Words: Katlin Siil

The last day of London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2013 was a beautiful finale to one of the strongest showcases we have seen in a while. Whilst the organisation of the shows was, as per usual, rather chaotic – the designers really outdid themselves. We take a look at the highlights from Day 5 and bid farewell to the fashion extravaganza that is London Fashion Week.

Simone Rocha inherited father John’s fashion genes. Her collections have gone from strength to strength and Tuesday morning’s sophisticated affair was a testament to her mature, developed and distinct style. Paying tribute to her two grandmothers, Rocha’s vision for Autumn/Winter 2013 is ladylike – think pretty-in-pink dresses, coats, skirt-suits, metallic tweeds and baby soft faux-fur tops and coats. A staple of Simone’s, and on trend this season, we also saw some PVC and technical materials, all shaped into covetable garments.

Roksanda Ilincic also channeled her more feminine side but, in keeping with her more solemn repertoire, referenced ghostly virgin brides and the more sinister side of fairytales. The candyfloss pink made another strong appearance and we’re starting to suspect a trend for the season. Roksanda was more into textures than usual: PVC, long haired faux fur, tweeds, silks and soft cable knits woven into skirts and tops. The collection stayed true to Ilincic’s aesthetic and passion for unusual lengths, shapes and silhouettes. There are only a handful of designers that can make a midi-length PVC balloon skirt look sexy and desirable and Ilincic is one of them.

Brothers Grimm, sailors, cleaners, Anna Karenina… those are just a mere few references we managed to count at Meadham Kirchhoff. We were once again presented with a full blown mixture of the historic, the real and the unreal, this time in a blacks and whites. It could have easy become a tacky mess, but the folk at Meadham Kirchhoff know the quality of good showmanship. The buyers may once again leave disappointed but the press sure enjoyed the ball, and we were among them.

Maria Crachvogel was not about surprises, or inventing something new. And I say that as a compliment. Too often have we – fashion editors and critics – come to expect something extravagant, new and groundbreaking, something that we can analyse for hours and deconstruct, forgetting what is the ultimate purpose of what we see on the stage: to stock people’s wardrobes! While a good show is always welcome (see previous paragraph), at the end of the day the designer must make a living by producing beautiful, wearable clothing with a distinct signature style. Maria Crachvogel’s feather-light draped collection of simple dresses, printed silk gowns, jackets and even trousers, was just that. You can instantly tell that it’s Crachovel, whether on the catwalk, shop floor, or worn by a friend to a dinner party. And that’s something that needs to be valued more in the midst of all this look-at-me fashion shock therapy.

There are always going to be high expectations for the debut solo collection of those that have scooped top prizes from the many emerging talent awards BFC has launched over the years. Those expectations were no lower for Haizhen Wang, the winner of the 2012 Fashion Fringe, and he was clearly aware of that. We recognized the same features that attracted us to him in the first place: the draped leather and heavy tweeds, heavily constructed dresses, highly detailed outerwear contrasting the light draped garments underneath. Exploring the samurai culture and aesthetic as his point of reference, Wang gave us a cohesive, well edited, distinct collection that made us excited to see what else this young CSM graduate has to offer.

Ashish, Ashish, Ashish… where do we start? The ironic glittered slogan tees (‘The end is near’) worn with comfy maxi skirts or pajama trousers, denim patchwork, sequined tweeds and road-worker’s safety uniforms, kufiya-patterned dresses and tops… Trust Ashish to manipulate things that are so un-fashion into a collection that everyone in the fashion world would desire. We have always loved his nomadic girl, the adventuress, the word-traveller and this season’s hippie, though more ‘street’ and urban than before, was no exception. We don’t go to Ashish to see the next season’s trends – we go for a dose of humor, wit and originality. Something we all, after 5 days of endless fashion shows and parties, so desperately yearned for. His collection is there to help us put things back into perspective, to realise that at the end of the day, fashion is about having fun!