Models in Matthew Williamson at his Spring 2011 showing. Photos: AP
This is a season when the notion of investment pieces takes on a new meaning.
Not serious as in over earnest, but highly considered designs beautifully crafted and frequently with a fetishistic edge. That came through in the domination of furry gilets and in an obsession with straps and bandaging that gave dramatic tension to Marios Schwab's contoured dresses and lean, mean coats, drama to Giles' seemingly puritanical black gowns and a knife sharp edge to Antonio Berardi's lace panelled dresses.
Colour - how we love London colour ( and it is not often we can say that), but between Burberry's Crayola bright melton wool coats with dramatic sleeves and draped backs and Erdem's deliciously rich over embroidered velvets and Louise Gray's foil dotted plaid mohair - there is a resplendent feast of hue. Rust, teal, mustard, ruby, crimson, sapphire and emerald make up the palette. Jonathan Saunders' vivid William Morris-inspired leaf and bird prints in teal, coral and leaf green were a real standout. After this summer's fluros - it's all going to be a walk in the park.
With so much emphasis on print, embellishment and texture play - think velvet, lace, jet embroidery and appliqué overlays (as proven by Tom Ford and Clements Ribeiro, you can actually fit it all into one cocktail blouse) - silhouettes have simplified and purified. This is a season of evening trousers matched with fancy blouses, of demure sheath-like dresses with high necks and long sleeves.
Source: vogue.co.uk