Alternative Fashion
The venue was old Spitalfields market; the creative energy courtesy of the young British designers of the future. This fifth year of the Alternative Fashion Week was as vibrant and dynamic as ever, in its attempt to make fashion a valued part of British culture.
There were interesting collections by Andrea Fishley, whose designs showed potential, with a linen and leather collection for women. The designs were refreshingly marketable (lack of commercial viability being the prime weakness of british fashion) with a minimalist edge. The linen lacked sensuality and the cut of this material should have been more adventurous in order to emphasise the beauty of the minimalist philosophy. The leather was great, and the flavour of her designs were not dissimilar to the avant garde Ann Demeulester or the eminent Americans Ralph Lauren, and Donna Karan- Fishley could learn a lot from them.
Alessandro Beggio and the designers Hayes & Cattel showed exhilaratingly colourful, futuristic, party girl clothes. Both collections were quintessentially clubby, and some of the designs reminiscent of the established British designer Katherine Hamnett. Both collections were modern and brilliant fun.
The Dragana Perisic collection was contemporary, elegant yet sexy. Colour and light silky, shiny materials were used with chiffon. The design and presentation was excellent, and to add to the excitement, an Imperial College girl (Biochemistry/Chemistry joint honours student) contracted with a modelling agency sauntered down the catwalk in one of their designs.
The 2 RUDE FOR YOU label was extremely brave, they had impressively used a range of unconventional materials and the results were anarchic. There seemed to be a futuristic, military, hooker theme and all of the clothes were unwearable BUT the ideas were very inspirational. The unabandoned and innovative use of form, shape and texture was reminiscent of the Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto and Comme des Garcons’ Rei Kawakubo. Boundless rivers of creativity were on show- maybe too many different ideas, ensured that none were professionally pursued; it would be really exciting to see a tailored collection in the same vain- which would naturally be more wearable. They should also consider the intellectual intensity of the Japanese designers.
As expected some designs were disappointing, such as those by Renegade; who claimed to be inspired by Charlie Chaplin, dandies, and androgyny. The whole concept is fascinating; the designs were not. There was a good use of colour, the design and cut of the clothes was sparse and unremarkable. Better tailoring would make the Renegade label more resilient.
One of the worst collections was by Hakim & Williamson, who displayed handprinted garments. The presentation was awful, the designs were pretentiously simplistic. Maybe the prints were of a high quality, but fashion is definitely not the right arena for these people.
Overall the best collection was by Nuala McCullock- Tibetan Winterwear , using oriental cut and fold; wool and sheepskin. It was a beautiful, modern collection, assymetric lines were used, and they had ambitiously made heavy materials sensual. It was an immensely artistic and unique collection which was unintentionally marketable. This designer deserves serious interest and investment
