The wait is over.. London Fashion Week is here! Yay! Already we've seen AW13 collections from the Fashion greats & even Rihanna's showcased her first collection
for River Island..
But there was one Designer I was eagerly awaiting.. the return of
Julien Macdonald! A LFW regular, Macdonald's presence was missed last year
as he took a year out from LFW to focus on private collections for his London based clients.
Not only did Macdonald regain his status at LFW yesterday, he came back
with a collection more exciting and Fashion-forward then ever.
The collection showed a fresh new and exciting side from the Welsh-born Designer,
his embellished designs combine a natural/animalistic presence touching upon a
modern world of technological and metal references.
The 60's mini dress shape was re-invented by Macdonald balanced with an Art deco influence highlighting by the contrasting world of the twentieth century of nature vs technology.
Beetle Black
I noticed how Macdonald's Blue-black pieces in the collection reflect an insect transformation, with the hint of colours; yellow and blue.
Macdonald has used these colours to contour the body line exposing the bare
human skin through the nude mesh. The cut of the embellishment captures the light
and, more importantly, the audience's attention. I love how the fine feather strands dramatise the theme of animal fur, skin and natural exposure, flattering the revealing mesh.
Feather Composition
Macdonald's approach to animalism has been approached with
such elegance, he subtly disguises the patterns of animal prints with soft
neutral colours on the base of the dress clutching to the curves of the body.
The care-free Feathers strands create dimension to the dresses, not only by
the composition in which Macdonald has created, but by the horizontal movement of the feathers and how it contradicts against the vertical stripes of the animal base prints.
Earth, Wind, Fire & Water
The warm vibrancy of colours Macdonald uses in these dresses derive from the
inspiration from nature; yellow, green, blue and red, which are all
colours of the elements, bringing a sense of beauty and power within the collection. The feather exposure can also be reflected by the colour choices Macdonald makes.
What I find most interesting is how Macdonald has decided to excite these elegant,
designs by the sharp contrast of fierce structural embellishment that embodies
shard glass and shiny, metallic surfaces.
To me, the overall conclusion of Julien Macdonald, envisages a natural aspect to
fashion, the nude mesh exposes the naked bare skin allowing the dresses
to create the illusion that they are a component of the human body, and the dresses
and the human are one. The strong use of colour and animal references
Macdonald presents through-out the whole show re-connects a world from
which we all derived.
The sharp blades of embellishment and the cold metallic, reflective surfaces
protruding out from the dresses highlights the reality of a natural world becoming one
that's imposed by a man-made threat.
I'm so happy Julien Macdonald has brought back his collections to the LFW
catwalk and more importantly how he has brought cultural importance to a world and
a catwalk that's ever changing..
Bring on the rest of LFW!
#LOVE
HB
x
