London Fashion Week: Fashion Trends For After The Pandemic
British fashion has always been praised to the skies for its exalted sense of textiles and style: the wild mix of patterns in garish colors, exaggerated cuts and a distinctive manner that shaped a whole generation since the 80s peaking with 90s grunge aesthetic - look that was primaliry shaped by fashion pioneer Vivienne Westwood and has been reinterpreted many times since then.
But also the London Fashion Week as the frivolous opponent to Parisian chic had to switch to digital approaches. Since the corona pandemic, which has now been going on for over a year, the British Fashion Council has been one of the first associations to present a concept of a digital aonly and, above all, completely gender-neutral fashion week to keep the industry alive. As already in the previous year due to the unforeseeable circumstances the majority of UK designers had to cancel their contribution to the London Fashion Week due to the lack of material supply, therefore unfinished collections and thus a rather low income.
After three and a half years, two elections and endlessly failed trade deals, the UK left the European Union with a final decision on December 31st. The first London Fashion Week after Brexit should give hope again to the many smaller fashion labels who have existential fear for the future of their company due to the unclear trade agreements. But even weeks after leaving the EU, the future of the country's largest creative industry still hangs in the balance. Since fashion becomes more and more political, in addition to digital runway shows, London Fashion Week focused was on panel talks with industry experts about the current changes in fashion. British fashion designers accuse the government of simply ignoring the fashion industry during the negotiations and call it their economic self-destruction.
It is therefore more than gratifying to know that it is the young designers who celebrate the multicultural energy of the city and translate it into their dreamy designs. Many of the big French and Italian brands rely on London's status as a talent incubator to recrute for junior designer positions with London graduates each year to find the creative directors of the future. To see that Brexit could lose that status would be an imense loss not only for the London design community, but for the entire fashion world.
In addition the question of how long and to what extent the international buyers will be prepared to purchase their designs regarding the new rules for customs and shipping between the European Union and the United Kingdom. Especially since the majority of fabric suppliers and manufacturers are based outside of the UK. This problem will become particularly acute with the start of the first sales season after Brexit.
The Digital London Fashion Week is, however, a great pilot project that proves that the global textile industry of fashion must continuously develop in order to stay ahead of current happenings. It is an opportunity to close the gaps in our systems and to create something new that awakens with the experience of the industry experts and the creative spirit of the young talents a contemporary approach to digitization and inclusivity.
This glimmer of exhilaration for the time of new beginnings and reorder brought London Fashion Week to the capital of England and made us dream up into a more prosperous future:
Burberry: At the starting of London Fashion Week, Burberry presented a menswear only collection for the first time. Just like many Londoners, Burberry's Creative Director Riccardo Tisci moved to the English countryside during the lockdowns. Surrounded by idyllic forests and picturesque beaches, he has been inspired by the healing of nature since the beginning of the corona pandemic. For the AW 21 collection, he envisioned an outdoor wardrobe for a new era of creative freedom that so many discovered for themselves during the lockdown. He broke down this approach to the typically British attitude of not being afraid of the things in life and created overdrawn cut classics with unconventional materials á la Peter Pane. Exaggerated material and pattern combinations in classic silhouettes were the heart of the fashionable interpretation of a post-Corona era.
Bora Aksu:
While the Turkish-born fashion designer Bora Aksu was inspired by the Spanish flu almost 100 years ago for the last season, he goes even further back in time this time and draws the insouration for the autumn-winter 2021 collection from the French Revolution, or rather the life of Sophie Germain. She was a mathematician, physicist and philosopher who emerged as a pioneer voice in the political riots in former France. Since he always tries to find the positive in negative things, he aimed with his collection to find the useful things of the French Revolution in order to translate them to our time. Specifically, this means historical femininity in layers of pink and blue organza and daffodil yellow with floral lace details.
Vivienne Westwood:
In line with her long-standing mission statement of „Buy less, dress up, swap clothes”, the AW 21 collection of London's long-established design icon Vivienne Westwood (79) consists of 90% sustainable upcycling materials that have less impact on our environment. In this unisex collection, she is inspired by traditional English tailoring, but still gives the designs a mélange of the typical striking Westwood drama in a provocative mix of patterns in masterful combinations of jewelry and accessories. In the refreshing autumn-winter 2021 collection, prints of the painting “Daphnis and Chloe” by Rococco artist François Boucher are the main print of rhe collection. Similar to Boucher, Vivienne Westwood is a master at breaking down the social conventionality of fashion and driving her very own style, for almost 50 years.
