London Fashion Week Exhibition

This weekend I visited London Fashion Week's exhibition at the Sommerset House and 180 Strand, showcasing two hundred of fashions most creative UK and international brands. The exhibition was intended to mirror the energy of the catwalk, helping to highlight fashion trends, and product selection and positioning. The exhibition was so visually eye-catching, consisting of vibrant, innovative and diverse collections. Features I particularly liked were the floating T-shirt island, that celebrates the T-shirt as a clothing item. 

Also Estethica, The British Fashion Council's eco-sustainable 

initiative. A collection of twenty eight designers, that practice fairtrade, recycling and ethical issues in their creations. This was particularly interesting to see cutting edge fashion can still be made in an eco-sustainable way, with the industry making positive development towards these issues. I think it is very important that well known and high fashion brands lead the way with these issues for others to follow. 

The range of colours and materials used in the different collections provided such a diverse and interesting appearance. This is what I like most about textiles and print design, the tactile experience that they give to the viewer. The extensive array of textures made me realise I need to be more experimental in my own work when choosing materials as they can really reinforce the message being portrayed

Harvey Nichols Window Display

Rarely do I walk past a Harvey Nichols Store and fail to notice it's consistently inventive window displays. The current designs for London fashion week are no exception, comprising of a complicated array of coat hangers to form dinosaur skeletons. Designer Janet Wardley is the creator of this inspired piece of work, and describes it as 'angular, prismatic and colourful', intended to be uplifting. 

Standing in front of the Leeds store this week, I felt more as though I were viewing a  window to an art gallery than a designer shop. What I find impressive about Harvey Nichols' window displays, is that they sell the image of the store rather than their products. The focus is on the dinosaur sculpture rather than the product in front. The design is simple and graphic; as a whole image you see the figure of a dinosaur. However looking more carefully, I was suprised to see the skeletal effect was acheived by using coathangers; a clever link to fashion and also visually stimulating. Wardley explained the sculpture of the dinosaur reflected fashions current obsession with "architectual cutting". I think her using coathangers to produce it from is an enlightened response that helps to give the window displays their  'wow factor', and definitely made me look twice.