LFW SS15: Day 5

I wore: kate spade new york coat, shoes & bag Gap shirt and Topshop skirt
Image by Dvora

Having admitted defeat and retreated home to my bed at 3pm on LFW SS15 day 4, come day 5 I felt very marginally more human. Human enough to coax myself out of bed and, with the help of a substantial amount of coffee board the Piccadilly Line to Holborn for the Osman show. Osman Yousefzada is one of the many designers who really make me appreciate the London fashion scene. I’m not going to come out and say it’s superior to that of New York, Milan or Paris. That would be absolute rubbish, each has its own unique set of qualities and characteristics that make it fascinating. But there’s something very special about there is something very special about the innovation and bold individuality you find here in London. From Christopher Kane and Jonathan Saunders to Mary Katrantzou, Roksanda Ilincic and of course, Osman Yousefzada, during the short course of my own fashion career I’ve witnessed the meteoric rise of Blighty based designers and it’s very inspiring. Despite the fact that curling up in bed and never moving again was tempting, come that Tuesday morning I was ready to be inspired once more…

OSMAN SS15

After cobbling together an outfit (uncharacteristically unplanned this season) involving a lot of bright pink, because nothing perks you up like fuchsia when you feel rubbish, I made the journey to Victoria House and took my front row seat in good time for the show to begin. I’ve completely and utterly love OSMAN’s last few collections, all those opulent textures and vivid hues, it’s a visual feast. This season he called once again on a bohemian inspiration, drawing on the idea of exploration and travel, albeit in the most luxurious of forms imaginable. The phrase “bohemian” is potentially dubious in fashion terms, and one that sends shivers down my spine, but this wasn’t the kind of boho that ends up on Vanessa Hudgens and inspires V Files Coachella parody videos. This was an opulent, elegant, intricate incarnation of contemporary exoticism that saw Osman’s signature architectural silhouettes adorned with exquisitely detailed patterns crafted from hand sewn tiny beaded pearls, tassle print sitting alongside actual silk thread tassles and abstract splashes of ink blog print. The cuts, the colours, the fabrics; it was delectable just to look at and I cannot imagine how delectable to wear. Osman masterfully balanced lavish fantasy with sleek modernity and despite the rich detailing there was a real sense of cleanliness to the collection. Unsurprisingly, I was very glad that I’d forced myself out of bed, would have been devastated to miss this. Another knockout show from Yousefzada.

OSMAN SS15

My second show of the day was none other than Anya Hindmarch. As I’m sure I don’t need to tell you lot that Anya’s shows are always an absolute treat to behold. She’s such a hugely clever designer and businesswoman on every level but the savvy that’s made her label a global dominating accessory sensation never detracts from the limitless creativity and boundless sense of fun that pours from her every collection. This season saw Hindmarch look to the stickers that provided her schoolgirl self with a means for personalisation. Having had a good, long look at the accessories themselves post show, I can tell you that they’re utterly divine. In another designer’s hands cheeky leather stickers reading “phwoar!” and “oops!” alongside googly eyes, fried eggs, mathmatical signs and cherry motifs – not to mention clutches shaped like pencils – could seem gimmicky but here it just made each piece all the more covetable. “Hubba Bubba” and “Wrigley’s Imperial” clutches had me feeling nostalgic for my own school days and each piece was so luxuriously crafted you couldn’t help but want to stroke it. And then of course, the show itself.

Anya Hindmarch SS15

Anya Hindmarch’s luxe incarnation of a rite of passage we’ve all experienced saw the entire floor of the show space rotate and the front row, which included Kate Foley, Chelsea Leyland, Paula Reed and Caroline Sieber to name but a few, spin backwards clutching their own handbags. Then the lights dropped and out span models sitting in glow in the dark teacups, swiftly followed by dancers in skeleton suits who immediately broke into a perfectly choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s “thriller”. Even the most exhausted, stressed or hungover attendees couldn’t have failed to crack a smile at that!

The Anya Hindmarch show was my final of LFW SS15, as I dashed home to prepare for a Milan trip I wouldn’t end up going on. Illness aside, it was a fantastic season and one which made me very proud to hail from London! I hope you’ve enjoyed my fashion week diaries so far and not been to bored by the slightly excessive word count. There are a whole lot more to come from Paris!

Love Ella. X