BrandAlley

And so, London Fashion Week swung round again last week. The February shows always seem to arrive ahead of schedule, as it’s only been four months since the end of the last set, plus we had Christmas in-between, so once again, somewhat shocked, I realised I hadn’t planned any of my fashion week outfits by the time of the first show on Friday morning.

That first show was Maria Grachvogel. It wasn’t ground-breaking (neither was my outfit), but Grachvogel has such a unique way of cutting silk that there really wasn’t a need to change her signature look drastically. A beautiful show, littered with flowing tops and dresses that on the hanger look impossible, but once on the body are a work of art.

Saturday was my busiest day. It was also raining, which made my choice of super-long maroon flares a little problematic as the water began to seep up just one of my legs (I have one leg longer than the other, apparently). Not a good look. Stand out shows were DAKS with its distinctly sixties styling, and House of Holland, which isn’t usually to my taste but was full of surprisingly wearable neon tweed jackets and skirts.

I love Sunday at LFW. The day starts with Margaret Howell. There’s never anything unexpected at a Margaret Howell show, but it’s precisely the brand’s reliability that I love. Easy, slouchy, slacks and shirts, and it’s such a relief that the models always look comfortable in their flat loafers (see Holly Fulton show, below, for the exact opposite). Plus a large number of the editors in the audience celebrate the Howell style by wearing Breton stripe sweaters (I spotted at least five). Then on to Mulberry, always a joy as they invite dogs to the show and have them on the catwalk too. Sadly I didn’t see my favourite Vogue whippet from last season, but I did stand next to a very well-dressed pug. My other favourite part of the day was the Richard Nicoll show in the evening – not so much for the clothes, which were lovely – but rather the amazing black truffled brie that they were serving in the Topshop show space where it was being held.

And so to Monday morning, and straight back to the Topshop show space for breakfast: crispy bacon and two fried quails eggs in a bread roll. Amazing. Next to David Koma and Holly Fulton’s back-to-back shows at Somerset House, where my heart was in my mouth as Fulton sent her models down the catwalk in vertiginous Louboutins that most of them were stumbling in. One girl even took hers off! Good for her, I say. In the evening I really enjoyed the Paul Smith show too – wonderful preppy, masculine chic that I aim to pull off myself in the months to come. But the best part of the day, or perhaps even the week, was that Scott Schuman – the famed street style photographer whose website, thesartorialist.com, is followed by fashionistas all over the world – took my picture! My combination of teal cape and mustard bag was just what he was looking for by all accounts. And he actually put it on the website too! It had only taken me four days but finally I had my LFW look cracked.

Until September…

(all images courtesy of vogue.co.uk)