"How do you go from lederhosen to Courtney Love?" one editor asked after the Marios Schwab show. And that was precisely the transition the designer made between last season and the one he presented on Tuesday. Six months ago, it seemed like Schwab was creating clothes for Heidi; but this season, he appears to be designing for Hole. Schwab mixed baby-doll dresses and silks with hard-edged leather, which lent his collection a good-girl-gone-bad edge.
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Schwab's models wore black and blonde mullet wigs, which gave the show a rocker edge. "Schwab managed to twist all the tattoos, mysticism and leather into a clean-edged, feminine collection," WWD wrote of the collection. "No easy task."
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By 3 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon at London's Somerset House, editors had already been waiting for 15 minutes for the Amanda Wakeley show to begin, wondering if they would make it across town in less than an hour in time for the highly-anticipated Burberry show at 4 p.m. British fashion magazine Grazia, who had an editor positioned backstage, sent out a tweet to explain the wait: "Yes that's right 8 hair and makeup artists on one model who is late for Wakeley," the magazine tweeted with an accompanying behind-the-scenes photo of the frantic teamwork. The question on editors' minds soon became: could one model make 300 people late for their next show? Luckily, she was ready quickly and Wakeley began just after 3 p.m. Editors—on the "Fashion Bus," and in Mercedes vans and Range Rovers—were seated on time to see what Burberry had to offer.
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Once the waiting game was over, Amanda Wakeley introduced a modern-day goddess: draped neutral dresses were paired with double-strand leather belts and thick gold cuffs. The nudes were broken up with four bright dresses—two in orange and two in royal blue. The gowns were completely simple, cut of silk, but well draped in the back to the floor. For evening, she debuted chain-mail dresses—with intricate pieces of metal hanging off a neutral base. The final model (seen here with her back to us at left) wore a dress so heavy and tight, she could barely complete her walk around the runway.
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The Chelsea College of Art and Design was transformed on Tuesday morning into 1970s Miami Beach. Jonathan Saunders' Spring/ Summer 2011 collection featured short bell skirts, strong colors, and floral prints—but his designs were organized around modern block silhouettes. "I'm not working in a controlled manner," Saunders said of his prints backstage after the show. "I'm more interested in a sprayed effect."
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The designer, who sent many color-blocked pieces down the runway, said his Spring/Summer 2011 collection was inspired by paintings of the 1970s.
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Burberry's show felt, in some ways, like London Fashion Week's main event. At other shows, celebrities came to and from the front row with relative ease; but Burberry featured a press line of paparazzi and security guards. Inside, a veritable seating circus played out across a shining black runway, as editors searched for their seats and unassigned guests packed in on the steps. But once the show began, vantage points ceased to matter and the crowd was riveted by what they saw. Last season, Christopher Bailey's collection focused around shearling coats (which have been spotted on just about every fashionable girl around London this week). But now, it's all about punk: leather and studs. Bailey sent several cropped leather jackets down the runway, all finely tailored and quilted. Leather leggings—in both blacks and metallics—featured quilted detail on the thighs.
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Burberry's front row featured an odd mix: grungy British cool kids and high-watt star power. Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul sat beside model and former MTV host Alexa Chung, followed by fellow model Douglas Booth, then Sarah Jessica Parker, Serena Williams, and English tennis star Andy Murray. Before the show started, Williams crossed the runway to hug Anna Wintour, who was seated in the front row with her niece. As the lights began to fade, signaling the start of the show, Parker sprinted across the runway into Anna's arms. With the first model about to come out, it was time for everyone to take their seats—but the actress ran down the line of editors to greet Elle's Joe Zee. Just in the nick of time, Parker was back in her seat next to Williams, who, as soon as the show began, dropped her pink-sparkling Blackberry squarely on the runway. But perhaps more interesting than the front row were those in the second: model Dree Hemingway—who hosted a hot party with jewelry designer Brown's on Tuesday night—sat behind Aaron Paul and next to British it-girl Pixie Geldof. Across the runway, Vogue's European Editor at Large Hamish Bowles was surprisingly in the second row—directly behind Wintour.
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Inside a private home in London's Fitzroy Square, editors and buyers were transported into Stella Land: a high-ceilinged room dotted with low-hanging crystal chandeliers. Around the salon were machines—from bikes to Stairmasters—which stone-faced models, wearing Stella McCartney for Adidas' Spring/ Summer 2011 collection, posed upon.
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Stella McCartney's Adidas ecosystems made models look like Homo sapiens at the Natural History Museum, but they certainly were well-dressed ones. A very pregnant McCartney was on hand to take in her hard work.
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The Fashion East show at Waterloo station featured three emerging designers—but, Felicity Brown, with her dramatic silk dresses, easily stood out amongst the pack. The program notes explained that Brown's dresses were made of 60 layers of silk. They came in great pops of color—from turquoise to bright yellow,—and had an architectural, yet organic shape.
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