London Fashion Week highlights: J. W. Anderson

The forward-grabbing young Irish designer impresses the fashion set a lot. But this time round, there was something stopping the Louboutin-clad fashion collective from an all-out applause.

Anderson – the designer who put men in dresses last season – furthered his pared-back, form-morphing aesthetic for his a/w 2014 womenswear collection. Femininity was sparse, as was colour. Thick, nomadic-ready fabrics in desert colours were draped and shaped to create volume in sack-like proportions. The finish was primitive and enticing; technical mastery clear.

Soft tailoring cuddled by obi belts, fluted calf-length skirts and funnelled necklines engaged with the figure and had a tribal quality that was interesting. Anderson's mastery of manipulation of fabric further mesmerised with clever hints at modern femininity - bralets and bodices sat over thick wads of woollen dresses - yet the overwhelming feeling was of neutral sexuality.

Womanhood was there, just played down. But there was something refreshing about this. Expressions of womanhood needn't be skin, hips and bosom.

Anderson's organic desert nomad is an interesting alternative.

J.W. Anderson AW14, backstage (Sam Wilson, British Fashion Council)

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London Fashion Week highlights: Meadham Kirchhoff

The Central Saint Martins educated design duo - who, I like to believe, work in a studio shaped like a shoe, surrounded by in Lewis Carroll characters and drink sumptuous cocktails from glasses shaped like zoo animals – again showed off what they do best at LFW. This was over-the-top, gawky and zany. Frankly, right up my street. This time it was in homage seemingly to Victoriana Austin Powers. Autumn/winter at the Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff design house was prototypically eclectic and perfectly odd.

A bunch of young, quirky looking models stomped down the catwalk in rainbow boots; iridescent reptilian macs, bouclé suits, flowing frocks and pastel veils.

Yet blink a few times, re-focus and MK actually put on a dazzling display of ultra femininity – heightened to the nth degree, sure, but a few pick-out pieces that if worn as an entity, wouldn’t so much make your eyes bleed but rather transport you to an alternative world of translucence and romance.

The peace rarely lasts long in fashion and true to form Meadham and Kirchoff shoots the watcher back to planet crazy with rocket-metallic, leather super-hero dress complete with fluted sleeves and Mary-Janes. Only for the most ostentatious, self-believers… but hey, they’re people too.

And if you’re not one prone to kookiness, Meadham Kirchhoff sure knows how to draw it out and make the fashion pack smile. And heck, we should all be grateful for that.

Meadham Kirchhoff AW14 (Daniel Sims, British Fashion Council)

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London Fashion Week highlights: Simone Rocha

Refined, elegant with just a little flounce, Simone Rocha’s outing for LFW was just plain wonderful. Neat cocktail dresses and soft tailoring were sweetened with dalliances of fabric in perfect ruffles. 

There was a sense of regalia to proceedings; gowns befitting a lady of Henry VIII's court, only far more expressive and independent than a typical young patriarchy-controlled Tudor princess. 

Flounces there may have been but Rocha’s autumn/winter collection wasn’t saccharine. It was polished, preened just-so and for the most part, totally wearable. The daughter of stalwart expressive fashion designer John Rocha, Simone kept things seamlessly chic in darkest black satin, grown-up snakeskin and tartan. 

Mature it may have been but this collection wasn’t without an element of fun. A sea-weed looking green leopard-print dress was crowned with a tiara and pastel-pink geometric meshing played with monarchical perspectives of propriety. 

Ecclesiastical embroidery and sheer dresses in nude and blood red retained a sense of youth and modernity in their boxy shapes and loose-cut. A princess she may be, but Simone Rocha's girl knows that daddy king is in charge so that she can party.

Simone Rocha AW14 (Daniel Sims, British Fashion Council)

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