Amelia’s Magazine | Hellen van Rees: London Fashion Week S/S 2013 Catwalk Review

Hellen Van Rees S/S 2013 by Kristina Vasiljeva.

I was most delighted to read that Dutch designer Hellen van Rees uses recycled materials to create her innovative tweeds, which are hand crafted into sculptural garments. The Central Saint Martins graduate rounded off this season’s Ones to Watch with easily the most conceptual collection of the four.

Ones to Watch hellen van rees SS 2013 photography Amelia Gregory

Square2: Exploring Excitement melded the commercial and the avante garde in clever harmony: the squares of the title appearing as boxy protrusions on otherwise wearable cute tweed mini dresses. Using a colour palette of lemon, grey, dirty white and pale blue, the wilder creations with box hems or jutting shoulder pieces were surely not meant for everyday wear but I could imagine just about getting away with dresses decorated with smaller plastic appliques. Glossy plasticised tweed and raw edging provided contrasting textures, whilst cocks comb headdresses added further architectural interest. Designers such as Hellen van Rees are particularly exciting to follow, as they traverse the tricky line between artistic brilliance and the wearability that will make their fashion label a success.