Life of the party - London Fashion Week Daily

LONDON 

FASHION 

WEEK 

18-23 FEBRUARY 2011 

London fashion week 

Reporting from 

Fashion’s front line 

Got a story 

Email newsdesk@lfwdaily.com 

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PRINCIPAL SPONSOR 

Issue N o 1, London fashion week Autumn/Winter 2011 

in association with 

Sunday 20 February 2011 

the Fashion Moment Kaleidoscopic creations backstage at the Louise Gray A/W 11 show yesterday. Photography by Anna Bauer 

Life of the party 

Report by Julia Robson 

Spots. Stripes. Checks. Sometimes 

simple things work best. In a 

season when fabrics do the talking, 

Louise Gray’s textiles say it all. 

“Celebration!” said Lulu Kennedy, 

sounding every inch the proud 

mentor, post-show (Gray’s career 

kicked off with Fashion East). 

“This time I took the things I loved 

[ie, colour] and played with layering,” 

said the 28-year-old designer from 

Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, who 

added gold Lurex and Stewart tartan 

to her eye-popping mix yesterday. 

“Matt and metallic work together,” 

she said, explaining the 3D-effect 

gold-foil inverted spots punched 

onto hairy mohair plaid. 

“I am obsessed by the Glasgow 

Girls, a group of women artists who 

did everything from embroidery to 

painting and furniture making. They 

were amazing. Empowering. Fearless.” 

So, it seems, is Gray, who 

threaded Day-Glo Sellotape paper 

chains through shorts, and slung 

parachute harnesses onto tops. 

Ideas were never-ending. There 

were gold whistle earrings, panelled 

Faster and faster fashion puts 

the run into runway 

report by Heath Brown 

Are you frustrated by inadequate 

catwalk pictures taken on your 

smartphone Is it all a blur when it 

comes to reviewing your last show 

Then take heart from the fact that it 

may not be down to a lack of 

technical skill on your part. 

Rumour has it, from models 

backstage, that paranoid designers 

are asking girls to walk just that little 

bit faster, in a bid to control who 

photographs their new collections. 

The idea is to scupper those 

rumour has it 

that designers 

are asking models 

to walk 

faster, in a bid 

to control who 

photographs 

their new collections 

coats woven through with stripes 

and chequerboard silk dévoré dresses. 

From the dotty make-up inspired 

by Japanese conceptual artist Yayoi 

Kusama to the homage to Michael 

Alig’s Club Kids in Nasir Mazhar’s 

balloon headpieces (Mazhar creates 

hats for Lady Gaga), the overall effect 

was gloriously arty, not art student. 

“She’s evolved,” said buying 

consultant Yasmin Sewell. “She’s 

picked up on the tartan-and-polkadot 

trend. Break that collection 

down into pieces and it’s incredibly 

wearable.” And sellable. 

happy-snapping tweeters and 

bloggers whose cameraphones 

won’t register moving images at a 

certain speed. Apparently, even 

iPhones and BlackBerrys have 

trouble with balancing sharp images 

in such dark venues, and the quicker 

the show, the worse the photo. 

But struggling designers beware. 

If you crave more coverage across 

the blog’n’Twittersphere, then here 

are two key tips: slow down the pace 

and light up the lights, or your 

collection will never get seen. 

Cross dressing comes 

out of the closet 

Report by David Hayes 

“We’ve always had women asking 

for versions of the men’s collection,” 

said JW Anderson after his first solo 

womenswear presentation (below 

right). “It was a huge undertaking to 

put on two shows this season, but 

I just felt I had to go for it. I found 

the process of designing for women 

exactly the same as for men. The 

collection was all about juxtaposing 

different fabrics, grouping different 

things and bashing it all together. 

It was inspired by my grandma, 

who used to wear her old fur coats 

with track pants: the ‘so right it’s 

wrong’ approach.” 

Those “juxtapositions” included 

paisley prints, panels of pleats, 

classic suiting, mohair knits, splices 

of Mongolian lambswool and 

quilted leather – all set off by steeltoe 

men’s lace-ups: a look that had 

the street-inspired feel of Helmut 

Lang in his heyday. 

Thanks to the success of the 

men’s day at London Fashion Week, 

Anderson is part of a growing 

number of menswear designers 

crossing the gender divide this 

season, with Sibling, James Long 

and Cassette Playa all running up 

a little something for the girls. 

“It wasn’t really a conscious 

decision on our part, if we are being 

very honest,” says Sibling’s Cozette 

McCreery. “In fact, it was almost 

something we wished to avoid. 

We’ve been asked to sell the 

mainline menswear collections to 

women from the beginning, but have 

resisted, as we didn’t want to run 

before we could walk.” 

Perhaps they shouldn’t worry, if 

the reaction to Anderson’s first solo 

women’s show is anything to go by. 

“It was awesome!” shouted an 

excited Yasmin Sewell after the show. 

Photography by Shaniqwa Jarvis 

Thoughtful 

shopper 

noted by linda grant 

When Ken Clarke told The Daily 

Telegraph that the middle classes 

didn’t know what was going to hit 

them when the cuts kicked in, some 

might have wondered what they 

were going to wear. The answer is 

Daks, a collection surely designed 

for those winter days when we can’t 

afford to turn on the central heating 

and must warm up by taking the 

Labrador for a walk in the rain. 

The heritage checks, the twotone 

tunic-length English knits in 

navy and chocolate, the leather 

box-pleated skirts, the suede duffel 

coat, the patent-leather frame 

handbags and the Cuban-heeled 

shoes of the type favoured by Mrs 

Thatcher might remind you of 

Sixties schoolteachers, or be a style 

departure so startling it seems 

brand new. The most wowed-over 

look was the quilted maxi circle 

skirt in Daks check. Never has a 

collection been so in tune with 

the moment, a revival of Middle 

England in hard-up times, through 

the eyes of an Italian designer 

(Filippo Scuffi) for whom English 

frumpy can suddenly seem chic. 

