JOANNE HYNES/HELEN STEELE AW11 Collection battling it out at London Fashion Week

This collection titled ‘Les Guerriers’ (or warriors) was the inaugural collaboration of Irish designer Joanne Hynes and artist Helen Steele.

They took their inspiration from the Irish pirate queen, Grace O’Malley, which emulsifies their own mission to create, battle on and forge ahead.

This was an array of colours and textures.

Sparkling crystals embellished leather jackets,

hand knitted Arans

and Irish tweeds

The models wore oversized and heavily embellished neck pieces made from hand woven silk, nappa leather and Waterford crystals in reference to the Irish heritage.

These glammed up the simpler garments often set on faux fur stoles,

softened the look of the leather

and also added extra glam to the prints and already embellished pieces.

Suits were a patchwork of rich colourful fabrics horizontally panelled with Indian brocades, feathers and crystals.

Fabrics ranged from the rough....

to the soft

Aran cardigans were made in to short jumpsuits,

faux fur coats had fun splashes of colours as though dotted on with a paint brush , leather skirts were painted over by Steele using dense layers of multicoloured paint and

Steele’s series of paintings had been digitally printed on to silk jersey tees and leggings,

dresses and scarves..

Print titles were Whispering Eye, Fallopian Tube and Fallopian Nectar inspired by the female anatomy.
Footwear was either high wedged wooden clogs, chunky very high platform wedged boots or the flat Chelsea boot.

The clogs were covered in splashes of paint as though worn by an artist whilst painting; the Chelsea boots were a patchwork of different fabrics and colours,

and the high wedged bovver boots were in bright shiny patent.

Definitely a collection fit for a Warrior Queen.

 Helen and Joanne taking a bow.

The stylist for the catwalk show, Annmarie O'Connor, was recently interviewed by BreakThru Radio's DJ Marie on her program Sew & Tell. Annmarie talks about trends within the irish design community and her experience on the catwalk show.

To listen to the full show click on http://bit.ly/ga95UT