Published
February 24, 2025
Despite a half-decade of Brexit, ignited in many ways by a perverse fear of immigration, London Fashion Week witnessed a striking day of action by designers, few of whom were born in Britain.
Roksanda: Malleable mode
No designer in London provokes such a hushed sense of awe as Roksanda, whose latest collection had an almost mesmerizing effect on its audience.
Staged on the top floor of Space House, a rotund building in Covent Garden, the cast marched around in a circle before fantastic views of London’s latest generation of skyscrapers. Their forms evoked in the bravura silhouettes dreamed up by Serbian-born Roksanda Ilinčić.
From the Shard to the Cheesegrater to the Shaver, their eclectic shapes and profiles almost magically appeared in the three-sizes-too-big blazers or wool sheathes sprouting fabric like balconies from the hip.
But above all, it was Roksanda’s ability to make hyper-exaggerated proportions work that marked this out as a very special collection. Like an absurdly elegant oversized tuxedo coat worn with grand sequined skirt or two beautiful lavender pink layered chiffon and silk dresses.
Her prints were also remarkable: scanned images of left over plastic mixed with bold painted strokes, riffing on the show’s inspiration, British artist Phyllida Barlow, known for her sculptural drawings and crudely painted industrial constructions.
A tape of Barlow’s from her final interview before her passing ended the show in a poignant finale. Adding to the perfect choice of music: Just (After Song of Songs) by Melissa Hughes, Jamie Jordan and others, like modernist Gregorian chant, or post-modern cathedral music.
“And I suppose for me, sculpture, whatever sculpture is, it isn’t just the object I think, it’s a sentient physicality of something that replaces us with our own physicality,” says Barlow, rather tellingly sounding like a clever comment on this collection.
Leading to a great finale, Roksanda triumphing with a half-dozen diaphanous gowns, done with giant petals composed of neoprene cut with a flourish Frank Gehry would have envied.
Chet Lo: The East fights back
A kicky and edgy take on fashion from Chet Lo, whose goal of reinterpreting Asia tropes into subversive chic led to a kick-ass show.
Body-con boldness throughout, led by some great clingy knitwear as Lo riffed on Chinoiserie in padded sweaters, slit-up-the-knee skirts, some great sexy graphic knitwear, figure-hugging jackets and mini skirts.
Though the heart of the matter was Lo’s fetish merino wool spike looks, seen in long evening sheathes, skinny sweaters or sleeves of blazers.
In a co-ed show, the guys wore trim knits, their shoulders topped with spikes, fluid pants and super new sneakers wrapped in spikes, courtesy of the latest linkup in LFW of Converse.
You know a designer is doing something right when the models dig the clothes. As the girls certainly did today at Chet Lo, an Asian American from New York. One could imagine them happily exiting the show space at 180 The Strand in these happening outfits and off to enjoy a party in ever-swinging London.
Simone Rocha: The tortoise and the hare
Simone Rocha injected a large dose of tough chic into her aesthetic, adding another weapon to her formidable design aesthetic. Though the strongest memory of this collection will be the Noah’s Ark of animals that entangled the cast. From satin bags cut in the shape of hares and plastic tortoises, to faux-fur Rhesus monkey backpacks and bunny ear nylon bags, animals embraced most looks.
Staged inside Goldsmith’s Hall in the city of London, Rocha’s latest historic location for one of her shows, it was an excellent collection, where Dublin-born Simone broke new ground with racy negligee looks and semi-sheer cocktails, albeit worn with bobby socks.
Always happy to blend in some punk rock grit, Rocha also showed superb biker jackets cut like tunics and finished with puff sleeves.
The cast also totally loving the clothes as they paraded around Goldsmith’s Hall, where the Duke of Wellington and Robert Peel dined in 1835 at its opening dinner.
Toga: Ingenious eccentricity
Unlikely pairings and unexpected proportions and combinations were at the heart of the latest collection from Toga by founder Yasuko Furuta, presented inside a back room of the Royal Academy.
The result was a hit-and-miss collection, though one of considerable cool by this Japanese designer.
What worked were the wrap around blazers or ribbed military sweaters accessorized with giant men’s cotton collars; the reverse mannish blazers with huge cut-out Renaissance collars; or some fab’ multi-reverse pleat pants.
What didn’t work were: were the faux fur cut like furrows, or short capes worn over inflated bubble skirts in check – a dressmaker’s caper if ever there was one.
That said, her footwear was the coolest in London, from crystal sequined studded, silver heeled boots for boys, to silver buckle ballet slippers from which sprouted fangs of horsehair.
Erratic, but well worth the visit.
Paolo Carzana: A star is born
Last but very not least, a charming fashion moment by London’s most decisive new talent, Paolo Carzana.
Presented in a tiny wee pub called The Holy Tavern with just 40 patrons inside; a dozen on bar stools in light rain on the pavement; and a score more fans inside a narrow Victorian passage named St John’s Path. From which emerged a delightful gang of beguilingly disheveled dandies and molls, all attired in bizarrely dyed fabrics, crumpled and creased and sewn into Restoration pirate chic.
Beautifully bedraggled, the cast wore a collection that was tied, twisted, coiled and ruched – like extras from “The Raft of the Medusa”. Finished with rough seams and unspooling threads, the clothes looked like they had a life of their own. The models heads finished with mashed up sans culottes caps, or lopsided mini turbans. A co-ed show that ended with a poetically oft-kilter Charlotte Corday following her gang into the pub.
“I wanted to show where we are today – in purgatory. We live in dark times… Because humanity is destroying our planet. And also the way that LGBT rights are being taken away from us, so we cannot be ourselves,” explained a palpitating Carzana.
Who took his bow almost overwhelmed with emotion. A sustained ovation of cheering heralding Carzana, led by Sir Paul Smith, his mentor in a cool new fashion incubator put together in the East End of London.
Think – a star is born.
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
