Ask anyone working in the fashion industry what’s so great about London Fashion Week and they’ll tell you it’s all about the designers. Words like fresh, gritty, and edgy are thrown about to describe the homegrown city talent. Still, LFW can sometimes viewed as inferior to the classic Paris and Milan fashion weeks, but there’s something so innately different about the London fashion scene that you cannot find anywhere else.
London has no boundaries. There are no limits.
Elements of electricity and dynamism fuel the creativity of the capital. London has the environment that nurtures homegrown talent, providing a platform for new designers to develop and adapt to the ever-changing landscape of fashion, design and technology. In a city of diversity and constantly streaming inspiration, it is a young designers playground for experimentation.
Here we find Matthew Williamson.After showcasing his first collection at LFW in 1997, three years after graduating from Central Saint Martins, he is a classic example of native British talent putting London on the fashion map.
“Our brand has a super clear DNA it’s rooted in that sense of bohemian, jet-set sensibility so that’s always the cornerstone, the anchor of each collection.” – Matthew Williamson.
The SS15 collection was a revision of Williams’ signature roots. Kaleidoscopic colour palettes were fused with eclectic prints, giving a relaxed bohemian Seventies energy. Feather-weight silks twist, lift and billow in the breeze. Fluorescent-paradise shades in peacock blues, hibiscus pink, and sunset oranges painted trademark maxi gowns and pencil skirts.
Every designer needs a muse. Matthew works alongside Georgie MacIntyre, his Artistic Director, who shares his visions of print and textile mastery and design.
“My job as artistic director really is to inspire Matthew and help him realise his vision. More recently we’ve worked a lot closer on the inspirations and designs.” Georgie MacIntyre.
For SS15 the vision is clearer than ever: a Seventies revival drenched in the rich colours of a hot summers day. The whole collection was crying out for an exotic beach break on the white sands of Ibiza.
Harrods and the BFC are currently profiling four of the best British designers. Want to know more? Go inside the studio.
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