Hot new designer alert // Tramp in Disguise at London Fashion Week AW12

One of our favourite finds of this Fashion Week was Tramp in Disguise, Sini Moilanen’s beautiful label that was shown as part of the Felicities Presents showcase in Somerset House’s Portico Rooms.

Making up the AW/12 collection are jewel coloured silk-mix dresses, jumpsuits and separates and a heavy dose of cosy-looking chunky knitwear which we can’t wait to see styled together. Inspired by the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico, Finnish-born and RCA-taught Moilanen gave the collection the title ‘Lady of the Dead’ – but don’t worry there’s not a goth accessory or emo chain look in sight.

Moilanen designed the prints herself, based on the decorated skulls and embellishment of the lively Mexican ritual, but by choosing demure necklines and shapes makes them sophisticated and urban for AW/12. This is only her fourth appearance at London Fashion Week but for a designer who’s already stocked in trendy fashion pit-stop Beyond the Valley, it looks like we caught up with the label at just the right time.

For more info, head to trampindisguise.com. If you want to throw your cash at these designs, Tramp in Disguise womenswear is on sale online at Not Just a Label – prices start at £180.

Image credit: Samantha Meachin

Raeffaele Ascione at London Fashion Week AW12 // Goths will be goths

What: Raeffaele Ascione AW12 at London Fashion Week

Where: Vauxhall Fashion Scout, Freemason’s Hall

When: Sunday 19th September 6pm – 8pm

Images credit: Samantha Meachin.

Pam Hogg at London Fashion Week AW12 // Definitely NSFW

What: Pam Hogg AW12 at London Fashion Week

Where: Vauxhall Fashion Scout

When: Sunday 19th February 2012 at 7.30pm

Who: Alexandra Burke, plus loads of ageing celebs including the original supermodel Janice Dickinson, Jo Wood, Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes and Siouxsie Sioux on the front row. Also actress Jaime Winstone modelled.

I love a bit of LFW drama. And boy was there plenty of it on Sunday night outside the Pam Hogg show. A very pushy lady was being ejected before she’d even got in the door, and she was not happy about it, shrieking and shouting at the bouncers. The drama continued on the catwalk, with a typically jaw-dropping delivery from Hogg. I had to squeeze in at the back of the extremely crowded venue and strain to get a decent view in between other people’s heads, hence my less than perfect photos.

The skintight full-body catsuit is Hogg’s stock in trade, and this season that stock was rendered in myriad variations of red, white and black panels, and silver metallic lycra too, each crowned with a huge neckpiece reminiscent of old fashioned ladies bonnets (or, to be completely honest, those collars that vets put on sick dogs). The suits got skimpier as the show went on, until all that remained in the midst of an entirely see-through gauze number was a tiny strip of black lycra preserving the model’s modesty. Another, which, as you can see from the photo, had Nick Rhodes in stitches, was completely opaque, but had a huge brown fur bonnet attached and a strip of matching fur on the crotch. You’ve got to love Hogg’s sense of humour.

Jaime Winstone’s blushes were saved as she sported a high-necked red, white and grey dress with a stiff full skirt for her turn on the catwalk, during which she stopped halfway for a little dance with another model. There was then an uncharacteristically girly interlude that featured a long sequinned gown and a catsuit, both in baby pink – not a colour you’d associate with punk icon Pam. The sweetness didn’t last for long though, because the final look was pure sex: a confluence of lipstick red bows and a pair of knickers that barely concealed the model’s naughty bits, it could have come straight off the rack at Agent Provocateur. It’s the sort of thing that makes Hogg such a hot LFW ticket each season. When a show features this much nudity, no wonder people are clamouring to get in.

Spijkers en Spijkers at London Fashion Week AW12 // Penniless Eccentrics

What: Spijkers en Spijkers AW2012

Where: Vauxhall Fashion Scout, Covent Garden

When: Saturday 18th February, 2012

Who: On the way out we were behind singer Kate Nash.

Last season I loved, and I mean LOVED, Spijkers and Spijkers at LFW. So I was pleased to see some echoes of SS12′s fantastic 1920′s vibe remained for autumn/winter. Skipping forward precisely one decade, this time the focus was on the thirties. Ewing Bouvier Beale and ‘Little Edie’ were the muses – a mother and daughter duo who were known for their glamorous but eccentric wardrobes and hectic social lives, well, before they were left abandoned and penniless when Mr Beale upped and left one day, that is.

Whimsical fairground waltz music opened the show and the whimsy continued on the catwalk. Again the Dutch designer twins sent out a lot of silk knee length dresses constructed of graphic coloured panels but the colour palette was much richer than last season – mustard yellow, deep purple and burnt orange clashed in scallopped panels and circular tessellating prints. A couple of mannish trouser suits played up the androdgyny slant the designers are so fond of.

Fashion writer Tim Blanks said something recently about fans of Marni liking the ‘sensuality of expression’ the clothes afford, rather than any obvious sexiness, and the same could be said of the Spijkers’ output this season. Some of these looks were very busy visually, especially where prints were doubled up on jackets and dresses. Pulled apart, though, they’re much more manageable. And for evening the eccentricity factor worked really well with feathery fringing and cute little fabric bird brooches, the ‘birds of paradise’ for which the show was named. The only question that remains now is: will Spijkers en Spijkers head for the 1940′s next season?

Image and Video credit: Samantha Meachin.

Zoe Jordan at London Fashion Week // Cowgirls and tomboys

‘My favourite show so far’ – that was what I tweeted straight after former ELLE Talent Launch Pad Award Zoe Jordan‘s show. Now I realise that’s not a huge statement to make on day one of London Fashion Week, but it really was a darn good show.

