London Fashion Week: At the rainbow's end

London Fashion Week points to a bold, bright and diverse direction for autumn/winter 2018. Stephanie Smith reports on the key trends.
ALL SMILES NOW: Queen Elizabeth II sits next to Anna Wintour (right) and Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC) (left) as they view Richard Quinn's runway show before presenting him with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design as she visits London Fashion Week's BFC Show Space in central London. Yui Mok/PA WireALL SMILES NOW: Queen Elizabeth II sits next to Anna Wintour (right) and Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC) (left) as they view Richard Quinn's runway show before presenting him with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design as she visits London Fashion Week's BFC Show Space in central London. Yui Mok/PA Wire
ALL SMILES NOW: Queen Elizabeth II sits next to Anna Wintour (right) and Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC) (left) as they view Richard Quinn's runway show before presenting him with the inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design as she visits London Fashion Week's BFC Show Space in central London. Yui Mok/PA Wire

Unless you live in galaxy far, far away, it cannot have slipped your notice that the major themes emerging so far for fashion in 2018 are protest, statement-making and solidarity.

Take Sunday’s Baftas. Like the Golden Globes before them, the red carpet was all about donning black as most of the silver screen stars demonstrated #TimesUp support in their sombre determination to stamp out sexism and sexual harassment.

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But so much fashion, so little time, and this is far from the only style story. It’s also London Fashion Week, and that has been a far more colourful, riotous and – it could fairly be argued – diverse affair.

Cara Delevingne on the catwalk during the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA WireCara Delevingne on the catwalk during the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
Cara Delevingne on the catwalk during the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA Wire

Christopher Bailey closed his 17-year reign at Burberry with rainbow colour, using it on everything from fake fur coats to puffa jackets and trainers, while the iconic Burberry check got a technicolour makeover with stripes of crayon-bright red, orange, yellow, green, indigo and purple worked into the original beige colourway and featuring on trenches and capes.

In doing so, Burberry underlined its support for the LGBTQ+ community. Bailey, from Halifax, said before the show: “There has never been a more important time to say that in our diversity lies our strength, and our creativity.”

The rainbow check pieces in the collection were available to buy immediately after the show and Burberry also cemented its commitment to LGBTQ+ communities by making donations to charities dedicated to broadening awareness, mentoring and resources around the world.

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Bailey has been credited with reviving not just Burberry, but also with helping to refresh London Fashion Week itself, starting with when he moved the brand’s show from Milan to London in 2009.

Rainbow shades on the catwalk at the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the weekend.

at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA WireRainbow shades on the catwalk at the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the weekend.

at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
Rainbow shades on the catwalk at the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the weekend. at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA Wire

Meanwhile, new Yorkshire lad on the block Matty Bovan presented his first solo London Fashion Week show, having previously exhibited under Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East mentoring banner.

Bovan works from the garage of his parents’ York home, after graduating from Central St Martins in 2015 with an MA in Fashion Knitwear. He also studied for a foundation at Leeds Beckett University and will be returning to give a talk there in April, as well as appearing with Lulu Kennedy in conversation on May 4 as part of the Fashion in Leeds week of events from April 28 to May 6.

Sponsored by home knitting brand Wool and the Gang, the collection features restructured and fraying knits and tweed tailoring, asymmetric crinolines and fabulous balloon headdresses, courtesy of milliner Stephen Jones.

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The show was a tribute to his late grandmother, who taught him to knit and crochet, and he has described the collection as being about strong women and walking on the North Yorkshire moors.

Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey at the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA WireBurberry creative director Christopher Bailey at the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
Burberry creative director Christopher Bailey at the Burberry Autumn/Winter 2018 London Fashion Week show at the Dimco Buildings in west London. Isabel Infantes/PA Wire

Maison Margiela took over a Mayfair pub and turned its interior silver as a backdrop to its almost entirely metallic collection of slip dresses, trouser suits, parkas, down jackets and vests. The fractured glistening finishes of the clothes were both futuristic and dystopian, eerily opulent and yet cracked.

Temperley showed a tough new direction inspired by the open road and big skies with military styles in olive and army green plus a collection of fluid print dresses, some with pussy bows, others with sequins.

London-based Turkish designer Bora Aksu gave us a wide-ranging collection featuring masculine silhouettes, inspired by Margaret Ann Bulkley, a surgeon from the Georgian era who could practise only if disguised as a man.

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As a counterpoint there were also layered dresses in silk, tulle and organza, for a more feminine and romantic edgEmail: [email protected]: @yorkshirefashQ

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https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion and https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/lifestyle/fashion