Fashion Blog - Times Online - WBLG

The Giles/Pop party

Crazy new rave kids ran forth last night at Spring Studios at a party hosted by Giles and Pop magazine. Here's what they were wearing (and what you'll be wearing next year):

1) Man with a lightning stripe down his face
2) Woman dressed as a techno geisha
3) Man in a tutu
4) Purple haired drag queen Jodie Harsh
5) Giles Deacon looking as if he was off to a baseball game in a baseball jacket
6) Taking a brave last stand against neon, the ever-elegant PRs from L.K. Bennett

The party started out like a school disco with the neon-clad club kids at one end of the room and the groomed fashionistas at the other but once the sounds of Blondie kicked in, everyone came together as one big happy fashion family.

The Cheap Date party

It was so bleak outdoors last night, it was tempting to skip fashion week frolics and go home to bed. Luckily Louis Vuitton had laid on a cosy dinner honouring Bay Garnett and Kira Jolliffe, the editors of underground fashion 'zine Cheap Date, at Drones Club in Mayfair. The dinner was to celebrate the launch of the book, The Cheap Date Guide to Style, out March 1st. Bay and Kira are famous for their parties and this was a very jolly affair. The Cheap Date posse - among them, Sophie Dahl, Lily Cole, Jasmine Guinness, Bryan Adams, Erin O'Connor, Laura Bailey - looked trés glam in proper jewellery and the posh end of vintagewear (auction-bought Ozzie, darling, no 1960s Bri-nylon trews tonight, please). It was Dom Perignon on tap almost all evening and everyone chatted like they'd known each other for years (a lot had). Dancing? Not on tables - Drones is far too grown-up for that - but in between them. Thandie Newton turned up late, post-Elle Style Awards, looking like a knockout as usual. That skin! Can someone please explain it?   

Trend spot: very tall girls wearing very high, very expensive heels. They just go up and up. 

Kane and able

10 magazine and Christopher Kane - the name on everybody's lips this week - threw a party at the Royal Academy last night to celebrate his second collection, shown earlier in the day.  The crowd - a brightly dressed bunch, many wearing Kane's own designs (see below)- danced the night away to the sounds of original Eighties club kid Princess Julia.

Miss Moss at the National Portrait Gallery

 

You couldn’t escape Kate Moss at the opening party for the Faces of Fashion exhibition, sponsored by Gap, at the National Portrait Gallery last night. That is, you couldn’t escape the multiple images of Miss Moss- the model herself breezed in looking very tanned with Pete Doherty for barely over 10 minutes, posed in front of her new set of portraits by Corinne Day, then left by the back door. Even the plentiful free cocktails, wryly named ‘Perfect 10 and ‘Double Zero’, couldn’t tempt her into picking up an audioguide for some art appreciation.

Colin McDowell on the NPG party and a mixed fashion day

Oh dear, Catherine Bromley doesn't know me. And I don't know her. But apparently her PR job is to get as much publicity as possible for the National Portrait Gallery, about to open an exhibition called Faces In Fashion. Well, even though you'd think that Catherine might get to know a few, my face doesn't fit. Regardless of the fact that her job is to get the press writing about events at the NPG, and ignoring the fact that the Sunday Times has three and a half million readers, she categorically refused me entrance to the opening night party. Only doing her job of course. As I left I noticed uber partygoer Nicky Haslam leaving. 'Any good?' I asked. He pulled a face. 'Nobody'.

It was a funny end to a mixed day at London Fashion Week. John Rochas began his show with a live singer giving us Ave Maria, which set a challenging tone. It soon became apparent why. The almost entirely black collection had drama with cockerel feathers in improbable places and lots of garments splattered with random pieces of knitting, embroidery and cut fabrics, but too often the effect was of an explosion in a jumble sale. It was about as modern and sexy as a Spanish nunnery, although there were some well-cut, if familiar, coats.

We were all so nervous of the apparent danger at Richard Nicoll's venue - narrow stairs, crowded attic room - that concern for the clothes took second place. It may not have been a fire hazard but it certainly seemed a potential death trap for most of us. If it had been inspected and passed as safe it would have been nice to see a notice verifying it - it's only a matter of time before a fire sets off a panic in the many appalling venues (although the official tents are safe and convenient, they are largely ignored by young designers) from which there is no apparent means of quickly evacuating large numbers. But no one seems to care. Who said being a fashion reporter was a job suitable only for pansies?

