The fashionistas of the UK were out in force this week to witness all the collections at this years London Fashion Week. Officially opened by the Prime Ministers wife Sarah Brown, who wore a printed dress by up and coming designer Erdem, LFW featured a staggering 68 catwalk shows and more than 200 different labels.

We saw collections from a whole hoarde of designers including Mark Fast, David Koma, Daks, Paul Costelloe and Maria Grachvogel.

This years fashion shows have taken on a more digital edge than ever before as many of the catwalk shows were streamed live to the internet so those that couldn’t physically be at the shows were still able to see the collections.

Coping with the loss of great designer Alexander McQueen, a one minute silence took place at the opening of LFW at Somerset House and a memorial wall was constructed for press and buyers to leave messages in memory of the designer.

Mark Fast

Designer Mark Fast teamed up with Mary Katrantzou for his Autumn/Winter 2010/11 collection at this years LFW. What really stood out on the catwalk during the show were the models, as Mark opted to use plus size models to showcase the pieces. He used four plus sized models including size 16 Hayley Morley and Crystal Renn who is also a healthy size 16 and one of the most famous plus sized models in the world.

Fast’s signature style usually includes body con, knitted pieces but for his Autumn/Winter collection he built upon this signature style and teamed it with some less figure hugging pieces such as capes, ruffled scarves and full-skirts.

To also maintain shape, Fast did throw out some figure hugging pieces which looked great on the models. Many were punctured with different patterns and included knotting, twisting and layering.

Daks
For the country bumpkins amongst us all, Dak’s Autumn/Winter 2010/11 collection is something to be marveled at. The Daks signature style is English heritage through and through and that was evident in the catwalk pieces that were designed by the company’s creative director Filippo Scuffi.

The collection included full length dresses and cardigans with lace up shoes and socks which were common throughout the show. Checkered patterns were also common throughout, teamed with cropped trousers, shorts and coats. The collection has been compared to the Sherlock Holmes stye because of the typically English theme and the drab colours. Not to be put off by this, the collection brought itself a little more into the 21st century with the use of capes, skinny trousers and boyfriend blazers.

Paul Costelloe
Paul Costelloe’s catwalk show was the first of the day and it opened with Vera Lynn’s ‘White Cliffs of Dover.’

The collection itself featured pieces that could be labelled almost architectural due to the much exaggerated shoulders, defined waistlines, spherical skirts and octagonal and triangular motifs. To put it simple, it included many many different shapes. The hair and eyes of the models had a dramatic twist to them to accompany ‘The Assassination of Jesse Jame’ inspired collection which was made up of lots of gold, cream, brown and silver as well as embossed brocades and geometric patterns.

Maria Grachvogel
Nobody let the thunderstorm outside put them off witnessing a catwalk show that featured possibly the most practical outfits of the whole week. The ‘ready to wear’ collection included black and white shirts, wide leg trousers, cloaks and flashes of colour in some gorgeous evening gowns. Many of the gowns had button fronts while the model’s shoes were covered in ‘sprinkled’ black pieces.

The collection was very simple and chic and the pieces were definitely simple enough for the every day member of the public to wear.

There were so many fantastic collections at London Fashion Week that there were just too many to choose from. Other outstanding Autumn/Winter collections included Betty Jackson, Richard Nicoll, Topshop Unique and House Of Holland to name a few. So now everyone has had a glimpse of what is to come on the British highstreet in Autumn 2010 as they try to represent the amazing pieces seen at LFW..but we’re also looking forward to what is to come in the Spring.

Images courtesy of Telegraph.co.uk & ElleUK.com

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