LONDON CONTINUES TO PUSH CREATIVITY — BACKING IT UP WITH COMMERCIAL VIABILITY
London has always been known as the most creative of the four fashion capitals. So for Nicholas Kirkwood, choosing London Fashion Week to stage his debut runway show was a no-brainer.
Set in a dystopian world where creativity is a crime, the immersive production was a reaction against the current play-it-safe state of retail, the designer said.
Opening with an appearance from #MeToo activist Rose McGowan, the show was a platform for the designer’s most innovative concepts — and gave him a chance to explore ideas he might incorporate into upcoming collections.
“Nicholas has set off so many trends and created hunger in customers’ hearts,” said Matches
Fashion buying director Natalie Kingham. “Having a creative outlet like this is, where new [concepts] will be born, is exciting.”
Back in the present, he also displayed a see-now, buy-now combat boot from his spring ’19 collection, available on Farfetch.
On London’s more traditional runways, JW Anderson and Christopher Kane were the ones to watch on the shoe front.
With their bright blue, starstudded spoilers, Anderson’s souped-up Converse Chuck Taylors were an inspired foil for his ready-to-wear, which explored the idea of female empowerment through movement.
While the designer’s ongoing collaboration with the footwear giant is a commercial success, it also draws in a younger demographic whose purchasing power might not extend to a $1,400 bag but for whom a $120 shoe is a different story.
Finally, only Christopher Kane can make a pump with a lacy tongue inspired by a pair of stripper’s pants. The designer called it the “praying mantis crotch shoe.” The show also featured a new sneaker silhouette with primarycolored spheres for heels that riffed off a DNA strand.