public relations companies in the city, with a client roster spanning from well-known brands to freshly graduated designers from all around the globe. We were pretty excited when S&TS asked us to cover the Blow press day. On arrival, we swapped our coats and heavy bags for a big glass of vodka sour – now that’s what I call a proper welcome.

The first designer we came across was Little Shilpa, a Mumbai based designer and Central St.Martins graduate renowned for her fabulous handcrafted head pieces.

Her “Disney Couture” collection was a huge success of Lakme fashion week. I mean, how cool is that mickey mouse scarf?

In these hard times, it’s always good to do a bit of recycling. Jane Bowler (an RCA graduate whose talent was dicovered by photographer Nick Knight) certainly embraced that by designing a whole collection out of scrap plastic. My favourite piece was this knitted sweater: totally wearable but sustainable too.

Now Marie-Me Jimmy Paul are a couple that know a thing or two about the term ‘thinking outside the box’. Based in Amsterdam, the design duo took the concepts of shape and texture to an extreme level: their clothes are bursting with patterns, colors and fabrics, creating a geometric feast worthy of an exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. And yes, those bags really are made of concrete.

Alpana and Neeraj specialise in the design of striking couture dresses. They mesh together two extreme ideas such as plastic bodices swathed in soft drapes, bandages and surgical masks teamed with slim dresses and structured armour-like cages.

Sorapol, born  in Bangkok, considers London’s cultural melting pot a great source of inspiration. His autumn/winter collection is inspired by the story of Vasilisa, a young orphan was adopted by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, an exiled extremist, during the Russian Revolution. Sorapol is a real story-teller who instantly engages you with his dark and edgy designs.

Bjorg, an artisan from Norway, started making jewellery in India in 2004, and went on to design numerous collections which have featured in magazines such as Italian and French Vogue. Materials he uses include silver, uncut diamonds and bronze, all responsibly sourced. Isn’t the golden cigarette holder just genius?

There’s no doubt Charlotte Valkeniers has a bright future ahead of her: her unique neck and arm pieces of embroidered leather definitely fall into the statement jewellery category: big, yet classy.

With the new hipster trend spreading like an oil stain, Underground Creepers are one of Blow’s key brands.  The new collection revisited the classic wulfrun shoe by adding colours like robin’s egg blue, acid green and metallic silver, as well as showcasing a new range of Creeper Wedges.

TREND | Lace

It’s everywhere I look. Pretty, blossom coloured lace, Zara copies of Valentino girlish Audrey Hepburn-ish dresses, modest high necklines and glimpses of sylph-like legs. Maybe it’s the association with Victoriana and fluttering fans, but there’s something irresistibly flirtatious about lace; the way it simultaneously conceals and reveals.

While Valentino and Louis Vuitton gave us pastels and sugar bright colours for a Summer replete with broderie anglaise, waists cinched in with skinny belts and feet wearing barely-there sandals, this pretty sweetness gives away to a more solemn look for the Autumn. It just shows the versatility of lace that two seasons in the same year could use it in such different ways. Collette Dinnigan’s Autumn/Winter show was decidedly more tough than Valentino’s collection: this may have had something to do with her knee-length embellished lace socks, which had an air of the gladiator sandal about them. Erdem’s latex lace gives a twist on the traditional, too. Francesca Marotta’s Baroque-inspired Autumn/Winter collection is full of drama, with a red lace cape and high collared black lace shirts. And then there is Marchesa, with sumptuous gold embellishment and regal lace making dresses more appropriate for hem-kissing than anything else.

But for now, it’s Spring and the colours are soft and giddily sweet. I found this beautiful late 1950s lace shift dress for £25 in Portobello Market last year, and I can tell it’s going to stand me in good stead not just for this year, but for many to come. I like to wear it with a black satin bow belt from H&M. Lace making has been a treasured skill in Europe for centuries, and really, when you think about it, it never really goes out of fashion.