We Had It So Good by 

Linda Grant (Virago) is out 

now. Visit lindagrant.co.uk

2 News London fashion week the daily Sunday 20 February 2011 

LFW The Daily Credits 

Editor 

Cat Callender 

Deputy Editor & Chief Sub Editor 

Marion Jones 

Art Director & Designer 

Bianca Wendt 

Managing Editor 

JANE MONEY 

Deputy Chief Sub Editor 

Fiona Russell 

Sub Editors 

Michelle Margherita, 

kirsty hislop, robin wilks 

Designers 

catherine nippe, emma williams, 

thomas elliotT 

Reporters 

David Hayes, Julia Robson, 

Heath Brown, marion hume, 

susanna lau 

Beauty Correspondents 

annabel meggeson, Jess Hogan 

Guest Contributors 

Linda Grant, emma lofstrom, 

philippa williams 

Staff Photographers 

Anna Bauer, Marcus Dawes, 

Shaniqwa Jarvis 

Distribution Manager 

Fran Weber-Newth 

Production Manager 

CAROLYN MOTT 

Blog Reporter 

EMILY FLEURIOT 

Blog Commissioning Editor 

yasmin coke 

Editorial Assistants 

alison potter, brooke rutherford 

Runners 

amy maloney, giverney edwards 

Website Designer 

Wolfram Wiedner 

BFC Marketing Manager 

Clara Mercer 

Printed by 

The Guardian Print Centre 

Published by 

JENNY DYSON & CAT CALLENDER 

AT JEnny & The Cat Ltd 

Thanks to 

The British Fashion Council 

Somerset House 

H&M for the stYLISH support 

M&S for the fashionABLE food 

Mercedes-Benz for the wit-woo wheels 

live catwalk illustration At daks 

By Julie Verhoeven 

The daily shop 

It may be A/W on the catwalks, 

but it’s just turned S/S in store. 

Here’s our pick of the pack. 

Compiled by Victoria Bain, 

Junior Style Editor, The Daily Telegraph 

sunglasses, £12 

Asos (asos.com) 

t-shirt, £55 

Ann-Sofie Back for Topshop 

(topshop.com) 

“clipper” holdall, £189 

Mulberry (mulberry.com) 

bracelet, £12 

Red Herring at Debenhams 

(debenhams.com) 

For advertising enquiries, 

email cat@lfwdaily.com 

Rock 

star 

Todd Lynn has one of the most respected 

fashion signatures in London. The tailoring 

so sharp it could slice through ice; the androgyny 

that invites a swagger; the sensibility that is 

pure rock’n’roll. He also now has two seasons 

of financial support and mentoring, courtesy of 

the BFC’s Fashion Forward award. 

“The money’s always useful, but there is also 

mentoring that will really help,” says Lynn of the 

Coutts & Co-sponsored package supported by the 

London Development Agency. “It’s such a creative, 

amazing journey to do this, but in reality if you don’t 

have a business sense it won’t get you so far.” 

It is this issue that Fashion Forward seeks 

to address, and Canadian Lynn knows well how 

such success confounded many of London’s 

designers for years. Coutts has a long tradition 

of supporting creative entrepreneurs, and 2011 

is its second year sponsoring Fashion Forward. 

Holding out a hand to Lynn is perfectly timed. 

Here is a label with a clear developing vision, 

exquisite execution and stealth wearability. 

“Women who like fashion don’t feel the need 

to conform,” says Lynn. “These are people I know 

and work with. My clothes are fierce, but protective, 

too.” Cue jackets of butter-soft leather armour, 

zipped dresses that reveal the silhouette but not 

the skin, wool trousers that declare any wearer 

tall and slim, cutting-edge clothes designed 

“to look good on all people, not just models”. 

And tomorrow, it’s Lynn’s A/W 11 show. It’s all in 

the detail. “All the elements are there,” he says. “It’s 

what I’m adding: the Enlightenment, a bit 

of colour. And it’s winter, it’s leather and fur – fur 

that’s been farmed properly. I really care about that.” 

And, of course, there’s rock’n’roll. “I can sit 

on my own in the studio, listening to music, and 

I can escape,” says Lynn. “I can see things.” 

Todd Lynn is showing tomorrow at 3pm in WC2 

BESPOKE FEATURE 

Fashion means business 


British fashion is having a “eureka” 

moment, waking up to ways to 

harness the endless talent and 

creativity it’s famous for. What’s to 

stop venture capitalists (remember 

them) pitching up in London and 

eyeing up a young fashion brand 

While creativity is paramount, 

emerging designers are realising the 

importance of building a business. 

“People often say that fashion is one 

of our most important creative 

industries,” said BFC ambassador 

Samantha Cameron (below with 

BFC Chairman Harold Tillman), 

Four seasons in one day 

Report by Heath Brown 

Global warming has hit the catwalks 

of London, as Spring/Summer 

staples creep into collections for 

A/W 11. Soft billowing silks, bare 

shoulder lines, hot tribal looks 

and fresh nautical references – it 

looks like designers are predicting 

a milder spell. 

Sass & Bide ignored the snows 

of late and transported us to 

sunnier climes. Ikat prints from 

Africa, Balinese references and hot 

Mediterranean colours are more 

than enough to keep us warm. 

Daks’ new collection went a little 

flying the flag in Mulberry. “They’re 

wrong – it’s one of our most 

important industries, full stop.” 

(True, last year, British fashion 

contributed £21 billion to UK PLC.) 

Educating designers in business 

is the point of initiatives such as the 

BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund. Tillman 

points out that the fund’s current 

recipient, Christopher Kane, won on 

his business plan as well as his 

designs. “If we want more people to 

invest in fashion, we have to instil a 

sound business sense in our designers.” 

Photography by Marcus Dawes 

nautical-but-nice with precise navyand-white 

outfits that were more 

Cowes Week than Bonfire Night, 

and Caroline Charles decided a day 

at the races would be far more 

inspiring than a cosy Christmas. 

