London Fashion Love Letters: NEWGEN MEN + FASHION EAST MEN's Installations (2)

Hi Emmi,

Departing from my beautiful boxers, I walk into Omar Kashoura's SS11 installation. This is quite jazzy with musician-models playing the trumpet and the saxophone--and some less modelesque musicians playing the electone in the background. This SS11 collection features some nicely tailored suits, shoes and accessories.

This guy, or his shoes and bag, is my favourite. It's so nice to be watching a guy when he blows, isn't it? :-9

On my way to Christopher Raeburn's installation I stumble on this.

It is a knitwear collection by Morgan Allen-Oliver, also to be matched with high-waisted shorts. It looks in next summer in London there will be jumpers and jumpers everywhere.

And, perhaps, there will be plenty of Christopher Raeburn's raincoats and macs, too! They are groundbreakingly colourful, with polka dots and some taping effect on the outside.

The installation is, more or less, like you walk into the tailor's workplace, though I'm not sure if at Raeburn's, there will be plenty of these hanging rabbit dolls.

Raeburn also includes some of his women's pieces in this presentation. Smart, eh!? Emmi, I'm sure you can do with one of these in your wardrobe.

That's all I've got to share on the NEWGEN MEN + FASHION EAST MEN's Installations.

Ciao,

Perm

London Fashion Love Letters: NEWGEN MEN + FASHION EAST MEN's Installations (1)

Hi Emmi,

LFW SS11 has come to its end. I'm not sad but excited. Why? Because LFW concludes with the menswear day!! First up are the NEWGEN MEN + FASHION EAST MEN's installations. The event taking place on the Terrace of Somerset House gets many bloggers, journalists and buyers flogging. I am early and among one of the very first to get in!

The first installation I come across is that of Katie Eary. Eary showcases her SS11 collection hiring some 10 youthful boxers to model and, of course, box on the set. Rather exciting! These boxers are robed in coutured combat kits: leopard print tops and jackets, blood red tartan bottoms, studded kneepads, (again) leopard print boxing gloves and some really funky trainers. The blood-thirst, raw motif is blatant--predator, blood, fighter, etc.--and brilliantly executed.

Oh! I forgot to mention, there are some extraordinary jumpers, too.

And the detail shots of the trainers. Love them!

Next up and not straying far from the 'fighter' theme is James Small. His SS11 collection is a fresh take on camouflage prints. No, no! Not just the military ones, Small offers some wonderful flowery prints as well as some updated leopard prints. His silhouette is soft, actually a lot softer once compared to Eary's collection.

Here are some samples.

Looking at the style on the mannequin, Small goes for a high-waisted look, which some other LFW designers in the like of Topman Designare also in favour of for next year men's fashion. This waist conscious trend seems to be everywhere. Don't believe me? Check out our earlier menswear SS11 trend report here.

I'm blogging my Part 2 soon.

Perm

London Fashion Love Letters: Craig Lawrence

Hi Perm,

I quite like the pieces of Jayne Pierson, especially the colourful ones: they look almost as if they were drawn. Looks like you´ve gotten to see quite a variety of different styles! I´m afraid I haven´t - I´ve been haunted by mermaids!

This morning, I successfully managed to find my way to the showroom of Craig Lawrence (without a map - yes, I had to mention that just to give your the ego of your inner compass another hit). Once I got there, a lady at the door handed me a press release. "Ooh, this is handy," I thought and started to read:

"Craig Lawrence´s Spring/Summer 2011 line marks his 4th consecutive season as a British Fashion Council NEWGEN winner. This season´s collection promises to be more dramatic and visionary than ever. Craig leaves the seaside towns of where he grew up in Ipswich, and moves into the fantasy world of mermaids and the seductive mythological sirens of ancient Greece..."

The words "siren mermaids" made my mermaid sirens ring, but I bravely stepped into the room to see not one, but FOUR of these fashion creatures from the underwater kingdom. These mermaids didn't have scales, but wore impressive nets of knits made of Japanese metallic yarns. The combinations of textures, silhouettes and colour breathed serenity that turned off my mermaid alarm. Yes, the sirens of Craig Lawrence were seductive and I fell for them like a good ol' sailor.

Having spotted a visitor who was undoubtedly dressed according to the theme (maybe she mixed Fashion Weeks up with Halloween?), I simply had to take a picture.

I also managed to snap a photo of The Great Designer Himself being interviewed. I might not have a clue where Ipswich is, but at least I can show you that this is how an ipswicher looks like:

I also attended two runway shows today, discovered the muffins at the press lounge and saw someone Famous with a capital F. I'll be annoying and will not reveal who it was, will tell you more about it later! Until then: good night!

Emmi