Amelia’s Magazine | London Fashion Week S/S 2011 Catwalk Review: Charles Anastase

triumph inspiration awards - hair and makeup - lfw2010 - jenny robinsThis is me pretending to be a fashion blogger – Hi!

Please check out Amelia’s write up of the show which has ace photos of the outfits, page although I’m not sure if I agree with her division of them. Or if your here for catwalk kicks primarily, information pills feel free to scroll to the bottom of this article, where you can see my ace catwalk sketches.

They could tell I was pretending I think; when I arrived at the Triumph Inspiration Awards it was the same time all the waitresses were arriving and they just assumed I was one of them, signed me in and gave me a pass, I very nearly spent the night offering canapés. It’s a fair cop, certainly a role I’m more used to performing. But I’m glad I didn’t because the backstage access organised for bloggers meant I got the opportunity to do some drawing backstage at an epic fashion event. Check out some of these anthropological gems:

triumph inspiration awards - lights - lfw2010 - jenny robinstriumph inspiration awards - spray tan touch up - lfw2010 - jenny robins
As I entered the area set up in the huge industrial space that had been set up for the show (in the decor they chose to accent this rather than disguise it – which worked very well) I heard someone shout “If you’re chicken fillets have been checked you have to go back into hair and makeup! Thank you!” Priceless. Being a model must be a proper weird job.

triumph inspiration awards 3 - models eating - lfw2010 - jenny robins

Some models eating (yes, they do).

It all took me right back to many hours spent needing to be not too far from a toilet in Laos and Thailand in cheap hotels watching Fashion TV for hours on end. I love Fashion TV! (must be said in Scandinavian accent) I managed to speak to and draw 3 of the designers, my interviewing skills were not exactly up there, I asked Isabella Newell if she had anything she would like me to say about her work; “not really”…

triumph inspiration awards - great britain - lfw2010 - jenny robins
She let me draw her though, and told me about her outfit, an honest to goodness Burberry Jacket, and the rest by designers I have not heard of but who are probably very impressive. I was relieved when I asked Austria’s Isolde Mayer where her scalf was from and found it was in the sale at H&M. Her design was one of Amelia’s favourites I think, very elegant and strong.

triumph inspiration awards - Bulgaria - Austria - lfw2010 - jenny robins
I was also fortuitous in speaking to the winner (before we knew he was the winner) Nikolay Bojilov who was really nice and encouraging. I made his nose too big from the pressure. His outfit is really beautiful, it’s conceptual and still wearable. Should have seen it coming. Although I have to say I was rooting for Japan’s super cute bird and flowers design (it wasn’t really done justice on the catwalk, but I did a sketch from the actual garment hanging up backstage – beautiful) or Norway’s cheeky two piece covered in metallic circles and fans with what looked like a retro swimming cap accompaniment.

triumph inspiration awards - japan - lfw2010 - jenny robins

A bit of background: Triumph make loads of underwear and stuff, for the last 3 years they’ve been doing these inspiration awards, looking for exciting stuff from international students in the underwear vein. It’s pretty amazing, they put on all these heats in the different countries to find the winner and bring it all together in the final show. The theme this year is Shape Sensation, since according to the spiel, a major role of underwear is “perfecting” one’s shape. When they invent a pair of shaping long johns that can elongate my legs by 10 inches, I will be first in line, needless to say, it’s a comedy nicety.

But the theme ties in with Triumph’s new line of body shaping wear that is designed to be sexier than your average stomach panel tights or distressing beige girdle. There were 6 models posing in these at the reception and they did look nice. So the theme is a bit of a dual personality. On the one hand Shape Sensation – optimising your figure for the office Christmas party, on the other Shape Sensation – high concept fashion design using bold experimental shapes that distort the figure, like Isabella Newell’s (Great Britain) jutting structural design and Manuel Marte’s (Germany) entry which gives the wearer and insect like dowager hump. Neither of which you’d particularly want to wear under clothing, but that’s obviously not the point. They are exciting and beautiful catwalk designs. It’s for the show, the spectacle, the exploding paint balloons (France’s Sofie Insam’s entry).

I confess I couldn’t quite believe it when I realised the carrying a Sydney Opera House on your back design by Tovah Cottle was actually the entry from Australia! What was the brief at that national heat? Represent a cliché of your nationality? Did it narrowly beat corks swinging from hat and Kylie’s face designs? I’m sorry, it’s a stunning design, but really? Now, forgive me actual fashion fans, but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that it’s not particularly unusual for design competitions to be all about the innovation and crazy cutting edge stuff in the initial stages, but to make sure some actually vaguely commercial wearable stuff gets through so that when it comes to the awarding of the prize including the production deal they are able to pick something that walks the happy line in the middle.

There were some spectacular designs on the catwalk last night, here’s my five second impression drawings I did of them as they came out. They are pretty ace eh? I mention again, for actual photos of the actual outfits please check out Amelia’s write up here.

triumph inspiration awards - catwalk 1 - lfw2010 - jenny robins

triumph inspiration awards - catwalk 2 - lfw2010 - jenny robins

I also did a not particularly great drawing of Adam Garcia, which I am including only because Amelia doesn’t know who he is. He is a tap dancer. I super love the TV show Got to Dance he was the judge on so I’m pre-disposed to approve, he was a bit misogynistic in his comments tho, probably wasn’t really sure what he was doing presenting an fashion award and wanted to make sure everyone knew he definitely wasn’t gay. Who cares? Also. I hate tap. Why spend so much time doing something that is really difficult but looks really easy?

triumph inspiration awards - adam garcia - louise rednap - lfw2010 - jenny robins
Illustration by Krister Selin

Charles Anastase’s S/S 2011 collection saw a return to form after last year’s A/W labourious experiment with deconstruction achieved mixed results, story some of the garments were fantastic, remedy others drowned as ideas become over complicated.

All photographs by Matt Bramford

Instead London Fashion Week September 2010 saw a return to the pieces Anastase so exceeds at delicate polka dot dresses adorned with 3/4 length coats complete with Peter Pan collars hanging gracefully off the shoulders.

Illustration by Krister Selin

With the dresses and skirts the designer experimented with hems of a varying length, buy though there were none that rose higher than the knee. Pretty pleats which adorned the sheer dresses were set off by the incision of identical razor blade bobs.

The collection’s potential to teeter into being suitable only for girls was thwarted through the sheerness of tightly cut material. Sensual femininity was evoked through the appearance of a provocative polka dot jumpsuit.

Halfway through the catwalk presentation, a dress adorned with a priny in the style of Paul Klee broke the designer’s tendency to stay true to single colours.

Illustration by Krister Selin

These were clothes you can imagine wearing the instance they appeared on the catwalk, the simplicity of the light pastel hues enabled the cut of the dresses to catch your attention and imagination.

The ankle skimming trousers in Jacquard evoked thoughts of lazy summer days spent procrastinating amongst sand dunes and reading books whilst sipping coffee.

It was a perfect antidote to those cold winter nights that are drawing ever closer.

Categories ,70s, ,british fashion council, ,Charles Anastase, ,LFW 2010, ,London Fashion Week

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