Daisy-print red chiffon at Betty 

Jackson, halternecks and hot pants 

at Aminaka Wilmont, and holidaywhite 

palazzo pants with silky prints 

at Maria Grachvogel all emphasised 

the fact that designers will not be 

dictated to by the weather. It’s a case 

of designing a wardrobe for all 

seasons, and creating investment 

buys for any time of the year. 

dress, £65 

Monsoon Fusion (0844 811 0068) 

shorts, £115 

Jaeger London (0845 051 0063) 

fan, £2.50 

V&A (vandashop.com) 

maxi skirt, £95 

Whistles (whistles.co.uk) 

“roberta” wedges, £218 

Anthropologie (anthropologie.co.uk)

4 News London fashion week the daily Sunday 20 February 2011 

www.lfwdaily.com News 5 

Catwalk highlights 

the 

beauty 

spot 

Report by Dolly Jones, Editor, vogue.com 

Photography by catwalking.com 

Charles Anastase 

Kinder aggugini 

ISSA 

House of Holland 

The only way is haute 

Report by Annabel Meggeson 

If you thought London was all about 

grunge, think again. This season, 

designers stepped up to create 

beautiful clothes worthy of, well, 

Worth – the godfather of couture 

who, despite living most of his adult 

life in Paris, was, in fact, English (for 

more on A/W couture, see page 9). 

And now there’s the make-up to 

match. With that Englishness still 

part of the equation, it’s a more 

refined, tailored look, injecting a bit 

of atelier class into the mix. 

Backstage, the new spirit was 

ushered in with highly polished skin, 

sculpted eyes and strong, carefully 

crafted lips. At Danielle Scutt 

(above), make-up artist Hiromi 

called her look “unashamedly sleek 

and chic”, with the sculpted, smoky 

eye relying on precise application 

and her deep-red lip unusually strong. 

Then there was the hair. Against 

the rails of aristocratic clothes at 

Corrie Nielsen, stylist Sergio Renis 

created a ‘haute-couture effect’ by 

securing moulded headpieces into 

models’ hair and crafting intricate, 

Elizabethan shapes. At PPQ, the 

humble plait was upgraded with 

placement in front of the ears and 

finished with large black bows at the 

ends “to add grandeur”. 

Meanwhile, last season’s trend 

for contouring, which was seen 

everywhere, from Céline in New 

York to Versace in Milan, was taken 

to new architectural heights. Of her 

diagonally placed highlights and 

painstaking white-powder glazes 

for Betty Jackson, make-up artist 

Sam Bryant said, “The indie chick is 

still in there, but this season she’s 

being played out in a more crafted, 

considered way.” 

Photography by Anna Bauer 

The “up” do to swing 

Report by jessica hogan 

There was plenty of horsing around 

at the shows in New York, with 

ponytails the preferred hairstyles at 

Alexander Wang, Marc Jacobs and 

Proenza Schouler. And this week, 

the style is taking off over on this 

side of the pond. 

At Jaeger London, veteran stylist 

Sam McKnight gave his pretty pony 

a military twist and told us exactly 

why he loved the “simple” look: “It’s 

so versatile; both masculine and 

feminine – strong from the front and 

soft from the back – and it’s an easy 

quick fix that anyone can do. Plus, it 

works in all manner of ways – sporty, 

chic, waved…” 

Malcolm Edwards took the look 

to even greater heights – literally – 

at Kinder Aggugini (right), where 

high-on-the-head ponytails were 

stretched into a cartoon-like, softly 

pointed silhouette with gentle curls. 

Over at Louise Gray, Luke 

Hersheson went 1990s hip-hop, 

juxtaposing a square-top afro with 

soft, tonged lengths. Catwalk hair 

that couldn’t be easier to create: 

how will you do yours 


bespoke feature 

Charles Anastase played us in (out of the pouring rain) 

to The Doors’ Riders on the Storm, and then let Brigitte 

Fontaine’s Il Pleut take over. “My collection began with 

memories of weather like this,” he said. “Being brought 

up in France around castles in dark, rainy countryside. 

It’s about a young Lolita who just gets naughtier, but we 

try to restrain her a bit.” This season his muse has 

escaped the nursery in a fit of early teenage rebellion and 

dashed (as fast as she can in platform riding boots) to the 

stables. His signature princess coats were worn over 

matching trousers in rich autumnal tweeds and velvets, 

while tiny silk dresses and Peter Pan-collared jumpsuits 

clung to the body from sheer jewelled uppers – this little 

girl wants to join, and ensnare, the 

grown-ups. Button-backed cashmere dresses and sheer 

lamé cardigans eased a collection in which a potentially 

heavy Seventies theme of brushed-out hair, tactile 

fabrics and flares was touched with medieval motifs to 

whip in even more historical drama. 

Susie styles it 

Imagine the fashion chaos that would ensue if Coco 

Chanel married Sid Vicious – Kinder Aggugini’s latest 

collection was inspired by this notion and, he said, it’s 

perfectly embodied by the legendary art collector Peggy 

Guggenheim: “Her father died on the Titanic and she 

inherited millions of dollars at 21 – the perfect age to 

inherit money in New York. You could do anything you 

wanted: drink, buy a gun – this woman would have done 

both.” Long black dresses, one split dangerously high at 

the front, gained shapely curves with crystal embroidery; 

VIVE ART-emblazoned T-shirts tucked into cream 

wool tulip skirts (with contrasting stitching) and giant 

mustard-yellow parkas or laser-cut jackets made this a 

mix of rock meets art, boy meets girl – all topped by 

chiffon-wrapped, transparent plastic Stephen Jones hats 

and grounded with glittering Mary-Janes. Having 

worked with Galliano, Westwood and Versace, Aggugini 

is no shrinking violet, and the subtlety of his lace and 

floral prints provided a welcome delicacy. 

She’s in a celebratory mood, and no one could begrudge 

Daniella Helayel her dance along to Kool & the Gang, 

flanked by her star models Yasmin Le Bon and Andrea 

Dellal. Despite the disappointment of no future Princess 

Catherine in the audience, it was easy to empathise with 

Issa’s exuberance – made all the better by Stephen 

Jones’s felt berets featuring stiff peaked curls or bulging 

fur rims; Manolo Blahnik shoes that perfectly matched 

the tights and skater-skirted jersey above; and giant, 

bouncing ponytails. The dresses were just what we 

expected: big feather prints or irregular dots and swirls, 

mismatched above and below on well-cut dresses that 

would flatter anyone – not groundbreaking but all the 

more attractive, to some, for their lack of risk. And there 

was one red frock coat that will surely do for a royal 

wedding guest. “I began with lots of references: South 

America, nature, everything – but then it became a 

reworking of our greatest hits, a celebration of the best of 

Issa,” said Helayel. “It’s a great time for us.” 

