The Best Of London Fashion Week SS20
By Something CuratedAs ever, this season London Fashion Week showcased a breadth of exciting new and emerging talent, alongside established favourites, with a busy schedule of shows and events concluding today, 17 September. With the work of London’s triumphant young designers taking centre stage, Something Curated highlights the best from Spring/Summer 2020.
Supriya Lele
For her SS20 offering, Supriya Lele considered her personal wardrobe favourites as a starting point, joining sleek cuts and comfortable fabrics with the on-going exploration of her British-Indian heritage. Modern and poetic with a sensitive observation of femininity, this season, saris were reduced to wispy transparent shrouds, dyed black, blue and yellow, sitting delicately atop leather trousers and body-conscious dresses adorned with the designer’s signature use of Madras check.
JW Anderson
Loaded with visual juxtapositions, Jonathan Anderson’s latest collection seemed to be a departure from last season’s vision of fashion as fantasy. This time everything felt decidedly wearable and uncomplicated, with close attention paid to the reality of the garments. Still whimsical and beautiful, Anderson’s collection was presented alongside a series of works by the Canadian artist Liz Mangor, who the fashion designer discovered at Harvard earlier this year.
Charlotte Knowles
Debuting their first collection outside the Fashion East umbrella, Charlotte Knowles’ SS20 offering continued to build on corset-inspired shapes, to present a full wardrobe incorporating everything from beautifully crafted shearling jackets, to bags and fascinating jewellery. A newly introduced snake print, in keeping with the collection’s title of Venom, appeared on blazers and coats, alongside playfully draped scarves printed with the label’s updated logo.
Matty Bovan
This season, Matty Bovan’s models appeared on the runway wearing masks, distorting sheets of plastic that warped their faces, cartoonishly magnifying their features to make the familiar feel strange. Having grown up in York, where he is still based, Bovan graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2015 with an MA specialising in Fashion Knitwear. His SS20 collection found beauty in British interiors of the past, with nods to William Morris and Vanessa Bell and colour schemes inspired by Charleston, her house in Sussex.
Ashish
Presented at Seymour Leisure Centre, Ashish’s SS20 production was more surreal than sporty, incorporating a live performance of mouth-chanting and wind chimes, with a model walking the runway clutching a branch of Palo Santo, traditionally used for ceremonial purposes and believed to have calming and healing properties. Styling a fuchsia sequinned skirt with a simple white hoodie, this season took on a relatively reserved tone in comparison to Ashish’s past collections.
Simone Rocha
The ancient Irish tradition of Wren Day inspired the updated frills and feathers of Rocha’s SS20 collection. The use of raffia referenced the uniforms Wrenboys wore, while the influence of Japanese dress also came through, with straw elements drawing from the mino, a traditional Japanese raincoat made out of dried grass. The looks were styled with bags and shoes adorned with ostrich feathers, topped with headbands embellished with spikes and crystals.
Richard Malone
As ever, Richard Malone’s distinctive style took great inspiration from sculpture, as well as Ireland’s rebellious working class teens. With an emotionally charged collection, Malone dedicated his SS20 show to his late grandmother Nellie. The runway was peppered with large organically shaped sculptural forms, fabricated by set designer Janina Pedan, which explore the notion of underrepresented working class creatives taking centre stage, a topic that Malone discussed frequently with his grandmother.
Wales Bonner
Grace Wales Bonner furthers her exploration of the African diaspora and historical narratives in her latest body of work. For her SS20 collection, entitled Mambo, the designer touched on themes of military detail, eveningwear, and black ballet dancers of the 1940s and 50s for a minimalistic collection that explores black identity and Afro-Cuban aesthetics. She also nodded to 80s New York hip-hop culture with a notable collaboration with adidas Originals.
Feature image via Matty Bovan