Olive green, dark red, black leather and a lot of fluff at LFW FW24
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Fashion
London Fashion Week took place from Friday, February 16 to Tuesday February 20 and celebrated its 40th anniversary. The FW24 edition was a far cry from LFW’s humble origins - a tent in the car park of the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. Back in 1984, the three-day event featured just 15 shows, including work by Vivienne Westwood, Katherine Hamnet, Ghost and Betty Jackson. According to the British Fashion Council’s LFW40 cheat sheet, this time around, 67 designers participated, with 43 catwalk shows, 14 presentations and 36 events. In several ways, London designers echoed New York with a mostly subdued colour palette and the use of classic fabrics.
Military Bearing
Daniel Lee showed his Burberry collection in a tent pitched in East London’s Victoria Park. He was quoted as saying that he wanted the message to be about Burberry’s heritage of dressing military men and explorers in weatherproof clothing. This was well-reflected by a whole series of looks in olive green. It’s a colour that has been associated with the military since it was first used by British troops in 1868. It can also represent strength, resilience, and a connection to the earth and nature. Perhaps that explains its presence on several other London catwalks as well.
Burberry: designer, Daniel Lee
Look 15: an olive-green faux fur knee-length coat over a tan shirt with tan thigh-length boots and an olive plaid duffle bag.
Marques’ Almeida: designers, Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida
Look 1: an olive-coloured zip-up motorbike jacket in metallic coated denim with a wide belt and matching pants. Gold pointed-toed boots completed the look.
Chet Lo
Look 13: an olive-coloured ribbed sweater with an envelope neck and a long skirt in the designer’s signature popcorn knit and a scarf in the same colour. Accessories included a black popcorn knit bag and black patent pumps.
Paul Costelloe
Look 12: a knee-length zip-front olive-coloured dress with a self-belt and utility details. Accessories included long black leather gloves, black ankle boots and grey pearl jewelry.
Ivan Frolov
Look 20: an olive-coloured dress with a boned corset and a corduroy skirt and matching corduroy blazer. An olive-coloured boa, and legwarmers over sandals finished the look.
Like a Fine Wine
London designers echoed New York, showing looks in bright red. However several also favored darker shades of the colour, seemingly toned with brown or black, for a variety of designs. One of the most striking came from the designer Chet Lo. He showed a dark red material he said was inspired by images of China’s Terracotta Army. He had found beauty in the process of deterioration which led the original lacquered surfaces to fade to the earthy hues of today.
Chet Lo
Look 1: a mock turtleneck crop top with padded shoulders and waistband less pants that twisted at the knee were both rendered in a fabric with a metallic dark red on black snakeskin print.
Erdem Moralioglu
Look 23: a burgundy full-skirted leather dress with spaghetti straps embellished with cream 3D flowers and pink satin pumps with rose details.
Eudon Choi
Look 11: a burgundy cropped suit jacket over white shirting with matching pleated-front pants and red satin pumps with pavé embellishment.
Ivan Frolov
Look 25: Burgundy faux leather skinny pants and matching Opera length gloves with a silver beaded bralette and silver sandals.
Emilia Wickstead
Look 34: a burgundy leather trench coat over a red sheer blouse and dark red midi-length sequin skirt. Red sequin Mary-Janes completed the look.
Hell-bent for leather
Black leather was once seen as a symbol of youthful rebellion, dating back to 1953 when Marlon Brando wore a black leather motorcycle jacket in ‘The Wild One,’ a film about motorbike gangs. These days, when a woman dons black leather (or pleather) it is more likely to represent female empowerment with plenty of sex appeal. One way or another it tends to show up on runways all over the world, year after year. LFW AW24 was no exception.
Tolu Coker
Look 12: a black leather motorbike jacket with silver details and a knee-length skirt. Accessories included a black and white printed headscarf, tie and gloves and black patent knee-length boots.
David Koma
Look 8: a black leather cropped motorcycle jacket with a white shearling collar and a matching skater skirt; black hose and marabou trimmed shoes finished the look.
Dilara Findikoglu
Look 18: a tight fitting black leather jacket with silver details and lace-up pants with straps. Strappy sandals and leather gloves finished the look.
Natasha Zinko
Look 13: black leather pants with a lace-up front, black scoop neck knit tee-shirt under a mock-turtleneck asymmetric add-on piece. Accessories included narrow visor sunglasses, a nude stocking cap and a handheld satchel.
Yuhan Wang
Look 22: a black leather fitted suit jacket and asymmetric skirt with a pink and green rose print. A lace scarf, gloves and hose with black flats finished the look.
Pile it On
It’s hard to imagine that it’s about 40 years since the futurist Faith Popcorn coined the phrase ‘cocooning,’ to describe the increasing desire for consumers to create a retreat from the world at home. It’s become a prevalent theme in fashion recently also, with outerwear and sweaters that swaddles and protects the wearer from the elements. In the absence of a great deal of colour and print this season, designers are indulging in surface interest. As we saw in New York, cocoon shaped outerwear in fluffy textures were shown in many collections.
16 Arlington: designer, Marco Capaldo
Look 17: an ultra-long faux fur in black and white over a thick rib sweater and black pants.
Colville: designers, Lucinda Chambers and Molly Molloy
Look 13: a navy fur cocoon-shaped coat over a navy knit dress, brown and cream penny loafers with whip stitched embellishment.
Erdem Moralioglu
Look 21: a cream-coloured full-length Mongolian faux fur cocoon coat with scarf front; stocking headband and black flats in the same fur.
Natasha Zinko
Look 33: a cocoon shaped full-length fur coat in shades of grey, brown, cream and ochre with a black belt, black balaclava and black shoes.
Richard Quinn
Look 6: a black ostrich feather coat with cream satin sash belt accessorized with a black net fascinator.