- Following on from the previous post of Holly Fulton's floral collection but from her Folk inspired theme to another kind of tribal gathering .............. Sophia Webster's "Jungle Is Massive". A clue to the concept was in the location of London's graffiti tunnel Leake Street and the vaulted arches which set designer Gary Card had turned into a black-lit neon nightclub. The 170 bpm breakbeats hit you before the colour explosion, c/o Rinse founder Geeneus's remix soundtrack for the presentation. The blast-from-the-past dancehall classics filtered round the twists and turns of the vignette foliage to draw you in and discover the new species of Sophia's latest designs, camouflaged in the installation. Petal painted leather heels were perched on the branches of the pixelated exotic plants and models swung around on poles with concealed LED lights flashing from their lips. I have only just come back from a rave in a Mediterranean forest, so this was a hilarious experience with recent flashbacks but now amongst the fashpack of editors in place of spangled teenagers!! That's why I love Sophia's shows, because they are always an immersive and all-consuming concept that transports you to somewhere outside the schedule's remit of runways. I confess to shimmying to SHY FX whilst shoulder-to-shoulder with the scrum of stylists, all trying to snap the latest leopard print peep-toes. And why not! After all Sophia's shoes were designed for fun times and will definitely end up on some dancefloors after they've hit the stores! (All snaps from yesterday's presentation and a portrait of set designer Gary Card outside the venue) See last season's show here.
Thanks to Tracy Hayes and FUDGE for another spectrum hair sensation, fresh for fashion week. (The whole rainbow of eight hues was achieved using the FUDGE paintbox range)
Whilst London hosts its seasonal fashion week over the course of the next few days, the city is also showing its finest works in the Design Festival found in locations and venues dotted in-between the fashion show sites. Yesterday I darted back east to make a destination trip to this studio space transformed into a spectrum by Dan Tobin Smith in his project "The First Law of Kipple". Obviously this was a kaleidoscopic treat for me and a little home-from-home familiarity with the chromatic collection of kitsch paraphernalia! Check out more on the official site and Dan's own page here.
If you are down at Somerset House in London for Fashion Week you will notice this omnipresent pattern created for sponsor Lavazza by Holly Fulton for their cafes around the site including the beautiful silver airstream bus. Her show was my first of the season, with this cosmic illustrated invitation and Flower Appreciation Society special hand-tied bouquets on the front row as indication of the collection's inspiration. Holly's muse came from the Anglo-Saxon sun goddess Eastra via the Scottish artist JD Fergusson's sculptures after his partner the dancer Margaret Morris. The vibe was "sun-worship, folk art and self expression" with patterns in the form of heavenly heavily encrusted detailed 3D sequin & crystal flowers. I have a feeling SS15 is going to be a very floral season so Holly's unique interpretation is sewing the seeds for the next shows to follow in Milan and Paris........
For full explanation of this end of Summer blow-out music festival set across two weekends and various locations of Pula, Croatia - please see previous post on Dimensions & Outlook.
Majority of these photos by me and some stolen from my accomplice partner-in-crime Teo Connor's Instagram WProject.
Here you can see Loren, Sara and Nell from WorkIt and new venture FAM agency, who represent artists that dj'd at the festivals - inc. Rivah and Siobhan Bell snapped in this group shot from the Lauryn Hill concert, supported by Andrew Ashong (silhouette above) and Fatima (also above, singing with Funkineven at the Eglo Records stage).
