The best dressed had the chance to have their photos professionally taken, and the audience was filled with fashionistas, including a lady who wore a fabulous dress made entirely of Lidl supermarket carrier bags.
As a press member, I was lucky enough to have a great seat at the very end of the catwalk, meaning I was able to see the beautiful, extreme and at times, crazy, designs up close and personal.
The audience were treated to a couple performing a stunning ballet piece, before the show opened with a bold, circus-freak style collection from Yorkshire designer
Katie Newsam, entitled ‘Candied Taunt’.
Picture loud circus music, a back-flipping model and a row of models walking like broken dolls wearing stripes, tiny hats and lots of ruffled and looped material.
Katie described the collection as being “the sweet and the sinister! The evil that lurks behind the face paint”. Circuses can be both fun and scary, which Katie wanted to encompass, and by looking at her designs she pulled this off successfully.
Next up,
Red Mutha took to the stage with their ‘Mutha Vuggaz’ collection. Red Mutha is famous for rebuilding used clothes (a trend known as ‘upcycling’), and after 20 years in the industry, they continue to create innovative and fresh designs.
The designers describe their latest collection as:
“decapitating the high street’s Brand Bland medusa head with a pair of blunt shears”, which is evident through their use of bright, bold, mish-mash and slashed styles which featured computer console remote controls and microphones as jewellery, as well as the unforgettable teddies attached to knee high socks which were my personal favourite.
The room then transformed into the Egyptian desert, with ambient music in the background for Afton Ayache’s collection called ‘Aishaa l’egyptienne des rues...’ translated as ‘the Egyptian women of the street'. After showing her first collection at graduate fashion week, Afton is now getting more experience within the industry as a part time designer/stylist.
The bold, geometric patterns combined with natural, earthy tones conveyed Afton’s love of Egyptian architecture and North African culture. For me, this is one of the more day-to-day wearable collections, and I can happily see myself in her amazing bold coloured tights with glittery motifs.
After this tranquil experience, we were taken back in time by Natalie Wileman for Former Glory, the label that re-work vintage dresses, with an homage to some iconic fashion greats whose careers ended abruptly through tragedy or in some cases, by not thinking before they spoke!
Firstly was a tribute to Gianni Versace, with the gold and bodycon designs that had a very retro 80s feel, before zombie-like models dragged their feet down the catwalk in amazing designs honouring the late, great Alexander McQueen. The collection was completed by tipsy Parisian-styled models wearing huge, bright, ruffled designs to make the newly fallen Dior star John Galliano proud.
Leading on from this, was theatrically trained designer,
Sarina Poppy’s new collection entitled ‘The Deco Collection’, which was promoted using a beautiful 1920s silent movies dream sequence, with the main theme being of time, so some magnificent clocks were also featured.
The colours used were in-keeping with the black and white movie and sepia photograph theme, and the fabrics were made from delicate silks, laces and antique trimmings, which added to the 1920s ambience of the outfits.
took to the stage, with his ‘WHO NEEDS A SUPERHERO?’ collection, inspired by well known superheroes, from Superman to Pokemon.
The next collection had a ‘Beside the Seaside’ theme, which is perfect for us Brightonians, and the swimwear featured was the epitome of classic Britishness.
(aka Brighton-based Claire Pimbley) create original bikinis with crazy combinations, including bikinis featuring mis-matched tops and bottoms, and the fantastic newspaper bikini to match your takeaway chips from the pier!
