London Fashion Week | Day 1

By Katie PITMAN | London Reporter


Images are courtesy of www.londonfashionweek.co.uk

Friday 19th February signified the start of London Fashion Week, opening with a minute's silence as a noted sign of respect to the late Alexander McQueen.

But the show must go on, and London kicked off with designers including Paul Costelloe, Maria Grachvogel, Sass & Bide and Felder Felder.

For Fall 2010 we saw voluminous umbrella skirts and pastel colours at Bora Aksu, futuristic space prints at Jean-Pierre Braganza and sculpting at Hakaan.

But my favourite of the day was Hannah Marshall, a relatively new designer, beginning to make a name for herself in the industry. Her collection was contemporary, powerful and edgy, incorporating various contrasting fabrics and textures into her designs.

The fascination with sexy vampires seemed to continue as extremely pale white models with piercing eyes and statement blue lips took control of the catwalk depicting the theme of things to come for next Winter.

Statement pieces included a black velvet bodycon dress with boxy shoulders and cut-out detail and an off-the-shoulder black velvet unitard with symmetrical cut-outs and with a sheer layer covering the shoulders and neck. But the real showstopper was a black high-neck mini dress with her signature cut-outs around the waist and hips and thick velvet circular bands which looked as though they were suspended in the air around the model.

More wearable pieces were a pair of high-waisted leather skinny trousers with thin slashes and a black leather off-the-shoulder dress. The palette was predominantly black for next season with accent colours of pewter and rich plum, keeping the mood dark and sombre.

Her reoccurring trademark for cut-out detail and slashed fabrics were all precisely positioned, and did not detract from the fact that the clothing had been beautifully made and designed, which will no doubt be a huge trend for Winter 2010.