After a silent New York Fashion Week, shorter than ever and in which we have seen Ella Emhoff walking for Proenza Schouler, after signing with the prestigious model agency IMG, today London Fashion Week kicks off. The great appointment with emerging talent and the freshest and most transgressive proposals, as shown in its previous edition, held entirely in digital format which met the expectations. A calendar in which fashion shows alternate with proposals that combine music, art, theatre, and a myriad of creative disciplines that claim the cultural role of fashion, far beyond aesthetics and good taste. In short, a fashion week adapted to the new times that does not fear to talk about politics, social demands, and gender, among other issues.
Swedish designer Linus Leonardsson, graduated from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and leader of his eponymous brand since 2019, is one of the first creators to unveil his proposal in an edition that runs until 23 February. Let There Be Light is his new collection, completely genderless and presented in collaboration with TONY&GUY. A six-minute video in which a voice-over invites us to immerse ourselves in a digital utopia, leaving earthly games behind and entering the V.I.P area of a post-pandemic future. His collection challenges the norms of the established system questioning the precepts of the fashion era that is about to begin, through intense colors that range from pink and purple to yellow and green. Colorful child-inspired makeup to fight against the most conservative sector of fashion.
Faced with Leonardsson’s strident future, Irish-born designer Rory Parnell Mooney, who founded his brand in 2015 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, bets on reducing to the essence in his Fall/Winter 2021 Short Film. A menswear collection presented through analog photographs, in which the looks follow one another against an orange tones background. Parnell Mooney takes the images and places them neatly while we see how he configures his mood board, in evident parallelism to the need to make fashion a functional field adapted to day-to-day needs, without giving up personality and daring.
Following the gender-neutral trend, acclaimed designer Bethany Williams presents her new coat collection, exclusively for Selfridges @theofficialselfridges.. A proposal that is born from vintage blankets in which she only uses recycled and sustainable materials. Unique pieces that hide a deep social speech, as part of a project aimed to help women and children. Comfort and distinction in a capsule collection that could perfectly define where fashion is headed. A path marked by environmental awareness and the definitive elimination of restrictive labels.
London-based brand Vinti Andrews, led by designer duo Vinti Tan and Paul Andrews, takes us to North Devon for their Fall/Winter 2021 collection. A trip of just over three minutes in which we accompany the models through an inhospitable city, passing through the countryside and the beach. A rather dark aesthetic in which references to urban culture, sustainable materials, and a grunge style coexist, reminiscent of the fervent London fashion scene a few decades ago.
But the award for the most futuristic collection of the day goes to the young Spanish designer Alvaro Mars. Defending his idea of making fashion funnier because there is no need to take things too seriously, his Mavra Solar collection combines theatrical silhouettes with an aesthetic that, even today, we cannot find on Earth. Very marked shoulder pads, impossible volumes, and a fantastic work of hairdressing and makeup, as well as a diverse casting, walk through the intergalactic cosmos in a space expedition we would like to be part of.
