She’s again and she or he’s lovely! That’s proper, London Style Week is again in its full, fleshy kind for SS22 after too many digital iterations for us to rely. This season, although, we’ll be doing issues barely in a different way than ordinary — a classy new period of style reveals requires a classy new strategy! Moderately than our ordinary standalone evaluations, you’ll discover all the things you might want to find out about essentially the most beautiful reveals on (and off!) the schedule proper right here. What’s extra, alongside all the photographs and information on our — and by default your — favorite collections, it’s additionally the place you’ll discover hyperlinks to our model spanking new TikTok evaluations! Welcome to the long run, style followers — be a part of us!
KNWLS
Contents
In case you’ve ever puzzled what the style equal to the rev of a Harley Davidson engine was, look no additional than KNWLS. Fittingly titled ‘Adrenaline’, this season noticed Charlotte Knowles and Alex Arsenault take a grittier, extra rough-and-tumble strategy than we’ve ever seen, presenting a group wealthy with skid-scarred leathers, shredded, tendrilous drapes and brazen shows of flesh. The midwestern biker-chic really feel of the gathering was accented by the reptile-effect leather-based baguettes, pointed boots and belts, with dusty, oil-slicked denims and low-rider leather-based trousers rounding issues out with a deserty, cowgirl-y really feel. Sounds fab, proper? Go try our unique BTS video with the designers right here! MS
Picture courtesy of KNWLS
Picture courtesy of KNWLS
Picture courtesy of KNWLS
Picture courtesy of KNWLS
Picture courtesy of KNWLS
Picture courtesy of KNWLS
Picture courtesy of KNWLS
Molly Goddard
It was a season of sudden standouts at Molly Goddard, who’s at the moment on maternity depart, having not too long ago had a child. The press launch heralded the blown up “child attire I wore as a toddler”, recreating the sample 10 or 20 occasions larger, however the assortment actually revealed itself in its much less showy items. There’s all the time been a depth to Molly’s designs away from the tulle celebration attire — you see that after they’re really worn in actual life, paired with a coach or layered over a pair of denims or layered. It’s this sense of tangible actuality that gave the impression to be on the coronary heart of the gathering this season. The opening search for instance, paired a soft-but-electric peach smock with a pair of denims, bringing collectively the magnificence of tailoring with the saggy nihilism of sweet sixteen skaters, all worn with a pair of inexperienced ballet footwear. Molly has additionally been introducing increasingly more menswear into her collections over the previous few seasons, and right here, it was clear that the designer has confidently discovered her voice within the class. The lads wore lace-up ballet footwear too, brief shorts, and roomy attire styled over tailor-made pinstripe trousers. There was a concord between the menswear and womenswear right here, they each echoed and mirrored and enhanced one another; they wore the identical tracksuit bottoms and the identical denims, the identical footwear and identical attire. In fact, “attire for males” is hardly the unconventional style proposal it as soon as was, however right here, their energy lay insouciance and luxury and believability with which that binary was blurred. FP
Feben
Over the previous 12 months and a half, have you ever pulled in your finest celebration frock to go decide up a pint of milk? Or maybe gotten a little bit too snug in trackies? For us, it’s sure to each. The identical, it appears, goes for Feben, the latest NEWGEN recipient who yesterday offered her first full assortment since graduating from the CSM MA in 2020. Considering the chaotic emotional landscapes we’ve wandered over the previous 12 months, ‘X-Pression’ is probably finest regarded as an elevated examine of the methods wherein our garments have carried via some fairly rattling turbulent occasions. Zingy satin shirting, shirred, black-tie-dinner acceptable tailoring, bare-all harnessed gown and the bobbled textures of the designer’s signature ‘twist’ tops spoke to the collective craving all of us felt for getting all dressed up, even when there wasn’t anyplace to go, whereas fused jersey slacks and easy-wearing sarong skirts echo the comfort-first strategy to getting dressed many people adopted when the world was positioned on pause. Greater than an ode to pandemic-era dressing, although, this was proof that style is hen soup for the soul. MS
Picture courtesy of Feben
Picture courtesy of Feben
Picture courtesy of Feben
Picture courtesy of Feben
Picture courtesy of Feben
Picture courtesy of Feben
Picture courtesy of Feben
Margaret Howell
As a designer, Margaret Howell has all the time been extra about evolution than revolution, understanding the position of clothes as one thing to be beloved, worn and grown into, moderately than to discarded amid the hype and spectacle of style week FROWs. This season, the designer selected to disclose the gathering within the design workshop behind her retailer on Wigmore Road, which gave you the straightforward pleasures of having the ability to contact and respect the subtlety of what Margaret does, which reveals itself most within the three dimensions of life moderately than the flatness of a catwalk picture. The clothes themselves have been a play of contrasts: they have been someplace between earthiness and playfulness, practicality and frivolity. Throughout a palette of deep coastal blues, greys and greens, have been splashed shiny blues and multicolour attire. There have been experiments with proportion and clashes of texture; mushy cotton vs robust Japanese denim, or staples given simply sufficient of a twist. Rolled up or flared trousers and shiny flashes of white socks dominated the silhouette. Sensible outerwear was imbued with a touch of flamboyance, and it was, total, a group that felt youthful and freer this season, revelling in an (virtually) post-pandemic world, free from restrictions. FP
Nensi Dojaka
