It's Looking Good At London Fashion Week SS22
Sat 18 Sep
It’s surreal being back in the swing of fashion week. Amongst the jostling of queues, we’re catching up with double the familiar faces, as this time, both genders are showing on the schedule together. There are still digital-only shows amidst the physical runway offerings, and the crowds feel bigger (perhaps that’s the post-pandemic social nerves.) London is fizzing because fashion week feels different; that ‘sense of newness’ often mythicised is already in the atmosphere.
Nensi Dojaka SS22
Most pundits’ first show - myself included - was Nensi Dojaka. It was a first for Dojaka, too: in fact, it was her first solo show out of the Fashion East gate and her first since the phenomenal news of her LVMH win. It was a knock-out. Dojaka’s understated feminine aesthetic was reappropriated with tailoring and colour. Her signature layers rippled across her typically form-fitting silhouettes, save for a splendid few ruffles.
Yuhan Wang SS22
A more modern idea of femininity and masculinity has been eeking throughout recent fashion weeks. This time many, like Dojaka, played with ideas of exposed skin or sheer fabrics and subverted the idea with a more masculine sharp shoulder or trouser. Yuhan Wang, whose designs are typically saccharine and poetic, brought another layer of strength to her pieces this season. Blazers and leather cinched and protected her undulating floral curls, almost as if a battle cry for women.
Edward Crutchley SS22
Elsewhere, Molly Goddard, whose candy floss dresses and metres of tulle are internationally recognised, brought forth wide-leg jeans and more menswear than ever before styled to perfection. Menswear designer Edward Crutchley has toyed with the stereotypes of masculinity for a few seasons now, but his SS22 collection was perhaps the most brilliantly bombastic of all. A celebration of queerness, the 18th-century gowns, nipple-focused body jewellery and platform mary janes were just the right amount of suggestive. The collection overall was a classic example of Crutchley’s impeccable eye for fabric, pattern and finish.
There's an almost punkish feel. It feels typically London-centric for designers to subvert and stand up. But perhaps I’m just dewy-eyed at the first fashion week for over a year, feeling sentimental for what makes London fashion so great. Either way, so far, so fantastic.