London has birthed many great things – bangers and mash, pubs and pints, Prince George – but perhaps above all else it has served us incredibly good style and some incredibly great designers. Along with the British classics – Burberry, Christopher Kane, Vivienne Westwood – interesting, emerging talent has sprouted sartorially across the city in what have been an epic few days for fashion.
A hotbed of raw, grungy, recusant culture, its fashion week echoes this, strong, spirited, subversive style which marries the tough and the fragile in unexpected – but welcome – harmony. It has bite, but it also has beauty, and a lot of it.
Here, a look at GRAZIA’s favorite Fall Winter 2020 collections thus far.
Richard Quinn
Words would serve Quinn’s work a great injustice. Even the most superfluous, reverent, stupendous adjectives seem inadequate to describe his mastery, presenting Ready-to-Wear with a couture bent. It was, as always, a lesson in delirious excess; there were rich retro florals, gargantuan volume, haute gimp masks and ladles of melodrama. A particular highlight (and Instagram-happy moment) came in the form of the incredible pearl and crystal embellishment, which spelled out such slogans as “God Save The Quinn” and “I Love You” across flip skirts, flares and blazers – Quinn’s response to the Brexit chaos.
Shrimps
Shrimps made the kind of wardrobe you’d meet the Queen in – ladylike pearls, puffy debutante dresses, sateen opera gloves, plush rings of faux fur. It was distinctly British fashion fare – but with a twist, imbued with that kitschy Shrimps spirit in the form of 80s ski goggles, chunky hiking boots and fun updates on their classic crystal handbags. Tea, scones and side of rebellion.
Halpern
For the last three years, Michael Halpern has honed a party-ready, sequin-saturated aesthetic to great success. His Fall Winter 2020 collection was yet another display of this hyped 70s disco fever, offering more glitter-flecked flares, shimmering party dresses and velvet jumpsuits, but this time incredible ballgowns full of volume (and searing color) also punctuated the collection.
Matty Bovan
You’ve got to hand it him, London’s punk fashion kid, Matty Bovan, has creativity in spades. With the kind of subversive creative rigor of a young Alexander McQueen, Bovan once again challenged logic and trend in a show that had everything-but-the-kitchen-sink. It did, however, have shower screen-type curtains designed by milliner Stephen Jones. “Off-world” was Bovan’s overarching theme, and through Jones’ curtains, off we went into Matty Bovan’s very “off,” very imaginative world.
Richard Malone
One glance at Richard Malone’s Fall Winter 2020 collection and images of The Handmaid’s Tale sprang to mind; its sculptural bonnet-like headwear evoking the garb of Margaret Atwood’s central protagonists. But Malone’s true talent lay in his sculptural pleated gowns, artful patchwork, superb play on texture, and his exploration of underwear-as-outerwear, something which stems from his late grandmother, Nellie.
Roland Mouret
The French-born, London-based designer made contoured dresses that hugged the female form like no other, but Fall Winter 2020 saw a departure from Mouret’s famed frocks. Instead, he presented a beautifully refined collection of softly tailored suits with a 40s slouch, layered Lurex dresses and plissé chiffon gowns that wafted gently down the runway, all adorned with broken fragments of antiquated ceramic sculpture.
