Bright, bold and immaculately tailored: A look at spring/ summer 2013 collections

London is a talent pool where majority of designers seem to emerge from. Having a top ranking design school situated in London helps in having the young graduates show at this fashion week. For spring/ summer 2013 the collections are bright, bold and immaculately tailored. Here is a selection of designers and brief description of their runway shows

David Koma

Seems like the Olympic fever is still spread in UK as edgy designer David Koma was inspired by a female tennis player for this collection. But these are not the cute tennis dresses and skirts you find in sports shops. Brilliantly cut with new found tailoring of cut out tops and pleats on skirts, this collection is for the most fashion forward sportswoman in Summer 2013.

Giles

British designer Giles Deacon founded his eponymous label in 2003. He is one of the most talented designers to hail from London and to have stuck to London while most leave to show in Paris or Milan. This collection was inspired by shattered glass, where he interpreted the textures onto fabrics and cut outs like never seen before.

Mary Katrantzou

Born in Athens, Greece Mary attended Rhode Island School of Design and then completed both her BA and MA at Central Saint Martins. Her popularity skyrocketed in the past two years when she showed a collection that eerily looked like upholstery and lamp shades and won the hearts of editors and style pioneers. Spring/summer 2013 is inspired by world history, global exploration and Guilloche pattern play.

Erdem

Erdem is a designer who is recognised for his romantic, ladylike dresses and prints. He won the prestigious BFC Vogue Designer Fashion Fund in 2010 after beating some big names. This collection had his signature floral shapes in form of embroidery and prints mixed with a harder snakeskin print and ladylike solid pastel shades.

Michael van der Ham

Only six collections old, Michael has proved his caliber early on in his career with a collection of separates for the urban women who care about traditional prints. His skills come from experience working with design houses of Alexander McQueen and Sophia Kokosalaki before taking a place on the highly coveted Central Saint Martins MA course.

Burberry Prorsum

Perhaps the biggest fashion house based out of the UK, Burberry takes great pride in celebrating British heritage. And the credit goes to Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, Christopher Bailey who is responsible for the design of all Burberry collections and products, as well as all advertising, corporate art direction, architectural design, multimedia content and overall brand image for Burberry. They have managed to update the classic designs into something super modern that is worn by young actors, musicians and models for many public appearances.

House of Holland

A favourite of the young London cool crowd, Henry Holland likes to have fun via his creations. Mix and match of prints, colours and slogans is his signature design style. This collection had long dresses worn over trousers in the same print but different colours. The blazers and dresses fit close to the body with bustier and belt detailing. Seems this collection was more ladylike but with the splash of wild sense and acid colours.

Ashish

Born in New Delhi, Ashish Gupta set base in London after graduating from the prestigious Central St Martin’s for an MA. His signature style is to use sequins every season. The interpretation is far from the bling-Barbie doll style. His style is very grunge with fabrics and silhouette references from 80s sportswear. Sequined tank top, and sweat pants, acid wash denims and deconstructed white mens shirts were seen on the runway.

Paul Smith

Legendary British designer Paul Smith continues to present a new season collection in line with his signature styles but with new shapes and prints. Prints are something that is synonymous with this brand. For spring-summer Paul Smith introduced shirts with half print and half solid colour fabric paired with high-waisted fitting trousers.

Christopher Kane

A designer to look out for, Kane has drawn the fashion experts’ votes every season. With clever interpretations from the strangest inspiration sources, Kane has a way of making extremely womanly creations. This time he was inspired by the character of Frankenstein with literal prints of his head and then subtle references of nuts and bolts replacing zips and buttons on garments and shoes.

Tags: Ashish, Burberry Prorsum, Christopher Kane, David Koma, Erdem, featured, full-image, Giles, House of Holland, Mary Katrantzou, Michael van der Ham, Paul Smith

Category: Fashion