And the clothes? Very accessible, basically high street and fun but limited in ideas - mainly variations on the male shirt - and inclined to be fussy. Even if it won't make the Establishment tremble, it will sell, which is what Nicoll needs at this stage in his career. So does Erdem, winner of Fashion Fringe 2005, whose show was much more sophisticated and very much more high fashion. It seemed romantic and feminine from what I could see but a fierce barrage of lights - so strong that they made me feel like a pilot making a landing at Heathrow - totally blinded the audience for over half the time the models were on the catwalk. People are paid a lot of money to stage shows, don't you think they might do some basic checks about visibility?

Everyday is Christmas cracker day in Manish Arora's world. Half Ballets Russe, half fancy dress, most of the fabrics were superb and seemed to be looking forward to the Poiret exhibition coming later this year in New York.

Sadly, the effect was so theatrical that these clothes could barely be worn anywhere. The opposite was true of Todd Lynn's sombre show where the menswear - Dickensian schoolboy meets Hedi Slimane - was done with so much more conviction than the women's that it would seem wise to concentrate in future only on that.

The Felder-Felder off-schedule show

Parties will always eclipse work - nowhere is this more true than at London Fashion Week. For Felder-Felder, the London-based fashion label of German identical twins Annette and Danielle, so popular was their party at Sketch on Monday night - hosted in collaboration with Tank magazine to show their autumn collection - that the models (below) couldn't actually get in and had to pose for photographers outside in the hallway. "Your problem is you just know far too many people,"
wisecracked a friend to the sisters. The show was supposed to be a live, Vanessa Beecroft-style installation in the Parlour bar of Sketch on Conduit Street, where the models would be drinking and socialising.

They didn't get to do much of that. "Don't worry," reassured a Felder-Felder supporter. "It's not about the clothes anyway. Everyone will be gossiping tomorrow - you know, 'Were you at the Felder-Felder party?' It's the notoriety that counts."

And the collection? Body-hugging metallic linen party dresses, black shifts with gold accents, slender cropped leather jackets with tulle hems, delicate sub-bondage studded leather body pieces  At least the clothes were better lit in the hallway, away from the moody darkness and party fug of the Parlour. "The collection is inspired by Nico of the Velvet Underground," said  Annette (or was it Danielle? What's the difference? "I've got longer hair, but not for much longer," says Annette unhelpfully. "And a mole on my cheek"). "Nico was very gorgeous but also very destructive. It's like the clothes - beautiful, but interrupted by something a little darker". Rather like the show, in fact.

Danielle (L) and Annette (R, with mole, see?) Felder, in their own
designs.

Fun invites

By far the best invitations this season have come from Heatherette and Betsey Johnson. Johnson delivered dainty white gloves with her invitation tucked inside, perfectly corroborating her show’s charm school theme. Invites to the Heatherette after-party came in the form of 3D glasses that produced kaleidoscopic rainbows when you put them on. I am not sure if the trippy images were invoking their Wizard of Oz, Over the Rainbow theme, or memories from their club kid audience’s dabbles in psychotropics.

 

Bad outfit

Heatherette after party

Heatherette threw its post-show bash at the legendary Roseland Ballroom. Free drinks were as ubiquitous as drag queens, of which the Times counted at least 20. On stage were a troop of Day-Glo performers, some in thongs-with-braces, others resplendent with wings and stilts. The Times caught straight-laced celebrity photographer Patrick McMullen dirty dancing with a performer on the dance floor, while being recorded for posterity by his entourage. Up in the VIP lounge Alan Cummings shared a laugh with Traver Raines, Heatherette’s designer. Kim of America's Next Top Model lounged on a banquette with Cuba Gooding Jr. Drinks were served courtesy of Puma by muscle-bound shirtless blokes. Free candy floss was supplied by drag queen Miss June dressed as Dorothy and tables creaked with the weight of candy necklaces. Our best moment of the evening occurred when a young gentleman asked for a taste of our candy necklace. Turns out it was the very same man who'd modeled the trousers with no bum. We were let on to the fact that what seemed intentional was actually a major wardrobe malfunction; he was supposed to have shorts on. In the fittings, the model insisted, he had been dressed with shorts, but at the show, they had somehow forgotten them. The bum-baring walk down the runway had been an accident.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Kick-off Party at The Box

