The V&A’s Fashion in Motion programme offers members of the public a rare chance to attend a full-throttle catwalk show, set against the dramatic backdrop of the glorious Raphael Gallery. The production values are the same, if not greater, and there’s the same fashion buzz with people in silly outfits and fights for the front row.

Peter Jensen by Eleanor Shore

All photography by Matt Bramford

The latest FIM celebrated Peter Jensen’s tenth year in fashion. By the time I arrived at the V&A, an enormous queue had already formed and was spilling over into the grand reception, ready to greet me as I legged it inside. The cavernous Raphael Gallery holds hundreds, though, so I wasn’t too worried about getting a good spot. The room filled up quickly but, as there had already been three shows that day, there was a distinct lack of photographers in the ‘pit’. I took the opportunity to stand there for a change, a view that I don’t often get at fashion shows, and it was a real treat. I tend to avoid this area due to the gruesome cretins that tend to populate it at fashion week, and the shots you get tend to be pretty similar to the other 250 photographers trying to get images. But standing right in the centre, with no elbows blocking your view, you really get a sense for the complete package, that you don’t even get on the front row.

The lights fell and silence descended as a pretty eccentric mix of songs, that had been stitched together, boomed from the stereo and the first model appeared. This was to be a celebration of Jensen’s career so far, and so the ensembles on offer represented Jensen’s recent collections. His playful, upbeat style shone on this dramatic catwalk.

Peter Jensen by Janneke de Jong

Long-term collaborator and stylist Lucy Ewing styled this event and had selected the archival pieces that were on offer. Models wore short, slapstick wigs over the top of their own flowing locks, sometimes in contrasting colours. This linked the collection together nicely. Pieces included Peter’s inimitable rabbit motif emblazoned on translucent dresses, low sweetheart necklines teamed with mini-skirts, crisp tailoring in pastille colours, sheers fabrics embellished with sequins, metallics, madras-esque prints (seen on the catwalk only this September), glittery nipple covers seen through opaque smocks, floral prints and Linda Farrow collaboration rabbit sunglasses.

Peter Jensen by Vicky Smith

Music and fashion were both reflective of Jensen’s unique style. It was a great show that earned a deserved wave of applause at the end. I couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit disappointed, though. While I admire Peter Jensen and his playful collections, this show lacked the spectacle I’d come to expect from Fashion in Motion – previous shows from Erdem, Osman Yousefzada and KENZO (to name a few) packed a much bigger punch than this one did. But I can think of worse ways to spend a Friday evening, so I shan’t complain.

Osman. Not a name that I’m overly familiar with, although we have frequently written about designer Osman Yousefzada. He’s trained the likes of the super talented Henrietta Ludgate and when he showed as part of Fashion in Motion at the V&A we were there to admire his work.

Osman. Photography by Tim Adey.

Osman A/W 2011 by Holly Monger.

So it was that with enthusiasm I went to my first Osman show, settling on the front row to much amusement as another contributor befriended the head buyer of Browns. Next along some buyers threw a hissy fit when asked to move in favour of Liberty, at which they threatened to leave the show and what’s worse, cancel their Osman orders. I do find these insights into the actual trade part of LFW most intriguing – buyers are massively important at the shows where large orders from key retailers really matter… namely the shows in the BFC tent. And it’s the Liberty and Browns of this world which are Gods, something which lesser shop buyers may discover the embarrassing way. Needless to say I kept my head down and stuck to admiring the ink splodge catwalk, protected the entire length by guards.

How much do I love this dress?!

Osman A/W 2011 by Ellie Sutton.

The Afghan designer is fabled for his clean, regal lines and this was much in evidence as the show opened with a stunning white and royal blue dress that mirrored the catwalk design, which in turn was inspired by a series of lightbox installations by the artist Catherine Yass. Satu Fox wrote in 2009 of Osman’s refusal to follow current trends and this still felt very true in a beautifully elegant show where pared down tailoring was absolutely the order of the day.

