London calling

London’s fashion week may not be as anticipated or as exciting as that of other cities, considering that one of its most reputable designers, Vivienne Westwood, opts to show her main collection in Paris (her Red Label collection, however, still walks homecourt), and given that most of the big-name mannequins are a no-show because of tighter budgets. Agyness Deyn is almost as good as it gets. It doesn’t mean, however, that its designers should be taken lightly. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, London fashion week’s main draw is how it celebrates the up and coming and the idealistic. Designers such as Henry Holland (he who popularized the bold-lettered statement tee), Eley Kishimoto and Todd Lynn are out to prove that the British aren’t conservative when it comes to creativity. And this season, it doesn’t seem as if London is the underdog fashion insiders claim it is.

Vivienne Westwood Red Label

Her fashion may be cheeky and her disposition outrageous but Vivienne Westwood is still very much British and attuned to the symbols of her tea-sipping, hat-wearing culture. For her Red Label collection for spring/summer ’09, the purveyor of glam-punk still promoted British stereotypes, only distressing them with her typical far-out flair: a schoolmarm ensemble only with lapel-heavy shirts and overlong cardigans, a tartan suit but worn with a bowler hat with an extended brim, and yet another tartan piece, this time worn with a Moroccan fez. She intersperses these with lamé pieces so lazy they threaten to fall off shoulders and a lot more of her paneled separates. Compared to last season’s catwalk run, Vivienne Westwood Red Label for next summer is not brimming with anger or riled up with protests, but it still makes a strong statement.

House of Holland

This collection literally has you seeing spots. The youthful and brazen label, made famous for their designer groupie and model-whoring statement T-shirts (“My flies are undone Lily Donaldson”), sent out its second solo show entitled “Sex, Lies and Volleyball.” Supposedly inspired by the original 90210, Henry Holland sent out busy, colorful floral prints on chiffon pieces layered with optical black and white polka dots on T-shirts and cycling shorts. It’s a step in a more fashion-y direction for Holland, but it may be his jeans collaboration with Levi’s that will be the next groupie phenom. Scruffy, loose pants with big circles and the occasional vine trellis printed or laser-cut into the fabric bring new relevance to the hegemonic denim brand.

Eley Kishimoto

Playful suburban frocks with nautical details, British garden prints and an overall childhood nostalgia are the kind of dresses young mothers who like to dress up like their kids would wear. Worn over matching printed tights added to the sense of breezy, girlish fun. A bizarre, out-of-place giant aboriginal lizard print appeared on dresses that looked like they were made from sarong material, and a few stiff-looking shiny raffia shifts that disrupted the mood of the graphically strong collection.

Giles

Giles Deacon’s dresses are always sharply crafted excursions into whimsy and wit, but which are grounded by their very knowing references to the street. His spring collection draws from graphic design of the late ’80s and early ’90s which were used all over sexy sheath dresses with architectural shoulders to some eye-catching effect. Prints that still look fresh are the cheese-grater holes and a loosely deconstructed camouflage done in bright spring colors, but when used in black and gray on corset dresses, it just seemed a little too ’90s goth raver to me, never really a good look to bring back. He even threw everything — glitter Pac Man, camo, skeletons and chains — on a white dress, but that was just one cheeky burp in a generally sensible and sleek collection.

Todd Lynn

Todd Lynn has a signature style: muted colors, superb construction and linear lines. And all of these were once again in full force in his recent collection. This time, Lynn works on androgynous wear, clothing his females in stiff, structured jackets and narrow tuxedo-style pants, which, a walk later, can also be seen on his male mannequins, only with the waists and legs loosened a bit. This is as classy as his and hers gets. Even his striated, chiffon pieces, which look so surprisingly empowering on females, also have for him counterparts.

But the star of Lynn’s collection — as it has always been — is his technical approach. The designer infuses pins and tucks so subtle that they only begin to matter when the dress is worn, and in these you realize that Todd Lynn’s silhouettes aren’t exactly as stiff and linear as they first seem.

Roksanda Ilincic

Silky, shimmery and figure-draping, satin is one of the sexiest fabrics there is. But worked on with Ilincic’s own avant-garde stylings, satin became as frumpy and as unexciting as a housewife’s muslin. Shiny pompom appliqués, yards of haphazardly-draped tulle, and the use of those awful tulip sleeves didn’t help either. But there were some saviors, however, such as a loose, salmon-colored jumpsuit with a ruffled bodice and a purple asymmetric satin dress thinly belted at the waist. But these were soon overcome by more extravagant workings with satin and lots and lots and lots more tulle.

Peter Piloto

By starting off with very unsexy and very unflattering lab coat-style tunics, slim shorts cropped at the knee and fuzzy, puffy fabric of unknown origins, Peter Piloto and his co-designer Christopher de Vos seemed all set to turn off. But then came long dresses and skirts with prints so exquisite and (despite the muted colors) so alive, and satin jersey gowns exquisitely draped and gathered, and you knew this wasn’t another one of those dud, overreaching newbie collections.

By employing the age-old ethic of teamwork, Piloto (prints are his signature) and Vos (responsible for the draping) have created a showing that still jibed with this season’s penchant for draping, but was distinctly their own.

Marios Schwab

Just when you thought Schwab would make good with slashing and draping jersey, he unloaded a bevy of other fabric that manifested a certain confusion as to the central theme of his collection. All of a sudden there was dark velour, suede, shiny nylon, satin and even chambray (on an oversized shirt that would have looked so at-home in an oil rig). He attempts cohesion by putting cutouts and leg-high slashes on a lot of them but then loses focus again by manacling his jersey pieces with thick ropes and, towards the end of the show, full, heavy beading.

But apart from the general state of confusion there were pieces in there that still sparked interest, especially for lovers of la boheme: slouchy, comfortable, easy-to-wear one-piece ensembles that promote its wearer as quietly confident and sure of herself.

Christopher Kane

There’s something to be said about a commitment to circles. Last season Kane delivered several evening dresses decorated with pailletes. His bolder and brighter Planet of the Apes-inspired spring offering features a visual overload of bigger circles, this time cut in half, forming lampshade-like flaps when bundled together or dinosaur-ish silhouettes when scalloped on the sides of sleeves. He plays with these half-circles in every which way, and you are bound to find a few geometrically brilliant confections and a few that make you want to pluck them out like feathers, saying enough already. Kane does break up the circular parade with slightly tacky marabou-trimmed chiffon dresses (prehistoric lingerie, I suppose) and an outright gorilla image on two structured dresses which made me laugh and appreciate the guy for not taking things too seriously.

Issa

There was nothing demanding about this show. All the pieces were light and fluid dresses in familiar silhouettes like the peasant skirt, the tunic, and the glamour girl halter-neck jumpsuit, resort-ready or perfect for cruising down La Croisette post-festival. Yet despite being the type of summer staples we see each year, the outfits are really pretty, in a Marc by Marc Jacobs way, which perhaps explains the label’s following among British “it” girls.