Fashion Favourite: Jena.Theo

Since the close of London Fashion Week, I’ve had time to organise my thoughts about the Spring Summer designs, and can now declare one of my favourite (albeit unlikely) collections that of Jena Theo. For someone who has never really paid much, nay any, attention to Jena Theo’s collections, I was bowled over by my admiration for their Spring Summer 2012 collection and, subsequently, all previous collections, too.

Jenny Holmes and Dimitris Theocharidis are a design duo, previous winners of Fashion Fringe (2009), and renowned lovers of Hollywood glamour. This season’s look is less dramatic than that of previous seasons’, but it doesn’t compromise on impact. Effortless glamour oozes down the catwalk in the forms of drapes, capes, and all things with a loose shape, reminiscent of the sack dresses of ’20s and ’30s couture, and coined by Balenciaga in the ’50s. But this collection is different; silks, rouge lips, and big hair epitomise the “Hollywood Look”, and whilst Jenny Holmes and Dimitris Theocharidis channel this in their own designs, they merge it with a number of other inspirations.

 Whilst the obvious inspiration for Jena Theo collections is decidedly Western, the silhouettes of these designs remind us of the deconstructionist philosophy behind a more Eastern design ethic. And this is why Jena Theo have won the vote for me; their designs are charged with two of my favourite aesthetics – the essence of Hollywood glamour, brought to earth by a theory of Eastern deconstruction. Jena Theo are never again to be overlooked in my book.

Text: Abbie Saunders