Osman A/W 2011 by Holly Monger.

Wide legged trousers, A-line maxi-dresses, a caped dress underscored with a splash of orange, beautiful marled grey boucle wool fabrics… and an intriguing gold apron outfit which opened at the back. I could imagine almost every outfit being worn and admired… there was no filler here. The show ended with a return to the royal blue splotch theme, this time across the breast area of a searing fuchsia maxi-dress. This was an extremely confident collection that explained to me precisely why Osman has the buyers salivating. Absolutely gorgeous. If only he hadn’t ruined it with that one piece of what I presume was fur… entirely unnecessary.

Fur? Or an interesting use of alpaca wool? We’re not sure, and nor is anyone else… I really do hope the latter.

Osman A/W 2011. Photography by Amelia Gregory.

You can read Naomi Law’s equally admiring review here.

Over at Osman, sleek silhouettes glided gracefully down the beautiful blue ink-blotched catwalk on models sporting blunt Cleopatra bobs with eyelash-skimming fringes.

Illustrations by Alexandra Rolfe

Osman Yousefzada showed a sophisticated palette featuring lot of ivory and charcoal in sharp yet flowing shapes. Colour flooded in, taking the form of feature linings and leather trims in rust, scarlet, pale aqua, neon pink and lime. The show opened with a beautiful ivory dress, featuring a v-shaped accent to the bodice in bright cobalt, echoing the beauiful inky stripe printed on the catwalk itself.

Illustrations by Donya Todd

The chic and sharply flared wide leg trousers were particularly prominent, billowing around the models’ legs as they sashayed their way towards the photographers’ pit. I was sitting way back in the sixth row but semi-successfully found a gap in the rows of heads to capture some of the looks. Key pieces seemed to keep on coming; dresses with contrast-lined capelets, black leather with hot pink horizontal stripes, a Morticia-length charcoal wool dress, a leather-fronted blouse with bright orange floor-length tied tails to the back, the list goes on.

Illustration by Madi Illustrates

Illustrations by Kerri-Ann Hulme

Photography by Naomi Law

There was a hint of the 1960s with a-line shapes and geometric capped sleeves, but pattern or ornamentation was minimal, save for one striking orange chiffon dress with chocolate brown embroidery. The collection managed to make crayon brights into something more sophisticated – the careful balance of colour and monotone combined with expert tailoring in subtly varyied textures was sharp, modern and crisp.

Illustrations by Rachel Lewis

There were two show-stopping floor-length black dresses with dramatic fluffy sleeves so huge I assumed they must be fake fur (hence asking two of our illustrators to work from these designs). I was disgusted to discover later that Osman has made the vile decision to use real fur in his collections. It’s nasty enough that anyone would choose to use animal fur in the first place, but even harder to understand when they’re going to end up dyeing it a completely unnatural colour anyway. Unfortunately this took the shine off the collection, none of this next season thank you!

Illustration by Antonia Parker

See more of Antonia Parker’s illustrations in Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration!

In my honest opinion, the V&A is the single most wonderful museum in the world. Where else can you pass by Medieval sculpture, breeze by centuries-old Japanese textiles and pass under Renaissance frescos to marvel at Dame Edna’s full-english-breakfast frock? At the V&A, I tell ya!

I was here today for the latest Fashion in Motion catwalk show – events that bring the runway to the public and make watching fashion, in this sense, accessible.

This time it was the turn of Osman Yousefzada, Afghan-born and British-based fashion designer.

Illustration by Leah Wilson

Taking my seat on the front row, it’s always incredible to look around and see what type of people attend these events. Today’s crowd was made up mostly of the usual breed of fashionista-slash-scenester, but it’s always great to see how diverse this crowd is – particularly the two little old dears who were sitting by my side. They were in the mid-to-late seventies I’d say, but they looked absolutely gorgeous and told me ‘they love a catwalk show!’

