London Fashion Week 2008

I am on the fashion express aka the Virgin Atlantic red-eye flight from JFK to Heathrow. After a week of polished shows in New York, were on our way back to London and fashion week, squeezed in with the same group of international editors and buyers we've been rushing around with for the last few days. I feel like were about to see the stewardesses put on a fashion show, strutting their stuff down the aisle. This London fashion week is squeezed into just a couple of days, so it's going to be intense. The places EDITOR'S CHOICE More from Style - Nov-24 Who cares about the clothes the venues were worth a visit all on their own! (Well, OK, I care about the clothes, but its nice when the setting adds to the experience.) When I get my schedule, I realise it is a veritable tour of local sights: Spencer House for Graeme Black; Gladstone Library in Whitehall Court for Roksanda Ilincic; the Science Museum for Emilio de la Morena; the pop-up salon at the Banqueting House in Whitehall for Julien Macdonald; the Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea for Aquascutum; and the stunning Embankment Galleries at Somerset House for Erdem. Fashion and sightseeing, too for once I didn't grumble about being away from the convenience of the tents at the main venue, the Natural History Museum. The designers venues made the collections come to life. The outfits Clothes were as fascinating off the catwalk as on. Before the lights went off at Todd Lynn, I reflected on the resurgence of leather leggings (I was proudly wearing my black stretch leather Les Chiffoniers pair) and spotted Roland Mouret a few seats away, there to support his fashion friend. After the show, the two of us snuck off for a well-deserved Sunday brunch at The Natural Kitchen on Marylebone High Street. We discussed the dress he made for Heidi Klum to wear later that day at the Oscars: bright red, and striking. Later, the queue at the Richard Nicoll show allowed me to admire Twiggys aviator sunglasses and metallic leather Burberry trench coat. Sat next to the TV presenter Alexa Chung at Emilio de la Morena (I was so close, I was able to analyse her eye make-up and made a mental note that black liner and cat eyes are very now). She was furiously taking notes like a schoolgirl. The parties The Christopher Kane party on Saturday night at Jalouse gave us a reason to celebrate the collection he showed us earlier that day. It was great to see Kanye West at the Kane show earlier: he has become a mascot for the fashion industry, attending just about every important event over the last couple of seasons. But he reminded us of what he does best when he burst into an impromptu sing along to his own song at the House of Holland after-party at the Bloomsbury Ballroom love it when that happens. Favourite moments The tea ladies at the Luella show were fabulous, complete with homemade biscuits, pink aprons and the delightful, how do you take it, love?. Meanwhile, a few seats away, I spied the Geldofs Bob and Peaches on a family fashion day out. I also loved the welcome at the Aquascutum show, a double receiving line as far as your eye could see of handsome, black trench coat-bedecked male models. The show itself was a veritable who's who of London supermodels with Stella Tennant, Yasmin Le Bon and Cecilia Chancellor all parading down the runway. Ended the week with food, a rarity in this business: glittering cherry cupcakes at Christian Louboutin's party in his Mount Street store, followed by a glass of champagne at the Azzarro opening and a quick bite at Scotts, where several of the guests from the party ended up in the adjoining booth, including Azzarro's chic designer Vanessa Seward and the beautiful Jemima Khan, who summed up the mood of the night by dancing at her banquette. There was no question that the jet lag was worth it and not just because of the goodie bags (a 1950s collectable Barbie for my daughter Isabella; a LOral bonanza of eyelash curlers, tweezers, coral nail varnish, foundation and a lipstick for me; and Godiva chocolates for my assistant, Nicola). London designers delivered the best, most dynamic, succinct and covetable set of collections that I have seen in years, and I feel buoyed up. The action off the runway was fun, too. ................................ British designers online: A cut-and-mouse game For new talent at London Fashion Week this year the most important people in the audience may well have been the buyers from online boutiques, writes Hattie Hawks worth. In today's retail climate, fashion sites, such as Net-a-Porter and Matches, can really make a difference to this flourishing, homegrown trade. We try to take on five new brands a season, says Tom Chapman, founder and managing director of Londons boutique chain, Matches, referring to its online store. The site has given us so much more buying potential and we can afford to take more risks now, because we know we have the guaranteed ever-present global market. In other words, the online store buys brands it might never have space to fit in its bricks-and-mortar store. Unbound by time or space, the online store is immediately exposed to an enormous market. In return, it has the power to access new talent. Joanna Sykes, a young London designer yet to make it on to the catwalk schedule, has an exclusive deal with Matches that sees her designs also sold through the Matches website. The relationship is symbiotic for the designer and the stockist, says Chapman. Sykes is an emerging label and Matches gives the brand exposure with the added bonus of online promotion while being credited with discovering something original. As Erin Mullaney, buying director at Londons Browns boutique, says: The Browns website provides us with a fantastic tool, not only for additional sales, but for promoting our brand image, increasing footfall in stores and championing the designers we stock. Indeed, the internet can even work more in designers favour than selling through a city store. Take Roland Mouret, who launched his new RM by Roland Mouret line in 2008 after splitting with his original backers. The first RM collection, his own range designed after the split, was available to pre-order through Net-a-Porter 24 hours after the debut fashion show, creating both press hype and increased consumer demand. According to Mouret, selling online offered him the perfect canvas. With RM I wanted to do something outside the box and I decided my customer should be able to buy straight away, he says. It's about providing an instant service and aligning your brand with the future. Angela Rumsey, business editor of trend-forecast website WGSN, says, Before the online retail explosion, luxury brands were mostly bound by location. If a brand wanted to become more readily available, the only real options were the lengthy and expensive process of opening a store, or finding a suitable stockist. Now they can reach a global audience instantly, which was unthinkable before. Take Roksanda Ilincic, a Serbian designer who had her fifth show at London Fashion Week this season and is stocked at Net-a-Porter. One of the biggest benefits for me, as a designer, is information, she says. Customers call us from, say, the United States and we can refer them straight to the internet, where they can buy immediately. Also, if I am sold out they will still find information. It adds a different dimension of strength to the brand
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/883d174c-045c-11de-845b-000077b07658.html