London fashion week, Autumn/Winter 2014, Burberry Prorsum

The British capital city plays host to one of the biggest annual fashion week in the world. Much like New York, it is where fashionistas, store owners and fashion powerful converge to figure what Londoners, and the world, will be wearing.

The London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2014 did not disappoint. Here are some interesting collections:
Simone Rocha’s Elizabethan-inspired collection was a unique combination of old-world chic and contemporary silhouettes. Check out beautiful wool coats with ruffled sleeves and the red mini-cress dress made from brushed wool and tulle. Brazalian-born designer Barbara Casasola’s beautifully tailored collection had woven polo necks pared with pencil skirts in colours like aubergine, besides broad-brimmed felt hats, belted blazers and buttoned-up shirts.

London fashion week, Autumn/Winter 2014, Simone Rocha

London fashion week, Autumn/Winter 2014, Simone Rocha

Paula Gerbase, a former Savile Row designer, drew inspiration from the beachside town of St Ives on England’s dramatic Cornish coast, a fishing village with a community of 20th century artists, for her collection of swinging tunics, caped coats and shirts with funnel necks. Designer J W Anderson also presented his funnel necks blouses, besides corsets and calf-grazing skirts in the evergreen corduroy material.

Among Britain’s best-known designer, Sir Paul Smith showed his A/W 2014 collection at Central Saint Martin’s against the backdrop of Fleetwood Mac. His rendition of pyjama party had paisley dressing gowns, piped silk striped jackets with floral Art Nouveau jacquards, grey sleeveless pinstriped vests and spotted grey pants. The styling, as befits the fashion genius, was absolutely impeccable.

paula-gerbase-2014

London fashion week, Autumn/Winter 2014, Paula Gerbase

Vivienne Westwood’s collection was sumptuous, racy and opulent – she mined the wardrobe of the 1950s and 1980s housewife for racy black leather skirt, silk dresses and beautiful jackets. Among our favourite collection, however, was Mary Katrantzou’s with its intricately constructed dresses and gowns that drew a link to her Grecian roots through insignias and motifs.

Among other notable collections – Richard Nicoll’s easy opulence seen in cool blue leather and fur-trimmed coats, pleated minis, cable knit dresses and ribbed capes; Topshop Unique’s mohair coats, work-appropriate grey suits and off-shoulder black corset dress; Jonathan Saunders puff-sleeved princess coats with dramatic shoulders; Christopher Bailey, who, for the label Burberry Prorsum, showed shawls that can be belted at the waist, diaphanous dresses and trenches with beautiful floral prints; and British-Turkish designer Erdem Moralioglu’s dresses with rich surface textures, swing coats in metallic jacquard and satin cocktail dresses with jewel-encrusted floral prints and intricate embroideries.

London fashion week, Autumn/Winter 2014, Vivienne Westwood

Meanwhile, Milan Fashion Week, underway right now, is a lovely blend of fabulous fashion shows and great collections. On February 20, Italian fashion house Fendi put out drones with high-definition cameras to relay its show to its discerning customers. In addition to the standard view of the runway, consumers watching the brand’s fall/winter 2014 show on Fendi’s Web site during Milan Fashion Week had the ability to switch to the camera angle of the aerial drones. As for the clothes, in Karl Lagerfeld’s hands, chiffon, silk and organza took on a whole new life. He crafted one-shouldered and tunic style dresses from the thinnest of georgette.

Dsquared2’s cinched-waisted strapless bustiers could be worn as teeny sexy cocktail dresses. The collection was part naughty, part nice – bucket straw hats, silk satin Capri pants, tunic tops and jackets with bell sleeves. Gucci’s Frida Giannini sent out models in trousers that were more voluminous than her regular skinny ones, blouses with deeply plunging decolletes and black tops hemmed with crystal beading.

Milan Fashion Week, Autumn/Winter 2014, Alessandro Dell’Acqua

Alessandro Dell’Acqua’s label No 21 sent out his beautifully bejewelled pencil skirts, shirt dresses and jazzed-up sweatshirts in sheer tulle and silk. Max Mara was at its minimal best – slip cut dresses made from ice blue cashmere teamed with matching coats, long pencil skirts and short-sleeved cabanas.

Miuccia Prada’s collection for her eponymous label Prada was wildly exuberant. Illustrated murals made way on to her silk dresses and printed coats. Emporio Armani’s wide-legged trousers and pantsuits in both charmeuse and taffeta silk in pastel palette of peach, lavender and mint green was refreshingly breezy and more summer, than grim autumn/winter.

Prada autumn/winter 2014 at Milan Fashion Week

Milan Fashion Week, Autumn/Winter 2014, Miuccia Prada

The collections sent out at both the London and the Milan Fashion Weeks Autumn/Winter 2014 were not just fashion forward but also a stylish, chic nod to the growing love for minimalism in a world struggling with recession.