And at the risk of coming out with two moronic utterances in as many paragraphs, this might sound like a stupid thing to say about a fashion show, but it really was all about the clothes. Bear with me here. What I mean is it wasn’t about the theatricality of the production or the spectacular venue or which supers were walking or some pretentious concept. Quite simply, these were clothes that I could imagine in the shops, and on people on the streets, right now. And those people would look good. In a slouchy maroon crochet jumper and pegleg trousers for instance, or a fitted black leather zip up jacket, or a pair of boyish leather shorts. It wasn’t all aimed at stick thin teenagers thought – there were plenty of softly demure knee-length chiffon and lace dresses often styled with chunky grey or fawn knitwear and a waist cinching belt. These Navajo-esque blanket cardigans, plus the stiff wide-brimmed hats and liberal use of leather (in maroon too, a really nice touch) gave an Americana feel throughout. Whatever the origins, this is a collection that will look good on the streets of any city.

Caroline Charles at London Fashion Week AW12 // A British Nostalgia

What? Caroline Charles

Where? The Caroline Charles studio, Brompton Road

When? Friday 17th February, 10am

Who? Voguettes, Telegraph Fashion Team, the cream of the King’s Road

Sitting in Caroline Charles’ Brompton Road studio, who’d have known that the mayhem of London Fashion Week had already begun? Greeted with a glass of bubbly and listening to the warm refrains of Ella Fitzgerald, we all got cosy in one of those rare salon presentations and were treated to Charles’ take on heritage wear, infused with a British wartime nostalgia.

As one of the original designers to back British Fashion Week over forty years ago, Charles’ is one of biggest proponents of classic British design principles. This season’s designs had a classic, wearable feel, featuring low-key skirt suits and crepe dresses covered with claret coloured velvet jackets. A decidedly feminine collection, this season’s featured all the classic moss and berry autumn tones, but refigured in sumptuous silks, satins and velvets.  I also spotted some rather snazzy accessories and jewellery (feathered tiara anyone?) designed by the Bijoux Heart.

Heritage may be a bit of a safe bet when it comes to autumn winter collections but it wasn’t all tweed and tartan. Charles re-spun the Bloomsbury aesthetic with touches of jewel embellishment on sleeves and collars, as well as a healthy dose of leopard print and silver lame in the mix - giving the uber-glam offerings a more youthful edge. All in all, a thoroughly polished start to the season indeed.

Check out the rest of Style & Then Some’s LFW coverage here.

Photos taken with Olympus PEN E-PM1 – for more information see here

Doing it for the Boys: Menswear Week to hit London

Menswear Day.  Yep, if you are a regular on the London Fashion Week scene you will be familiar with the one day that British fashion has deemed sufficient enough to collectively show all of its wares every season.

Trailing behind an intense week of non-stop womenswear, almost like an after-thought, Menswear day isn’t given much time to breathe.  Bish, bash, bosh, and it’s over.  And unlike the Womenswear shows, which follow on seamlessly (okay, we are still hoping that will be the case come September) from one city to the next, Menswear day in London sticks out like a sore thumb.

However, this week the British Fashion Council have unveiled plans to add much needed credibility for London’s menswear designers on the international calendar, and plan to align it with the established Menswear weeks of Paris and Milan.  With London poised to take the lead, 15-17^th June will see our first ever Menswear week, entitled London Collections: Men.   And with some big-boy names getting involved, such as Mr Porter and Topman, hopefully in time it may persuade some of the UK’s brightest menswear designers to return home.  Yes Paul Smith, I’m talking to you.

Check out all the manly details over on the LFW website.

VIDEO: James Small SS12 (can you spot Kate Moss on the front row?)

Usually at London Fashion Week the best celebrity sightings are to be had at the big ticket shows in the vast white tent  at Somerset House (this season Kanye was the one to beat), and not at the comparably tiny Freemason’s Hall venue. So when Kate Moss, Jamie Hince, Sadie Frost, Meg Matthews and Jaime Winstone took their seats on the front row at the James Small SS12 menswear show yesterday – easily the most stellar line up I’d witnessed all week – I thought maybe this was a hotly-tipped designer I was shamefully ignorant of. Heck, this guy wasn’t listed on schedule. Turns out no, they’re just his mates.

That’s not to say the collection wasn’t any good. Aside from super-short shorts (in what I can only presume were ‘ironic’ leopard and camouflage print) and rolled-up trouser legs, this was a surprisingly wintery collection, what with all the dark denim, black velvet and fruity plum and blueberry toned sheer shirts. See for yourself in this video of the final walk through – and see if you can spot Moss and co too.

Click here to watch a video of the Topman SS12 finale.

Topman SS12 in photos

Wicked in white: Paul Costelloe SS12

What? Paul Costelloe SS12 at London Fashion Week

Where? BFC Showspace

When? Friday 16th September at 9am (ouch)

Who? Sat with @bumpkinbetty

We jumped off the bus straight and ran straight into our first show of the season. Twenty minutes late – the show, not us - not bad not bad. For the first half, we were treated to a muted palette with lots of white which still weirdly feels right as winter hasn’t yet drawn in. The models had hair piled up on the top of their heads and ankle length white socks.

All very prim and proper until the swinging skirts and the flouncy shoulders came out. A stripy monochrome smock here and retsrictive white lace there but then we even got some fuchsia in the menswear. Some of the outfits were a lesson in how to wear period drama era bed sheets, in a good way – others just beautifully wearable.