“I started with heritage fabrics and then had fun with 

granny pastimes – bingo, crochet and keeping budgies,” 

said Henry Holland by way of explanation. “Then we 

added pearls – our girl is too young for a pearl necklace, 

so we put them on her dress and made it sexy.” Which it 

was: fine tweed mini dresses had pearls running over each 

shoulder that looked like they might roll off at any 

second. Despite the budget connotations of crochet and 

bingo, House of Holland has never looked more luxe. 

Holland’s enthusiasm for the job was apparent in bingo 

ball-printed tights and crochet scarves wrapped around 

chiffon dresses of an identical print, but there were some 

seriously wearable, super-cool clothes – crochet-printed, 

Swarovski-encrusted chiffon that would dazzle in the glare of 

the paparazzi; tweed midi skirts that gave a glimpse of 

little lace slips, and fitted tweed trousers teamed with silk 

blouses printed with birdcages, a motif that recurred on 

softly sexy housecoats. Retro Yes. Tongue-in-cheek 

Of course. But high quality all the same. 


Report from the exhibition 

by susanna lau 

I can die happy. I’ve had the 

opportunity to wear the infamous 

cherry hat by Piers Atkinson that 

has adorned the head of the fabulous 

Anna Dello Russo. I may even prefer 

the hat in the inky shade of dark 

blue. Might be a bit 

of family bias going on here, but I 

had to pick out this Elizabeth Lau 

(she’s my cousin!) velvet shirt dress 

that just needed a “cherry on the 

top”. Fiona Paxton is consistent 

with her jewellery, playing with 

chain formations that are always 

interesting. It might have been 

an overkill, but I did a Helena 

Bonham Carter and tried a bit of 

mismatching with Tracey Neuls’s 

TN_29 lace-up heels. Carter isn’t 

the first, and I doubt she will be the 

last to don a pair of bi-colourway 

shoes, and I’ll certainly be giving the 

look a go once I take the plunge and 

buy two pairs of shoes in different 

colours. 

house of 

fashion 

She set the high street alight when she introduced designer 

collaborations. Now Stephanie Chen is transforming 

House of Fraser. Prepare to be surprised 

“My first job was in a florist’s on Saturdays. I did buttonholes, 

bouquets, the lot. And I realised I could do colour and form easily.” 

Stephanie Chen, Executive Director of Womenswear and Accessories 

at House of Fraser, is musing on the creative inspiration that has led 

her from dahlias to department-store guru. “And then there was my 

mum. Barely 20 years older than me and beautiful with her long red 

hair and flares.” She turns her red tourmaline diamond ring by Solange 

Azagury-Partridge (“The first piece I ever bought”). “You get a vibe.” 

One year into the job, Chen’s mix of design flair and emotional 

reach is changing House of Fraser from brand behemoth to responsive 

fashion authority. “We have 61 stores, so we’re big enough but small 

enough,” points out Chen. “My idea was to buy into a breadth of trends 

and brands, constantly renewing to keep it fresh and new. And it 

doesn’t stress suppliers, because we only need to order in hundreds 

not thousands.” She shrugs. “Now our mix is really different.” 

She has long been about pushing what a department store offers 

– it was Chen who made the first designer/high-street collaborations 

happen. Now by hoiking up the fashion stakes at House of Fraser, she 

has new contemporary customers crossing the threshold. “I mean, now 

you can buy Céline here. And we’re the biggest Mulberry distributor 

in Europe!” Emerging designers seen at their end-of-year shows get 

a look-in, too. “We can buy a bit of their work for local branches.” 

The stores are modernising with the mix: “We’ve had a shimmy up, 

but there’s more to come.” And with the house brands now headed up 

by Biba, in an exclusive in-house relaunch that’s really working, those 

strictly fashion customers are finding further reason to point their 

weirdly shod feet towards Oxford Street. “Whatever your budget or 

look, everyone wants fashion, and we have it covered along the scale,” 

says Chen. Whether you want a buttonhole or a bouquet, as it were. 

Houseoffraser.co.uk 

“Dresses form the 

backbone of my summer 

wardrobe. This 

piece is all about easy 

summertime elegance, 

but the block colour 

gives it a directional 

kick” Dress, £80, Pied 

a Terre 

lady of the 

house, STEpHAnie 

chen (left); the 

new-style stores 

(above); chen’s 

s/s 11 House 

of Fraser hero 

pieces (below) 

“Angel Jackson is a new label for US this 

season. The bags are ethically sourced 

and have a sense of irony and fun” 

Satchel, £303, Angel Jackson 

“For downtime, Label Lab is fantastic. 

These shorts would look great with 

a leather jacket thrown on top when 

the classic British summer strikes” 

Shorts, £40, Label Lab 

Divine 

innovation 

Report by Susanna Lau 

For me, Friday kicked off with 

a string of good presentations at 

Vauxhall Fashion Scout: Eudon 

Choi, Tze Goh and Kirsty Ward 

from the Ones to Watch show, and 

Krystof Stroznya, which eased me 

back into the London rhythm of 

shows, post-New York. 

But it was yesterday that yielded 

designs that made my heart thump. 

The Portico Rooms played host to 

a trio of names that all showed very 

different propositions, but really 

flew the flag for Topshop-sponsored 

NEWGEN’s younger designers. 

Craig Lawrence was up first and put 

on an enjoyable salon show, complete 

with a script reader describing the 

ins and outs of his beautiful knits – 

circular shapes knitted in Kyototex 

and velvet yarns, sewn together to 

form slinky dresses and flared-out 

skirts, which made for a sleeker 

approach from Lawrence. 

J JS Lee’s first-ever salon show 

was another refreshingly minimal/ 

maximal feat, with her trompe l’oeil 

relief effects featuring on beautiful 

leather coats and capes, as well 

as low-slung rucksacks which 

contrasted against the stark looks. 