Nensi Dojaka is scorching proper now. The Albanian-born designer staged her first standalone present, contemporary from profitable the LVMH Prize final week. Contemplating that every one eyes are on her, it couldn’t be a greater time for her to reassert what she’s all about, which is intricate, lingerie-inspired attire crafted from myriad materials and pieced collectively like wispy cobwebs. For SS22, she has reimagined them with a brighter sense of color (her earlier collections have been completely black). Burnt-aubergine, terracottas and ochres take their cue from the hyper-masc artworks of Francis Bacon, interspersed with bubblegum-pink chiffons as fairly as a kitten’s paw and heart-shaped necklines coquettishly framing the décolletage. In some ways, Nensi’s work is about juxtapositions. Certain, her barely-there attire look delicate and fragile, however there’s additionally a softly-spoken power (and an entire lotta sexuality) within the brazen approach she showcases the feminine kind. Not does skimpy imply submissive. The layers of organza and tulle are outlined by graphic black spaghetti straps, whereas lingerie-inspired particulars tackle an armour-like construction. She did, nonetheless, additionally introduce extra covered-up silhouettes, like elongated cigarette trousers with waist-defining cummerbunds, longer pencil skirts, and razor-sharp blazers with exaggerated shoulders and whittled peplum waists. Be daring, they encourage. Exit, they insist. Really feel horny, they demand. In the end, it’s a sartorial feminist manifesto: energy dressing needn’t be prudish. OA
Picture courtesy of Nensi Dojaka
Picture courtesy of Nensi Dojaka
Picture courtesy of Nensi Dojaka
Picture courtesy of Nensi Dojaka
Picture courtesy of Nensi Dojaka
Picture courtesy of Nensi Dojaka
Nicholas Daley
Nicholas Daley has all the time been one for exploring, and even reviving, craft practices neglected within the style mainstream. His SS22 assortment, Blue Quilt, was no exception, amounting to a textural contemplation of the legacy of quilting within the Deep South. Taking the approach far past its twee associations, the designer collaborated with UK-based quilt artists, upcycling previous seasons cloth into wide-leg trousers, roomy, kimono-sleeved pullovers and boxy vests. As ever with Nicholas, there’s a powerful musical undercurrent this season, with the simple silhouettes, dusky patterns and saturated tie-dyes nodding to the nonchalant swagger of people artists like Richie Havens, Davey Graham, and Nigerian-Irish blues legend Caleb Kunle. Feeling blue by no means appeared and felt so fab! MS
Picture courtesy of Nicholas Daley
Picture courtesy of Nicholas Daley
Picture courtesy of Nicholas Daley
Picture courtesy of Nicholas Daley
Picture courtesy of Nicholas Daley
Picture courtesy of Nicholas Daley
Picture courtesy of Nicholas Daley
Matty Bovan
By now you understand that Matty Bovan is considered one of style’s craftiest designers. The York-based designer makes a lot of his work by hand, typically upcycling native discovered objects and deadstock supplies to create fantastical, virtually psychedelically vibrant garments akin to sculpture. His new assortment took it to the subsequent degree, aptly titled ‘Hypercraft’, which premiered at the moment with a brief movie directed by Ruth Hogben. Whereas Matty’s final assortment was all about sartorial extremes and a way of outdoorsy journey, SS22 marks a extra inside exploration of domesticity that we’ve all come to know so nicely over the previous 12 months: wallpaper, household images, televisions, dinnerware patterns, blankets, shaggy rugs and family ornaments. Welcome to the Matty Bovan dollhouse, maybe his most private assortment thus far (and his first since scoring a double-win at this 12 months’s Worldwide Woolmark Prize). “Hypercraft finds me pushing myself, culling my very own data, and expertise of craft to an excessive,” Matty stated. “This ethos consists of creating three massive appears out of sewn paracord ropes, creating a totally new textile with its personal uniquely sculptural physique, after which hand-embellishing with beads and sequins to create a brand new luxe, with the natural silhouette threatening to overhaul the human kind.” OA
Saul Nash
Nylon is to Saul Nash what jersey was to Halston; tweed to Chanel; fur to Fendi. The material is arguably the bedrock of his signature sportswear, and the tracksuits and Nike sneakers that he grew up on in Hackney. For SS22, his first standalone present since graduating from the Style East catwalk, he recreated the London bus stops of his teenage years and staged an ode to inner-city dressing. JD Sports activities, however on a home made degree. The ambiance of the present was of children decompressing after faculty, customising their faculty uniforms with the ciphers of sportswear and now with Saul Nash-branded stickers. However these aren’t simply any tracksuits. Magnets enable them to be worn myriad methods, whereas jackets and trousers include zip and mesh vents to permit for expressive motion (Saul is a skilled choreographer, in spite of everything). Reversible nylon cagoules got here printed together with his teenage travelcard. Nylon, sure, however with an entire lot of narrative. OA
Picture courtesy of Saul Nash
Picture courtesy of Saul Nash
Picture courtesy of Saul Nash
Picture courtesy of Saul Nash
Picture courtesy of Saul Nash
Picture courtesy of Saul Nash
Picture courtesy of Saul Nash
Kiko Kostadinov
Kicking off London Style Week earlier than it’s even formally kicked off, final evening noticed Laura and Deanna Fanning take to an intimate, floral-fringed workplace area in Shoreditch to current their SS22 womenswear assortment for Kiko Kostadinov. Drawing on balmy recollections of coastal holidays of their native Australia and the coming-of-age novels they learn as youngsters, their assortment was the twins’ breeziest but, wealthy in warped knits, jigsaw-puzzle pattern-cutting, askew riffs on archetypal beachwear, and a sequence of latest summery colourways for Bella Hadid’s fave new bag, the Trivia. Head right here for a full lowdown — oh, and right here for an unique, behind-the-scenes show-and-tell with the twins themselves! MS
Courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov
Courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov
Courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov
Courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov
Courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov
Courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov
Courtesy of Kiko Kostadinov
