LFW AW15 Day 1

I wore Sass & Bide dress, Prada clutch, 5 Inch and Up for River Island mules & Swarovski rings
Image by Holly McGlynn

Happy Friday friends! Exactly one week ago I was eating a takeaway porridge in a taxi on my way home from Heathrow having slept barely a wink on the most rubbish red eye (damn you Delta Airlines!) back from New York. Naturally I couldn’t locate my driver on landing and helplessly flailed around the airport for a while with my four enormous suitcases desperately searching for coffee and sustenance. But I wasn’t about to start complaining. Fashion Month had already been pretty amazing and I hadn’t even got started on LFW at this point…

After a hellishly hectic day spent manically trying to unpack said suitcases, decide WTF to wear for London Fashion Week and get my head around the various projects and shoots I had in between the shows, it was all of a sudden time to head out to my first appointment… In my Rolls. I still can’t quite believe that Rolls Royce lent me a Phantom for LFW and the whole experience seems like a wonderful dream looking back. Needless to say, the tube has been a little painful since my ride and the wonderful Colin who ferried me and assorted friends around for four days had to go back. The afternoon was a slightly blurry (NO SLEEP) one during which I somehow managed to prep for a super cute project I was doing with Thomas Sabo over the next few days (more on that soon) and meet Char for a quick bite, carafe of wine and BFF catch up at Little House before heading to my first and only show, Sass & Bide.

From left: Angela Scanlon, Candice Lake, Zak Stenmark, Margaret Zhang, Me, Louby Mcloughlin, Bip Ling & Alice Naylor Leyland

Held in the truly resplendent surroundings of the Australian High Commission on The Strand, anticipation was in the air especially considering that this show would mark not only Sass & Bide’s return to London after decamping to New York but also the debut collection from the brand’s new Creative Director, Anthony Cuthbertson. My fellow, largely Sass & Bide clad FROW-ers, included Alice Naylor-Leyland, Louby Mcloughlin, Bip Ling, Candice Lake and lovely Aussie multi-hyphenate (photographer, stylist, blogger, writer, law student) Margaret Zhang who’d also been on that hideous JFK red eye flight and despite our palpable exhaustion, everyone was in good spirits and excited for the show.

Sass and Bide AW15

After the customary 20-minutes-minimum delay the first model hit the mosaic tiled floor in an all black, layered look boasting armour like embellishment. A glance at the show notes confirmed that this season’s collection, entitled “Mojo-Kiko” was based around the concept of “honouring the empowerment of the new age woman and urban warrior.” This starting point led Cuthbertson to concoct an array of sharp shouldered silhouettes, gleamingly adorned with tough girl, glimmering sequins and beading reminiscent of chain mail but a whole lot shinier. Layering certainly played a central role here. From the all black, gauze train trailing looks that opened the show to piled up fringed knits, leather pants under skirts and dresses and waistcoats upon jackets on contrast coloured, zig zag woven tweeds.

Sass and Bide AW15

Admittedly, I didn’t love all of it. Some of the layering seemed unnecessary – bodycon over leather pants is really only suitable for supermodels – and the dresses perhaps a little would-be-Balmain but there were certainly some excellent pieces here; those dresses were badass, Balmain “inspired” or not, and the skinny white leathers, robot embellishment and high shine, hooded aviator jackets were particular stars. Overall, a strong start from Sass & Bide’s new directeur créatif. Cuthbertson stayed true to the label’s signature heavy embellishment and penchant for worked texture while ushering in a tougher, more experimental aesthetic that felt far more apt for today’s woman than anything we’ve seen from Sass & Bide before.

Sass and Bide AW15

Show over, it was time to party! A relatively stupid decision in retrospect but I was all dolled up in gold so it seemed like rather a shame not to.

Love Ella. X