THE SPIRIT OF FASHION

Tuesday morning I was invited down to see the opening of the Spirit of Fashion pop up shop on 4 Monmouth street in Covent Garden. The store is stocked with exclusive limited edition collections by Carolyn Massey, Rachael Barrett and Matthew Miller.

 They are all winners of this years McArthurGlen Spirit of Fashion awards, set up in partnership with the Royal College of Art to recognise young talent and nurture them, helping them to increase their profile and evolve their businesses.  

Matthew Miller focused his collection around the blueprint for the ‘perfect white shirt’, using new 3D technology to help design and cut the fabric, this reduced waste and was more cost efficient and environmentally friendly. I would love to try out one of these machines! It’s sounds like the future. 

Carolyn Massey was inspired by reinventing the Grandad shirt adding unique hidden elements such as gussets and removable chains around the collar. 

Rachael Barrett produced a whole capsule collection influenced by school uniforms; she created blazers, tunics and pleated skirts using exploratory bonding techniques. I was sad to leave before talking to Rachael about her collection, it was all so beautiful. 

I was even luckier to be able to choose a piece for my own wardrobe, I must have tried on everything, there was so much choice! Unfortunately the mens shirts were still a little too manly for me to be able to pull off so I went with some beautiful wool culotte shorts by Rachael. I have so many shirts and blouses, it was good to get a really special piece, unique to my wardrobe. 

The pop up shop is open until the 17th before it moves across the country to Manchester and Glasgow. 

James Long

James Long was my favourite show of fashion week. We were so lucky to not only be able to see the show but to be sat in prime position in the front row too! The pictures really don’t do the collection justice. The colours were so intense on the runway and the use of leather was insane. The green leather shorts in pic 12 were incredible, I wish the picture had come out better. I don’t know how he he made those shorts! I read his inspiration was Andy Warhol’s oxidation paintings, in which he used to urinate on copper and that in turn gave a bit of a camouflage pattern. I certainly hope James didn’t urinate on those shorts…. Haha! Other favourites of mine were the holey knitted jumpers (with that green underneath, wow!) and THE MAN BAGS! I became slightly obsessed with man bags over London fashion week. Men look so good with handbags! It definately needs to become a bigger thing.
Anyway onto delish…

I have to say, James Long completely blew me away. The colour placement in this collection was spot on; the beautiful beetle greens that shone out of black, the texture of the mohair contrasting against the metallic leather. I have fallen in love!

After the James Long show, Carolyn Massey was to follow. A beautifully tailored collection with futuristic survival action-man styling!

The styling in this collection brought it all together wonderfully, the futuristic sunglasses and metal shoulders reminded me of jet-pack holders.
The one thing I learnt this summer over anything else is the importance of styling in a collection. Styling is becoming a much bigger role in fashion, I don’t think this is a bad thing at all, if you can find a partner that truly understands your goal and you bring the best out in one another then the collection can only come out better.