I really enjoyed Claire Barrow's take on the Fashion Week formula. Her presentation was like a satirical pseudo-retrospective exhibition as commentary on the current state of the industry churning over and mis-referencing inspirations. With a manifesto penned by Reba Maybury outlining this preoccupation it resonated with my recent thoughts that there isn't really any definable style for "our time" because everything is so scattered and washed out.
Going against the grain of digital technology and technique, Claire got out her brushes and used the giant frames of Elms Elsters Painting rooms to freestyle over 15 foot canvases as her cloth. Here you can see details of the dresses that she made from this textile named "Dawn Of Man" and "Sphinx". These fine-art show-pieces were interspersed with a printed and embroidered collaboration with British luxury knitwear brand John Smedley. Each look had its own label like a museum piece with details of when it was made, materials and title. So good!
I'm so pleased that LFW still has a nugget of something fun and fresh with this nod to the nostalgia worm-hole that everyone else is getting sucked in to and letting slide.
