A particularly eventful London Fashion Week has come to a close — it’s always a fashion circus of delightfully eccentric moments, and this turn of the merry-go-round included miniature horses, marathon sandwich-making, huge leg o’mutton sleeves, and skateboarding models. Read on for a dozen of our favorite happenings in the shortest, but most action-packed stretch of fashion month.
Instagram fodder was everywhere — Molly Goddard’s models prepared stacks of sandwiches, Orla Kiely’s played mini golf, and Anya Hindmarch ended her show with dancers reflected in kaleidoscope-like mirrors.
Historical references abounded, from the Miss Havisham looks at Marques’Almeida to Erdem’s inspiration: the “prairie madness” experienced by lone pioneer women. J.W. Anderson’s show called back both to the Regency era — with leg o’mutton sleeves that could conceal an actual leg of mutton — and to the ‘80s club days of the New Romantics.
Wantable accessories were all over the place: Anya Hindmarch’s cheeky blue boots bearing the Boots chemist logo were in keeping with her irreverent high-low M.O. Burberry’s personalized backpacks with initials brought us back to our school days, and Sophia Webster proved that mermaidcore really is a thing — but kindly provided shoes for the tail-less among us.
Burberry always features a major musical guest — Christopher Bailey is more plugged-in than most A&R execs. This season, it was singer Alison Moyet, who performed with a 32-member orchestra.
Christopher Kane’s show was, unsurprisingly, neon-bright. This season, he was inspired by artists John Chamberlain and Scottie Wilson.
Ashish’s “Shut Up” outfit would really come in handy in certain situations. As would his chic skateboards.
The crazy false eyelashes backstage at Thomas Tait might make you reconsider why “spidery” is thought of as a bad thing.
Be still, our model-loving hearts. Karen Elson and Erin O’Connor walked in Giles Deacon’s romantic show.
Impossibly cool real women— not “It” girls — served as muses, from stylist Shirley Kurata, whose mod look inspired Peter Jensen, to artists Frida Kahlo and Amrita Sher-Gil, who inspired Osman and Duro Olowu, respectively.
Denim got even weirder, especially in Thomas Tait’s jeans with weird peepholes and Faustine Steinmetz’s artfully shredded denim pieces.
Cute overload: There were MINIATURE HORSES at Hill and Friends, the new venture from former Mulberry designer Emma Hill.
There’s still a little bit of anarchy left in the U.K. Vivienne Westwood’s Red Label show included protesters carrying signs that read “Fracking Is a Crime” and Gareth Pugh had coins strewn on the runway and on his dresses — a possible nod to the city’s ongoing takeover at the hands of high finance?