Piers Atkinson cherry hat, L2; 

Elizabeth Lau dress, L1; Fiona 

Paxton necklace, L2; Tracey Neuls 

TN_29 shoes, L2, all at 

the Exhibition, Embankment 

Galleries, Somerset House 

Photography by Shaniqwa Jarvis 

JW Anderson also made a salonshow 

debut with a neatened-up 

version of his previous ideas about 

clothes that come with subcultural 

undertones. Colour-blocked jumpers, 

mixed paisley and irreverent 

touches – such as furry beards on 

chunky brogues and jumpers tied 

around the waist made into tidy cutout 

skirts – all took Anderson’s 

womenswear to another level. 

And Danielle Scutt made a 

banging return to London Fashion 

Week at the My Beautiful Fashion 

venue: I’m thankful that she 

has retained a unique voice in 

rejuvenating female power dressing. 

Stylebubble.co.uk 

with 

Tiffany & Co. 

TIFFANY.co.uk

www.lfwdaily.com Designer Profile 7 

The A team 

Life’s a dog sometimes for Antonio Berardi – constantly dashing between London and Milan, where he runs his label 

with the aid of a crack team. But, however busy he is, Berardi will always find time to make a girl feel special 

Words by Tamsin Blanchard 

Photography by Jonathan Frantini 

temperley 

london is 

years old and 

looking prettier 

than ever 

y 1pm this afternoon, Antonio 

Berardi and his team will be at 

the end of the twice-yearly 

marathon of fittings that pre-empt 

his catwalk shows. For the past 

five days, the designer (pictured 

immediate right with his team) 

has worked from a temporary 

makeshift studio in Shoreditch, installing not only 

his close-knit team of designers and pattern cutters, 

but also the two skilled seamstresses from the atelier 

he uses for his thriving business of special orders, 

celebrity one-offs and wedding dresses. 

Based in Milan, Berardi brings his entire studio to 

London to literally unpick jackets and dresses at the 

seams and then remake them – he likes every outfit to 

look as though it were tailor-made for each model. 

“Even a girl who is doing many shows a day, when they 

come in and you fit something to them, they feel it’s 

for them and it makes them feel special. She gives 

100 per cent, simply because you’ve taken the time. 

It’s not just, ‘You wear this and you wear that.’” 

This is typical of Berardi. It’s late January and 

the designer is talking to me by phone from the Milan 

studio, where he is working on the embroidery for his 

Autumn/Winter 2011 collection. Berardi is brimming 

with charm and respect for the people he works with, 

and it’s no surprise that people push the gondola out 

for him– they get things done, even if those things 

appear impossible, which they often do. “Every tailor 

or pattern cutter has his methods, but you have to 

challenge those methods or you end up never going 

forward,” says Berardi. “Sometimes you need a touch 

of madness and to try something they say will never 

work, but you end up with something more fabulous 

than you had imagined in the first place. If you don’t 

try, you’re never going to know if it works or not. I do 

push people. Everyone’s learning the process – I don’t 

know everything. I think people need to be stimulated.” 

The son of Sicilian immigrants, Antonio Berardi 

was born in Grantham on 21 December 1968, 

a birthday he shares with his long-term creative 

conspirator, Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou. They 

began working together in 1995. Back then, he was 

riding high on the cool crest of a London wave, after 

his first collection, shown fresh from Central Saint 

Martins, saw Kylie Minogue and his bad-girl muse 

Michele Hicks modelling for him. Shoes by Manolo 

Blahnik (who is working with Berardi again for 

A/W 11) added that final flourish. 

The day before our conversation, Neophitou- 

Apostolou had been “working her magic”, as Berardi 

puts it, on the lookbook for the Pre-Fall collection. 

Berardi confesses he tends to get blinded by a 

collection after working on it for so long, and Sophia 

“Sometimes you need 

a touch of madness and 

to try something they 

say will never work” 

edits it and picks out pieces that give it a new 

direction. “It’s never what I would expect and that’s 

what I love about the relationship – I can stop midsentence 

and she can carry on. We have this synergy. 

At the same time, it’s nice when we can surprise each 

other. It’s never staid; it always feels like the first time. 

Working with Sophia can only be described as the 

story of a marriage. The weird thing is, we are both 

Sagittarians, both born on the same day. There’s a 

weird yin-and-yang thing about it.” 

In 1999, Berardi designed Victoria Beckham’s 

wedding-party dress and a matching suit – all in 

purple – for David (and another for Brooklyn). 

Victoria has been a long-term and loyal client ever 

since. When I suggest that Ms Beckham must have 

learned a few things from her fittings with him over 

the years, he simply says, “She knows what works for 

her and she knows what she likes. I don’t think she’s 

ever been told what to wear. It shows in what she does, 

which is extremely successful, and women relate to 

it because she knows what she is talking about.” 

Special orders and red-carpet dresses have 

become an important part of Berardi’s business over 

the years, to the extent that he now produces a 

separate – and often totally different – lookbook for 

celebrity stylists. “Celebrities can choose anything 

they like and if they choose you, it gives you that 

wow factor – it means you are on somebody’s radar 

somewhere.” And because his is still a relatively small 

outfit, Berardi is able to make things on request at 

short notice. “They might say, ‘Can you make it for 

this event in this colour’” 

The A-list laps up his designs – his dresses have 

been worn by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate 

Beckinsale, Jessica Alba, Ashley Greene, Julianne 

Moore and Beyoncé. “When you work with a client, 

you want them to go away and say, ‘Oh my God, it’s an 

evening dress made for me!’ If you have the possibility 

to make it the best it can possibly be, then why not 

Hopefully, everything fits perfectly; I scrutinise that 

a lot.” So when Dannii Minogue, not long after giving 

birth to her son, Ethan, wore a black velvet zip-front 

dress on The X Factor in October, she felt totally 

pulled in and confident. And recently, at the LA 

premiere of Love and Other Drugs, Anne Hathaway’s 

white lace-panel dress from Berardi’s Resort 

collection looked as if it had been made just for her. 

