Elsa Palomino Spring/Summer 2012 collection at London Fashion Week

Although the collection is titled ‘A Fairy Dance’, inspiration came partly from the traditional Manila shawl of Madrid.

In the 18^th Century, beautiful hand embroidered silk shawls made their way from China and featured peonies, pagodas and dragons. However soon the patterns changed from their Chinese essence to accommodate the Spanish taste of birds, butterflies and roses.

Palomino’s collection is a mix of these patterns, from oriental patterns of pagodas on bold red gowns 

to the laser cut white appliqué butterfly and floral motifs on black gowns. 

But a fairy dance feel was there in the lightness and the ethereal movement of the fabrics,

the cobweb sleeves and bodies adorned with floral embroidery 

and the wonderful flora and fauna headpieces by Angel Amor.

A La Disposition Spring/Summer 2012 collection at London Fashion Week

Titled ‘Mechanical fAILURE’, this collection’s aim was to form an expression of defiance in an age of retraction.

It was a high contrast of fabrics, shapes and colours coming together.

Neutral shades of khaki, black and beige with the richer yellows and iridescent purples.

Crisp cottons and wool with taffeta silks. 

Sharply tailored serious shirts with the more flirty voluminous short trousers and skirts.

Knee length jodhpurs created movement with their 3D folds imitating a propeller...

whilst the bunching up of fabric on taffeta skirts and

dresses created the illusion of light fluffy clouds. All were paired with no nonsense tailored blouses which gave a grounded and edgier feel to the whole look.

The only failure present here was in the title.

Flying the nest is A LA DISPOSITION AW11 Collection at London Fashion Week

From the title of the collection ‘Utopian Aviary’ I was expecting  feathers or bird prints,

but instead I was pleasantly surprised with sharp tailoring and fabrics made to emulate the bird form and shape by layering, ruffling, pinking and gathering of fabrics.

The opening model wore matching cape and pencil skirt made from short faux fur in ridged lines of black and white. The cape was not of the usual free flowing style but tightly fitted across the shoulders

and formed a tail coat at the back; the pencil skirt was made up of layers opening across the front like the layering of feathers.

Necklines were high with either long thin feather like bows pointing upwards as in flight,

or multi layered voluminous collars circling the throat as a bird would puff out its plumage to attract a mate. 

 Plain body skimming shift dresses are given texture from shoulder to the throat with high gathered necklines pulled in as you would a cloth bag, 

whilst the shoulders of jackets are puffed out with extra overlapping layers like feathers..  

Colour palette was a base of black with 

the more mate attracting rich tones of oranges, 

reds 

and blues. 

Fabrics of faux fur, gossamer silks, taffeta,

velvet and chiffons gave texture.

The silhouettes ranged from the streamline shape of flat overlapping layers representing the smaller birds 

to the stiffer structural shaped skirts and dresses with layers crossing over each other at the back like the tail feathers of a bird.