London Fashion Week SS12 - Day Two

SPIJKERS EN SPIJKERS

                                  Images courtesy Chris Dadey

Inspired by the tale of Scheherazade who captured the heart of King Shahryar by her storytelling every night for one thousand and one nights and so sparing her life, this collection translates in to a starry Arabian night.

The colour palette was full of Eastern promise from  high contrasting midnight black and silvery star panels to the softer sandy tones of Sahara beige and ivory harlequin patterns. An oasis of light sorbet pinks and pale lime yellows joined the sandy hues whilst the deeper jewelled tones of coral and oriental blue shined against the midnight black.

Hemlines were mainly below the knee and either cut in to geometric zigzag pattern or slit in to panels. The shorter skirts were lengthened with long fringing.

It was not all dresses as the cropped trousers and slouchy boyfriend jackets brought a casual elegance to the collection.

Maybe like King Shahryar, you are left wanting more as the models depart and show the stunning backlines of the dresses. On some, delicate chain racer backs join the top tip of a star panel whilst on others two stars form the corners of low backs. And don’t forget to check out the shoes with the half star shapes.

LAKO BUKIA

This poor woman was suffering from a high temperature a few days before the show but ever a professional the show must go on and what a show. This season the inspiration was simple – Asian trees and flowers, but the results were beautiful hand drawn flower prints, the first time Bukia had introduced a print to her collection.  

The show started with flowing grey chiffons grounded by structured white mandarin collars, with only a glimpse of red showing on chiffon shorts and blouses as the oversized flower print. The monochrome returned with an ethereal tree print silhouette on a white background. The red then made its dramatic entrance in the guise of silk satin cropped trousers followed quickly by a red satin bodice teamed with a wonderful pair of wide legged trousers in black and white wide horizontal stripes with the overlap of the large red flower print. These were my favourite until a red and white vertical striped empire line chiffon dress came along with its red silk satin cut away bust and pauldron.

FASHIONS FINEST – SUBSTANCE WEAR

At the Fashions Finest catwalk show was the fashion brand for party-goers, Substance Wear.

The colour palette all black except for a little silver metallic wrap dress. The metallic silver brings a classic style with elbow length sleeves in to the spot light.

Overlay of lace gives texture to the simple black sheath dresses. The lace is sexy with a little tantalising demureness thrown in as it provides a maxi overlay for a short sheathe dress.

By Karen Grace
Personal Shopper & Image Consultant for Frumpy to Funky http://www.frumpytofunky.com