With his celebrity clients, special orders and two 

pre-collections a year, Berardi rarely stops. “Because 

the delivery is so early, the pre-collection is the thing 

right now, as people have constant stuff to change over 

in the stores,” he says. In fact, the Pre-Fall and Resort 

collections now provide between 50 and 70 per cent of 

the company’s overall revenue. Holli Rogers, Buying 

Director at net-a-porter.com, started buying Berardi 

for Pre-Fall 10. “His collection quickly gained a loyal 

“A jacket is the REAL test 

of a designer. If it looks 

amazing on-hanger, it 

can only look better on” 

following,” she says. “There is a particular glamour, 

polish and sophistication to his clothes. The woman 

who buys Berardi looks to him for beautifully finished, 

elegant pieces, which create the most stunning and 

flattering lines when worn. Once on, they become a 

shortcut to sleek, modern style.” For Rogers, Berardi’s 

stand-out S/S 11 piece is “a fabulous maxi-dress – a 

confection of ballet-slipper-pink chiffon covered in 

fabric flowers. I can’t wait for it to arrive.” 

Berardi is a rare beast in the fashion world, in that 

his company is self-financed. This is liberating in 

terms of not having anyone to answer to, but it also 

means the designer can never switch off. “It is kind 

of amazing,” he says of his situation. “There is a pride 

in that and a love for it because it’s yours, but it would 

also be nice for someone else one day to have that 

headache and not just me!” 

Owning his company has allowed Berardi to keep 

a careful eye on his production needs – the collection 

is rigorously considered in terms of what is needed for 

the catwalk, what is needed for the buyers, what the 

customer herself needs and wants, and also how the 

fabrics are used. “I’ve worked for companies where 

they’ve bought 150 fabrics in endless colours and not 

used three-quarters of it,” he says. “There is no need. 

We are frugal but in a good way. If you have to make 

do, you can still do amazing things with nothing. If 

someone else is throwing money at you, it’s very easy 

to waste their money. When you account for every 

penny, it’s a more interesting way of working it out. 

There is no need to be wasteful. It’s about how you can 

achieve the best without spending money willy-nilly.” 

For A/W 11, the collection is an evolution of 

a honed-down aesthetic that Berardi started in 

the pre-collection – and the focus is on the jacket. 

“A jacket is the real test of a designer,” he says. 

“If it looks amazing on-hanger, if it looks like it has 

a body in it, it can only look better once it’s on. 

A jacket is a staple.” The jacket in question is 

“extremely” body-con and tailored – qualities 

Berardi excels at, using traditional horsehair tailoring 

techniques that are also applied to dresses and coats. 

“Some jackets caress the body but they don’t close,” 

he says of this season’s collection. Colours are in 

every shade of grey, milk and navy, with sharp accents 

of orange and lime. And there are some interesting 

embellishments of masculine suiting and Shetland 

knits, which have been given a feminine Berardi 

twist using punching, embroidery and studding. 

“It’s not necessarily anything you’ve ever seen 

before,” he says. “I don’t use embroidery just for 

the sake of it – it has to be new.” 

Chances are, as you read this, the catwalk will be 

empty, all the hard work over: the pulling apart at the 

seams, the re-sewing, the finishing and steaming, the 

model dramas, the immaculate shoes. The clothes will 

be bagged up and on their way back to Milan. But there 

won’t be much time for Berardi to catch his breath. 

“It’s a full-time job now,” he says. “It didn’t used to be.” 

In the future, he hopes to move to London, but right 

now work pulls him to Milan. “Living in London is a 

dream. I was spending five days a week in Italy – that’s 

why I moved here. But as things get into place, I hope 

to move back. It’s where I started. It’s home.” 

Antonio Berardi is showing his A/W 11 collection 

today at 1pm in EC2. Stockists: Harrods, 

Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, brownsfashion.com, 

matchesfashion.com, net-a-porter.com 

Tamsin Blanchard is Style Director of the 

Telegraph Magazine 


temperleylondon.com 

Funny what positions this Swan Lake trend can get you into. But while we’re here, 

channelling that inner Odette/Odile, we know the ballet-shoe-ribbon effect of these 

daintiest of tights is giving legs the perfect fashion spin. 

Pretty Dazzling tights, £8, 

facebook.com/prettypolly 

Cue applause for Pretty Polly

8 portfolio London fashion week the daily Sunday 20 February 2011 

24 hours in pictures 

backstage at 

sass & bide 

Il Bottaccio, SW1 

Friday, 4.45pm 


catwalking at 

kinder aggugini 

Il Bottaccio, SW1 

Saturday, 12pm 

www.lfwdaily.com News 9 

The great continental drift 

Report by David Hayes 

Are some London designers in 

danger of developing a transatlantic 

drawl Dropping “cell phone” and 

“sidewalk” into every other sentence 

just for the sheer hell of it With 

many labels planting one foot in 

New York and one foot in London, 

it’s becoming a distinct possibility. 

“We are London designers and 

proudly British. Showing in New 

York has been quite a success for us, 

but we still don’t want to lose that 

connection with London,” 

says Preen designer Thea Bregazzi, 

at the label’s St Martins Lane hotel 

That couture effect 


The trend for precious, luxe fabrics 

and long-forgotten handcrafted 

techniques, which wove its way 

through the New York collections, 

has wound up in London. 

Corrie Nielsen’s slim cashmere 

jackets, with Walnut Whip-effect 

shoulder detail, and pleated wool 

day dresses infused influences from 

Forties and Fifties haute couture 

(and, oddly, Elizabethan period 

details that complement it). 

Charles Anastase’s scaled-up 

little girls’ coats, crafted solely from 

the finest Scottish wools, were more 

Report by Marion Hume 

It was as buzzy as a bee at the BFC’s 

eco-fashion Estethica Brunch 

yesterday, which could have had 

something to do with the homebaked 

muffins. As for the real buzz, 

it seems the ethical segment of the 

fashion industry is the one to watch. 

If Sarah Ratty, designer and 

founder of green fashion company 

Ciel, and board member of the 

Ethical Fashion Forum, is the 

Queen Bee of eco fashion, her label 

is the honeypot (we get interrupted 

twice in five minutes by people 

wanting to buy; the Paddington 

presentation. “The hotel has the 

same net curtains as we had around 

the catwalk in New York, so we just 

had to show here,” she jokes. 

