On/Off is on again

During London Fashion Week the official show and exhibition schedule co-exists with the On/Off shows at London's Royal Academy of Arts, which plays host to a myriad of designers including Ben de Lisi, Allegra Hicks, Bérubé and Aimee McWilliams.

Monday morning the ethereally beautiful Allegra Hicks presented her new spring/summer 2006 collection at the Royal Academy to an audience that included the International Herald Tribune's Suzy Menkes. Hicks looked to the 70s for inspiration, with big flower prints and good-luck charms like evil-eye prints featured on dresses, trench coats and kaftans. She indulged in a complete holiday wardrobe with crocheted kaftans worn over bikinis, baby doll dresses, halter neck jumpsuits and embroidered tunics. Employing a clean, soothing palette of white, beige, coffee, blue, green, black and turquoise, the collection recalled the relaxed ambiance of a yachting holiday off the Cote d'Azur. The platform wedges worn by the models were the result of a collaboration between Hicks and Salvatore Ferragamo, who designed the original wedge in the 30s. The shoes featured Hicks' bold eye fabric. This is Ferragamo's first joint collaboration with a fashion designer.

Following Hicks' show, the French Canadian Julie Bérubé also presented her collection at the Royal Academy, making this her fourth season at London Fashion Week. Inspired by a day in the life at an English country house in the 20s, Bérubé had her models walk down the catwalk in a dream-like state, mirroring the idyllic atmosphere of a luxuriant slow summers day. Subdued tones of coffee, peach, soft green, grey, cream and blue recalled the relaxed image Bérubé wanted to portray. Layered cream shirts in fine cotton and twill cotton shorts paired with laid-back, roomy cotton tops underscored the ease of the scene. Cotton jersey with delicate lace detailing hinted at an elegant femininity, while strapless dresses embellished with gold thread draw the eye to pretty bare shoulders and dewy cream skin. The scene was distinctly reminiscent of F. Scott Fitzgerald in all its dreamy romanticism and old world casual elegance; only this was elegance with a definite edge.

Hall Ohara's show in the evening was the antithesis to the Hick's and Bérubé's shows earlier in the day. The husband-wife team of Steven Hall and Yurika Ohara, winners of TopShop's New Generation designers award, presented a show with a predominant rock-chick vibe. The shapes were deconstructed, the silhouette avant-garde and not for the conformists among us. Oversized t-shirts adorned with prints and the duo's logos were worn over black leggings. T-shirt dresses and baggy trousers paired with print T-shirts, while fitted Capri pants were worn under baggy cotton shirts. The shapes were exaggerated and tinged with a sly sense of humour; one of the prints featured on the front of the T-shirts was of a figure literally thumbing their nose.at convention, perhaps?