Emilia Wickstead:
Her Fall-Winter 2021 collection was inspired by three films: Teorema (1968) by Pier Paolo Pasolini; I am Love (2009) by Luca Guadagnino; and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (1954). English designer Emilia Wickstead explored cinematography and imagined a blooming woman as seen through the lens of the camera. She wondered how the women from these films would dress at home alone these days and what they would do. The collection is about the cinematic life of a woman in her very own film-world. Emilia Wickstead reinterprets the evening fashion of these films and lets them arrive in 2021 in contemporary cuts and materials. She processes her desire to wear this evening wear again after the global lockdown. Overdrawn rose prints in lemon yellow and lapis blue give the rather monochrome color scheme of the collection a certain depth.
16Arlington:
The London-based fashion label 16Arlington, known for its over-the-top red carpet creations, has set itself the goal of spicing up the monotonous lockdown-everydaylife with a particularly opulent autumn-winter 2021 collection. It's a collection that just waits to be worn at dinner dates, strolling the streets, and on the dance floor; But the trendy brand's colorful designs also make us look good on the sofa. The inspiration for the collection comes from the life of a llarva before its metamorphosis into a butterfly. They take up the shimmering colors and organic shapes from the growing up butterfly caterpillar using colorful ostrich feathers and crystal-covered fabrics that are typical for the label, until the tender creature pupates in its protective cocoon and is reborn as a radiant butterfly. This metaphor relates 16Arlington to our life during and after lockdown. Exaggerated collars in wing-like iterations that extend over the shoulders in dramatic colors are the highlight of the young butterfly and can be seen as a liberation symbol from the narrow cocoon.
Molly Goddard:
The British designer Molly Goddard is called the “Queen of Tulle” with her fashion label of the same name for a reason. She freed the tulle dress from its cute suburban girl image by opting for extra volume and chunky shoes. With a parade of fairytale tutus and more down-to-earth ensembles, their wearers immerse themselves in a world full of dreams and magical realism. For the first time, Molly Goddard expands her designs, which are mostly made in Great Britain, in contrast to the opulent tulle dresses graphic menswear looks from suits to traditional tartan kilts. Although the dresses were designed in isolation due to the pandemic, they give us a playful forecast what to wear if we should be re-socializing this fall.
Simone Rocha:
Escapism, feminism and a lot of optimism - Simone Rocha's designs offer a welcome distraction in difficult times. The Irish designer founded her own label over 10 years ago. Since then she has earned the title “Queen of Weird” with voluminous cloqué dresses, pearl accessories and a clear, subversively feminine design voice. For the autumn-winter 2021 collection, she sends biker ballerinas and rebellious school girls onto her runway. Haptic material contrasts such as hard and soft are now better than ever. Simone Rocha designs a collection around fragile rebels and finds inspiration in the inner conflict of strong people. The leitmotif of their collection are flowers that tell stories as embroidery, 3D modeling and shaping asymmetrical silhouettes. We can also admire the range of their work in the designer cooperation with the fashion house H&M, which will be available from March 11th.
Dunhil:
A vintage reference work from the Dunhil archives inspired creative director Mark Weston to delve into multifunctional modular clothing. The heart of this functional collection is a parka that can be converted from a coat to a jacket with a zip. Further highlights are a multi-colored scarf that his mother knitted for him as a child and was faithfully reproduced 40 years later in the very same color scheme of the 1970s, as well as multifunctional shoulder bags and floral prints in a retro look. Mark Weston brings color into the autumn-winter 2021 season with the new collection for Dunhil. For us, every piece has the potential to become the new favorite piece of autumn!
Daniel W. Fletcher:
In response to the high demand from its female customers, the British designer Daniel W. Fletcher launched a womenswear collection for fall-winter 2021 for the very first time. Fashion designer Daniel W. Fletcher took part in the Netflix design show “Next in Fashion” last year, which explains the increaseed interest in women's fashion from American buyers. During the design process, he looked back at the archives of his five-year-old brand to create a collection that was instantly recognizable and intended to capture the characteristic design details of his artistic signature. The result is trousers with a split hem, jeans with lace stitch and a numerous 90s-inspired pieces hat are reminiscent of his British origins; including a coat resemblance of Princess Diana's wardrobe.
Erdem:
The upcoming autumn-winter collection by fashion designer Erdem Moralıoğlu is dedicated to ballet as a declaration of love. In memory and longing for his time at the Royal Opera House in London, when he designed the costumes for Christopher Wheeldon's ballet “Corybantic Games”, he returned to the suspense from hectic backstage to graceful dance steps on stage. They were especially the moments of dancers shifting around, criss-crossing, half-dressed in what they wear during the day and half-dressed in their costumes, he drew his inspiration from. Reflecting these moments on the current world, Erdem let them melt together poetically into a collection with pleated skirts in draped fabrics and the feather as the leitmotif for classical ballet in contrast between the artistic dance costumes of a ballerina and their bare bodies outside the tutu.