The show began with a burst of loud music and a very muscular man appeared wearing one of Osman’s body-concious floor-length creations (womenswear, I hasten to add). As he moved down the catwalk robotically, whoops and cheers were heard, and his lean frame began to dance in that fascinating interpretative style that I defy anybody to fully explain or understand. He was joined by a girl who came hurtling and spinning down the catwalk, her aesthetic a-line pleated Osman creation getting maximum exposure from her delicate moves.

When the ‘fashion’ part of the show kicked in, it was easy to see why Osman is celebrated internationally for his forward-thinking fashion. In this semi-retrospective of his work, the key themes were glamour, sophistication and body-concious ensembles. These four strutted their stuff first.

Quickly the show gathered pace and we were treated to a whistle-stop tour of Osman’s previous and present collections. Body-con was again high on the list of things to see, along with a range of delicate and very, very feminine short dresses.

Illustration by Eugenia Tsimiklis

Osman’s style is hard to pin down. It’s glamorous, at times futuristic but never, ever boring. At first glance many of the pieces are wonderfully simple, but always with a twist: like an oversized tafetta corsage in post-box red, or a metallic gold bodice.

Osman relies on a natural colour palette; futuristic grays are a strong theme along with fashionable nudes, and it is the craftsmanship and engineering of these Japanese-inspired pieces that work the hardest.

…Whilst some pieces, like this beautiful bell-like creation, seemed to float over the model as she effortlessly walked the catwalk.

Hot pink blouses and gold lamé macs brought a welcomed splash of colour, however.

Illustration by Leah Wilson

Oh, and the shoes were pretty amazing, too – and looked surprisingly comfortable (although I’m not sure I’ll be wearing any anytime soon)

We’ll look forward, then, to Osman’s future collections now we’ve revelled into this little delve into his past. If you want to find out more about Fashion in Motion and future events, check out the listings section or the V&A website.

You can also see the previous Fashion in Motion event, Erdem, here.

The new collection from Osman Yousefzada (whose label is now called just “Osman”, possibly because the fash industry was incapable of saying his Afghan surname) felt short and sharp, possibly because the clothes were all riffs on the theme of white, and although inspirations from around the globe seemed to abound, the supremely restrained colour palette held it together. Against the background of completely pure white, even the patches and splashes of glimmering gold looked muted and discreet.

In some ways this show felt like a polite refusal to join in with the other children. While fashion gets into its 80s swing and the shoulder becomes king, Osman sent a deeply 90s slinky maxi dress down the catwalk, with one white, square pocket and one gold one. Some garments featured a cut-out where the shoulder should be, which my next-door neighbour at the show, Debbie from Tank magazine, whispered was like the “anti-shoulder”, a snub to Balmainia.

This was certainly not a blingy collection despite the gold, and the 90s reminders persisted with capri trousers, crinkle blouses and nautical rope details. As for silhouettes, as well as chic Orange County grandma, there were prim Park Avenue princesses in coats and polo shirts, as well as the hint of the Middle East and North Africa in the beaten quality of the gold, in rings around models’ ankles and necks and in the undone shapes of tunics and long dresses.

Osman’s inspiration was in fact Wallis Simpson, the woman who lured away a king, visiting President Nixon. It’s hard to imagine that meeting in general, let alone occurring in these clothes, but perhaps this is the wardrobe of a worldly American in the Henry James vein, a far cry from the brash stereotype of the American tourist and instead beautiful, charming, interested in the world and yet conservative in comparison to her European cousins.

The strength of this collection was in its refusal to follow current manias and it felt a step apart from the recent explorations into the dark and the gothic by many designers. Quietly confident shapes and the use of soft but resilient-looking fabrics, which looked much prettier and more wearable away from the harsh flashes of the professional photographers. The fabrics were made possible by Osman’s collaboration with a new Italian fabric company and the quality shows in a collection that resists either sexiness or girly prettiness and instead prefers to be worn by women who make history.