The 'insta-fashion' of today lends a kind of high impact then fast fade to fashion imagery - blink and you'll miss it. It occurred to me today that the presentations I have seen at fashion week so far on day one are highly condensed, stringently edited and high impact. Jammed with colour and unwavering in focus, they are a visual sucker punch that makes for great images ripe for social media - saturated colours, bold sets, texture, drape and exaggeration. They are a distillation of concentrated strong visual ideas rather than a gently rambling or winding journey. Kind of like the meat of the story, without the preamble or rounding-off.
Sadie Williams presented a glimmering gang in a folk art disco, mixing old and new on the textile front - 70's glitter vibes set against retro-reflective 'high viz' trousers and corduroy accented with crystals by Swarovski - a pioneer in new technologies with an eye on robotic manufacturing, according to a recent interview with Nadja Swarovski for the McKinsey report on the State of fashion report,2017. The collection was styled with Converse Chuck Taylors and elastic layered tights and socks smattered with holes by Wolford. This collection was a fun textile and colour mash-up underpinned by textile mastery.
Images: Techstyler
Marta Jakubowski's collection was understated and seriously focussed on turning childhood nostalgia into grown-up elegant tailoring. The colours were rich and deeply attractive. On the tube on the way home I considered researching the psychological effects of the deep, warm shades of purple and red in the collection to understand how they somehow 'fill out' the aesthetics visually - making the sum of the parts (tailoring and colour) so much greater than either individually. I bet there's enlightenment to be found, alas the scope of this piece is short given the gazillion words I want to write about all I have seen so far at London Fashion Week. Suffice to say, it was beautifully elegant and desirable, not unlike Sade, who not doubt provided aesthetic inspiration for the cutaway polo necks and much of the soundtrack in the form of Sweetest Taboo, Chaka Khan and Tina Turner. Sometimes simple is best.
Images: Techstyler
Below is a list of the people involved in creating and presenting these collections. I include these credits, which are on the designer's printed show notes along with the back story of the collection, because the teams and talent required to realise these collections is huge and diverse. I type these names to recognise their input (we've all been there, working behind the scenes and during the months of preparation) and to show the diversity of backgrounds of London's fashion creatives. Long may this diversity continue.
Presentation credits Marta Jakubowski:
Set Design: Gary Card; Styling: Tati Cotliar; Casting: Emilie Astrom; Make-up: Lucy Bridge @ Streeters; Hair: Mari @LGA Management usiing Bumble and Bumble; Nails: Imarni Ashman using Elegant Touch; Music, Elton Gron; Press release: Daryoush Haj-Najafi; Shoes: Jimmy Choo. Special thanks: NEWGEN Panel, British Fashion Council, Sarah Mower, Ash Smith, Ella Dror, Jade Willson, Laura Fairfax, Gillian Horsup, Vintage Models, Butler & Wilson. The Marta Jakubowski team is: Zuzanna Szarlata, Alexandra Sipa, Ines Vilas Boas, Ashley Lee, Ellie Carless, Ash Chari and Audra Kreivyte-Krajewska
Marta Jakubowski showroom: 1-7th March, 3Rue Portefoin, Marais, PARIS, 75003
Presentation credits Sadie Williams:
Styling: Poppy Kain at Intrepid; Casting: Frances Odim-Loughlin; Set Design: Sean Thomson assisted by Warwick Turner-Noakes; Hair: Syd Hayes using Babyliss Pro assisted by Paula McCash and Josh Goodwin; Make-up: Lucy Bridge using Mac Cosmetics; Nails: Pebbles Aikens at the Wall Group using Nailberry assisted by Brigita Backtye and Lyubomira Koukoutar; Soundtrack: Jackson Holmes. Special thanks: NEWGEN team, Topship, the BFC, Nadja Swarovski and team, Sarah Mower, Nora Wong, Arabella Williams, Eden Loweth, Francis Williams, Frida Agren, Jackie Lyall, David Lyall, Jess Kerntiff, Joe Williams, Joseph Horton, Justin Mansfield, Rachel Pelly, The team at IPR and all my family and friends, Stephanie Achonwa, Flavia Abbud, Emily Collier, Emily Coveney, Maddie Denman, Jennifer Drouguett, Florence Hutchings, Nadria Khan, Danielle Kidd, Lola Odumosu, Natalia Niclau, Clara Ormieres, Esther Richardson, Justin Rivera, Christina Ryu, Raiesa Salum, Aasia D'Vaz-Sterling, Nick De Vine, Sophia Messina, Dave Olu Ogunnaike, Hetty Mahlich and Eloise Andrews.
Marta Jakubowski and Sadie Williams are recipients of the Topshop NEWGEN award.
Header: Marta Jakubowski AW17
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