Temperley London is back on 

the catwalk schedule, too, after 

putting in time stateside, and 

Mulberry has skipped the usual first 

showing in New York to focus on a 

West End outing. “I think showing 

in just one place is a good thing,” 

says Mulberry’s Creative Director, 

Emma Hill. “It certainly adds more 

glamour to the event.” 

That NY-LON thing is a twoway 

street, of course. Tom Ford is 

bespoke than ready to wear, beefed 

up by stack-platform thigh boots by 

Natacha Marro. 

Even Danielle Scutt’s latticeeffect 

cocktail-hour frocks and 

Louise Gray’s pop-art textiles, 

which soundly embodied the 

“London Look”, had a whiff of Paris 

couture sensibilities about them. 

But Kinder Aggugini – with 

his signature hand-stitching and 

individually Tipp-Ex-ed-in polka 

dots – truly nailed the new London 

couture look. “I was doing a range 

for Macy’s recently and realised just 

how good the high street had got. I 

having an intimate talk-through for 

his mega-brand here in the city he 

called home for a few years. “It’s 

great for London that Tom has 

decided to show here,” says Emily 

Sheffield, Deputy Editor of Vogue. 

“It really confirms London’s place as 

an international fashion capital.” 

Alexander Wang is popping over, 

too – for a party in his honour – and 

even Anna Wintour has been 

singing London’s praises of late. In 

fashion terms, at least, that “special 

relationship” seems as strong as ever. 

See pics at lfwdaily.com 

had to raise the level… make it more 

exclusive,” he said. 

Kinder’s presentation yesterday, 

inspired by wacky heiress Peggy 

Guggenheim, featured handfinished, 

hand-beaded and dip-dyed 

tailoring, the likes of which Primark 

could never emulate. And one fabric 

(cashmere!) was used throughout. 

“I wanted to play with volume and, 

as this fabric is so expensive, those 

full shapes add another level of 

exclusivity.” French couture mashed 

up with the Japanese breakaway 

movement of the Eighties. Weird, 

but it worked. 

Hair shirts off the menu at Estethica 

Bear duffel and cute Cossack-style 

shift are favourites). “There used to 

be a few lone voices; now we’re so 

many,” says Ratty, who has put the 

sustainable vibe in the UK’s hive 

since Estethica, sponsored by 

Monsoon, began in 2006, and 

whose collaboration with Liberty 

(she uses its lovely leftover fabric) is 

to be sold in Whistles. Up-cycling, 

recycling, organic, ethically made 

and local is a lot to expect from 

a pair of silk crêpe de Chine briefs, 

but you’ll find those at Ciel, too. 

Estethica’s message is clear: “no 

hair shirts here” (but plenty of snug 

wool from The North Circular). Far 

from the old eco cliché, From 

Somewhere’s racy dresses were made 

of repurposed Speedos, while the 

Fairtrade Collective’s scarf project, 

with designers including Marios 

Schwab, Holly Fulton and Julie 

Verhoeven, brought strong ideas to 

these fairly traded squares of cotton. 

With NEWGEN's scarf installation 

fluttering down the historic Stamp 

stairwell at Somerset House, the 

question of what’s the accessory of 

the season has been answered, too. 

See pics at lfwdaily.com 

Fashion’s sister act 

Report by caryn franklin 

London Fashion Week is about 

many things, particularly the future. 

There is Future Aesthetic: runway 

fashion rippling outwards; and 

Future Names: new designers 

making waves in grand fashion 

houses; and now, Future Practice: 

ways of doing things in a more 

directional and enquiring way. 

It’s happening in education and 

will inspire generations: the London 

College of Fashion hosts the first 

investigation between fashion and 

science, courtesy of Helen Storey, 

and the first Centre of Sustainable 

“emotionally 

considerate 

practice” is the 

latest buzzword. 

INclude it in 

conversation 

daily for your 

own fashionforward 

positioning, then 

watch others 

twitter it 

Fashion, which negotiates ethical 

processes (thanks to Course Director 

Dilys Williams). 

It’s also happening during LFW. 

The Model Sanctuary, founded and 

run by Erin O’Connor, is devoted to 

models’ wellbeing. “Our mantra is 

‘leave your coats and looks at the 

door’,” she says. “We encourage 

models to develop their sense of self 

and individuality.” 

“Individuality” is the watchword 

of All Walks Beyond the Catwalk. 

The initiative, co-founded by 

O’Connor (guess which model has 

found herself in the diplomatic 

spotlight), Debra Bourne and me, 

promotes a diverse range of beauty. 

“Emotionally considerate practice” 

is the latest buzzword. Include it in 

your conversation daily for your own 

fashion-forward positioning, then 

watch other fashion types twitter it. 

The empowerment of women 

has to be at the heart of fashion 

today. Here, London leads the way, 

as the recent All Walks debate at the 

National Portrait Gallery’s “Is 

fashion the lens through which we 

evaluate identity” demonstrated. 

The future is what London does best. 

Photography by Marcus Dawes 

Visit allwalks.org; 

erinsmodelsanctuary.com 

ratner’s heirloom gold 

Brassy is the new bling 

at Danielle Scutt 

white orchid corsage 

A front-row gift at Kinder. 

With care instructions. So chic 

prescient soundtracks 

Il Pleut playing at Charles Anastase 

while the rain fell outside 

M&S reviving infusion 

Herbal tea with mint, fennel 

and cardamom. Because we’re 

frazzled already 

Louise gray earrings 

With whistles. Check them out 

in Asos come July 

BAROMETER 

the weather 

Wet and cold. We could see 

our breath at several shows. 

Not a good look 

chic-snack dearth 

No Topshop-venue show 

= no tasty treats 

watermarks on shoes 

Have we mentioned the rain 

duran duran 

Here and there on the catwalks. 

Oh, come on 

runway shoes 

Poor show on the foot-candy 

front. So far 


H&M 

EDITOR’S CHOICE 

ARADIA CROCKETT 

stylist 

Wears jumpsuit, £29.99, by H&M 

backstage at 

jonathan saunders 

Two Kingdom Street, W2 

Saturday, 7.15pm 

It’s so not me, this jumpsuit. I’m usually more boyish, more 

Alexa – I love that dressed-down look. But it just jumped out 

at me. I nearly chose a camel calf-length skirt and cropped 

jumper. It was far more my style – “Grandma”, as my boyfriend 

would say. I like the S/S 11 mid-calf look, but it didn’t make me 

feel too sexy. I suppose that’s where the jumpsuit comes in. It’s 

flattering and cool. If I were dressing it down, I’d add a mannish 

jumper. I’ve put it with my Cos wedges here for a night-out look. 

