LFW SS20: Rixo - Back to the Garden

Fifty years on from the iconic festival, Woodstock, Rixo co-founders Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey welcomed people ‘Back to the Garden’ for its London Fashion Week spring/summer 2020 presentation.

Rixo has become a firm favourite on the LFW schedule, their presentations are larger-than-life, like their prints, and for SS20 it was much more a festival, complete with luxury food trunks, Aperol Spritz, chill-out areas covered in vintage rugs and chalk walls for festival-goers to leave their mark, than a fashion week showcase.

Once you stepped inside the presentation held at Old Chelsea sorting office on the King’s Road, fashion editors and buyers were immersed in a free-spirited festival atmosphere, where the diverse cast of models, from women in their seventies to a pregnant woman ranging from UK size 6 to 16, all of which were seen dancing in a sustainable presentation set of freshly cut wildflowers and grass made from recycled British textiles.

The care-free models played ukuleles and harmonicas, twirled flowers, blew bubbles and billowed in the set with incense and josticks, wearing the vintage-inspired collection filled with ombre colour fades, hand-painted psychedelic butterflies, paisley prints and golden embellishments.

Oversized sleeves, scallop edging and floatier Woodstock inspired shapes were juxtaposed against more structured minis, flares and sharp lapels reminiscent of the swinging 60s of London’s King’s Road. The founders’ personal vintage accessories, silk scarves and iconic Terry de Havilland signature platforms completed the looks.

Rixo brings Woodstock festival to London Fashion Week

In an effort to be more sustainable, Rixo announced that the London Fashion Week ‘Back to the Garden’ collection would be made up of limited styles, with no more than 150 pieces of each style being made. Then in the spirit of counterculture, this limited-edition collection went straight onto the shop floor of its new two-storey Rixo pop-up on 94 Kings Road and online.

Prices for the LFW collection range from 175 pounds for a silk blouse to 385 pounds for a leather and suede jacket, which will be available in sizes size XXS (UK 6) to XL (UK 16).

The brand also unveiled a Rixo bus named Joni, a vintage 60s double-decker Route master bus emblazoned with the brand’s logo and prints, which will hit the road later in the year to different cities and festivals in the UK and abroad as a travelling Rixo pop-up store.

Rixo launched in September 2015 in the London living room of best friends Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey, born from their passion for vintage. The brand’s philosophy is to evoke a wanderlust and free spirit in all their wearers, with the aim of filling a gap in the contemporary market with easy-to-wear, feminine shapes and high-quality materials that are inclusive and feature timeless silhouettes to flatter every woman, irrespective of age, size, nationality, season or time of day.

Images: courtesy of Rixo - presentation images by Daniel O'Connell and Rixo bus image by Aloha Shaw