Ultra-chic retro nightclub “The Box” isn’t even officially open yet, but you couldn’t tell that from the packed house Thursday night, where the beautiful people were crammed in like sardines (now we know why they are so skinny) to toast the kick-off of fashion week. The Box, whose board of trustees includes luminaries such as Moby and Rachel Weisz, is outfitted like an old-school cabaret lounge and is artfully and intentionally decrepit; the peeling wallpaper is on purpose, less so the toilet doorknob that came off in my hand. Adrian Brody, Keith Richard’s daughter Theodora and Donna Karen (right) were in attendance, as was the New York Times (read its story). They sipped free drinks and listened to a live performance from a band called Shiny Toy Guns whose “electro/indie/rock” thrashing seemed wildly out of place in the chandelier-festooned Box. Also slightly out of place was the luminous gold 2008 Mercedes Benz parked out front by the velvet rope as a showpiece, complete with winged doors that were straight out of Back to the Future.

Lisa Perry Style launch party

The tents that will showcase New York City fashion week are barely up, and the runway shows won't start for another few days, but NYC is already steaming up with fashion fever. Tuesday night, a full four days before Fashion Week commences, saw the Soho launch of new designer and Manhattan socialite Lisa Perry’s mod Sixties-inspired first collection. Actually, according to Ms. Perry, not just the debut, but all her future collections will be riffs of the swinging style, as it’s the only trend she herself has worn since, well, the Age of Aquarius. Accordingly, her party and mini-dresses were splashed with Day-Glo colours, polka dots and whimsy. Waiters wandered among the dresses — which were displayed on mannequins arranged shoulder-to-shoulder like a platoon of Edie Sedgwicks — with trays of ironic Sixties canapés. The coin-sized cheese burgers and matchstick slivers of grilled-cheese sandwiches dunked in shot glasses of tomato soup were a wink at antiquated ideas of high-style hostessing. Or maybe, with several Vogue editors in attendance, the microscopic food was tailored to the fashion guest-list’s eating habits?

-- Sarah 

Bootylicious

Just as we suspected; it is scientifically impossible not to shake your booty to Beyonce. Even the fashion pack, many of whom don't have much ass to shake (cf Rachel Zoe) were giving it their best shot, with all the editors getting out of their seats to boogie when the curvy R'n'B star performed Crazy in Love at last night’s Armani One Night Only Event in Earl’s Court.

One of the few exceptions was Gareth Pugh, who stared quizzically at Beyonce with his arms folded. Perhaps he was imagining her in one of his gimp suits.

Frock and roll

Razorlight add their views to the debate on skinny models; well sort of. At the Armani after-show party last night one of their entourage said that numerous models had been trying to get backstage to fling themselves at the skinny jeans clad band, but they weren’t interested, because ‘models all look like aliens, and they are too skinny.’ Apparently the band prefer curvy girls with a bit of meat on them. Cue champagne fuelled discussion of whether skinny men only like curvy girls, whether Razorlight wear women’s jeans, whether...

Julien Macdonald and Rachel Zoe

What was the one crucial question on everyone's lips last night as Rachel Zoe and Julien Macdonald held court at the Sanderson? Just which of the two was wearing the most make-up. (I'll give you a clue, his name's not Rachel).

So why is Zoe in town, and more importantly, who's dressing Nicole Ritchie in her absence? It seems she's here to exert her big sunglasses–big glamour influence on Macdonald by styling his catwalk show this Friday (not that he really needs it; do you remember Paris Hilton as his bride last season?) and what better way for her to start than by wearing one of his dresses from the forthcoming collection.

Struggling a little with her floor-length dress – gaps in decking do not a graceful entrance make – Zoe was all in favour of London fashion, "I love the way the British dress – it's a bit more, like, street with layers, structure. It's sharp and edgy with a more tomboy effect." And her tips for this season's trends? "It's all about the coat. I like to replace black with white." Good luck on the Tube, Rachel.