I’m obsessed with gold jewellery – Laura Lee is my 

favourite. I’m wearing her rose-gold star pendant, plus “Love” 

and “Foxy” rings by Zoe & Morgan. I sleep in them, do yoga 

in them – the lot. They’ll go with the jumpsuit. They’ll have to. 

Gold aside, I’m low maintenance and not very girly. My hair 

looks better when I do nothing to it and leave it for days. 

I like my clothes feminine but minimal – Chloé, Céline and 

Stella McCartney are perfect for me. I never plan what I’m 

wearing. I get up in the dark when my boyfriend is still in bed 

and I forage around to find an outfit that makes sense. I have a 

pure aesthetic, both for myself and for clients, such as 

The Guardian Weekend. I’m intuitive. My grandma had an 

amazing wardrobe and that’s what got me interested. When 

I started going out with friends at 14, I put everyone’s outfit 

together. It just grew into a career. 

H&M is perfect for my approach. It’s cool and inexpensive. 

It’s so on trend for S/S 11 you won’t get me out of there. I find it 

hard to get anything on the high street, but I could have chosen 

15 outfits in H&M. I’ve been shopping there since 

I was 16 – a country girl in London with no real idea of fashion. 

At H&M I could buy lots of cool clothes for not much money. 

I still can. I have an A/W 10 camel coat and people say, 

“Chloé” I say, “H&M, 40 quid.” It’s my number-one buy. 

Clothes available from H&M. Stockists 020 7323 2211 

ARADIA CROCKETT, photographed AT H&M HQ, London, 

BY MARCUS DAWES 

INTERVIEW YASMIN COKE. HAIR AND MAKE-UP KAREN ALDER AT K MANAGEMENT. SITTINGS EDITOR JENNY DYSON

10 news London fashion week the daily Sunday 20 February 2011 

Somerset House: freeze by Stephen Beadles, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 

top of the class 

Feeling frayed at the seams Then join Anna 

Smit, winner of the RCA/M&S comp, at the 

rails of M&S Limited Collection, to see the 

postgrad’s follow-on range. Full marks! 

Collection from £35, in store from 

September; marksandspencer.com 

Snap! 

One of the world’s most prestigious 

photography festivals is coming 

to LFW’s favourite location. The 

World Photography Festival and 

Exhibition (previously held in 

Cannes) showcases new work in all 

genres from fashion to documentary, 

plus a roll call of practitioners 

from emerging talents to esteemed 

names. Highlights include talks and 

workshops from modern masters and 

the exhibition of winning images of 

the Sony World Photography Awards. 

And all under the photogenic roof of 

one Somerset House. 

Festival from 26 April to 1 May 

throughout Somerset House; 

Exhibition from 26 April to 22 May 

at the Embankment Galleries. 

Visit somersethouse.org.uk 

LFW The Daily 

Designer notes 

Used up all your inspiration on Fashion Week 

The Daily is on hand with enough cultural dos and 

dates to fuel your next few seasons 

Got a million-dollar style question 

Phone diary directory, your fashion friend 

“Where do most LFW people 

live and work” 

N1 

DIARY DIRECTORY 

We know where you live. 

20,000 fashion contacts from model agencies to magazine eds. 

T 020 7724 7770 E info@diaryd.com W diarydirectory.com 

It’s a wrap 

Not content to rest on her LFW laurels 

as The Daily’s artist in residence, 

fashion’s first lady of illustration, Julie 

Verhoeven, is one of a group of 

designers to have created a Fairtrade 

cotton scarf for Asos. Exquisite, no 

From 28 Feb at asos.com; see more 

at fairtradecollective.org.uk; find more 

Julie doings at julieverhoeven.com 

www.lfwdaily.com People 11 

People 

Photography by marcus dawes 

Super fly Pretty shy What a guy We must buy 

YOUR PERFECT 

FASHION DATE 

Doing anything on Sat, 26 Feb Well, 

yes, you are; you’re hot-footing it down 

to H&M, 234 Regent Street, W1 from 

2 to 6pm to take part in LONDON FASHION 

WEEK THE DAILY PRESENTS H&M’s 

Fashion Week Workshop! It’s your big 

chance to star in your own photo shoot – you’ll 

have your make-up done professionally and 

a top photographer from The Daily to snap 

you in the latest H&M looks, all in our pop-up 

studio. There’ll be drinks, styling tips from The 

Daily team and the chance to win a S/S 11 

H&M wardrobe worth £500. 

Visit facebook.com/hm 

Violets for 

your faux furs 

Ah, spring blooms, delightful on the 

mantelpiece, even more so in a floral 

martini cocktail at One Aldwych, LFW’s 

neighbourly hotel. Fancy another They 

have dessert cocktails, too. Ours is a 

Lemon Treat. Genius deserves support. 

Lobby Bar, One Aldwych, WC2; 

onealdwych.com 

Walking by 

Colour dye 

Saying hi 

My, oh my! 

Tick tock, 

it’s fashion 

o’clock! 

Be on trend and on time, whatever your style 

Carousel watches, £130 

Follow that star 

Are you a fashion lover in search of an 

original Spring/Summer 2011 wardrobe 

from the latest labels Or maybe 

you’re a fledgling designer dreaming 

of a platform for your work Either 

way, BrandAlley’s new online fashion 

community, Le Lab, is made for you. 

Every month this season, BrandAlley 

will commission a roll call of the 

hottest emerging designers to create a 

summer piece exclusively for Le Lab. 

Whether dress or blouse, trousers or 

trench, skirt or bag, it will add up to 

a complete and inspiring statement 

wardrobe. Subscribers can vote for 

their favourites, then commission an 

item from any of the winning talents. 

The possibilities are endless. One 

look might be a breath-of-fresh-air 

summer dress… 


Visit brandalley.co.uk/lelab 

follifollie.co.uk

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