Backstage at London Fashion Week F/W 23

London Fashion Week’s younger spirit than the other fashion capitals characterised the runway this season. Young, creative and playful circulated that spirit. An amalgamation of drapery, wear and a play on trends… at London Fashion Week we saw references to all kinds of inspirational pockets from Blade Runner to1920s icons to Greek myths, and so it goes. Where did we end up in all of these imaginary realms? We saw designers releasing their collection as though they were veins pumping dreams into the fashion world… These dreams came in the form of immersive performances which turned garments into sensory experiences. Music, poetry and theatre took centre stage, and London Fashion Week became about ‘letting go’, like how Hari Pillai–designer of the emerging brand Harri–described his innovative inflatable balloon pants.

The Bella Hadid go-to shoes were all wanted to snatch last fall. Sportifying the runway this London Fashion Week the Fall/Winter 23 collection of Ancuta Sarca turned heads and confirmed our love for denim and fur.  Known for creating her hybrid alien baby (also known as the Nike trainer kitten heel), Sarca has reconceptualised the lines between glamour and sport, classy and comfort. In her debut at London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 20 Sarca conveyed an exclamation of her focus on sustainability and juxtapositions at its core. With the same vision in mind, the Fall/Winter 23 collection brings forth an added layer of bags, gloves and denim, as she lets her imaginations cultivate a nature versus machine aesthetic. This fashion week we saw fur on latex, denim bags with metal chains, spiraling fairy-esque shoes, skin-tight mesh fabrics covering her models like cyborgs, and her signature sporty kitten heel, laced up, laced down, and interlaced. 

London-based designer David Koma makes his collection dramatic and classically adorned at London Fashion Week with his Fall/Winter 23 Collection. His collection is emblematic of his muse, the beautifully elegant German-American actress and an embodied icon of androgynous style, Marlene Dietrich. His runway follows the timeline of her career and emulates the styles spanning from the 1930s to the 1960s: a tuxedo, classic silhouettes, and draped gowns. Like the Great Gatsby, one place Koma never fails to take us to is the party, and he does so, exquisitely. His pops of dramatic reds, soft violets and glowing yellows sing across the runway, as they try to outshine his other bedazzled, gem-embedded pieces. What more fun than bringing the party to the runway, and doing so with royal tones, rhinestones, fur and some poof.  

Greek mythology hits the runway!

Greek designer Dimitri Petsa brings a very luscious beauty to the runway, for Fall/Winter 23, strung together in a coming of age story inspired by the Greek goddess Persephone. It’s rare we see such an interconnected embodiment of motherhood, womanhood and nature, with such prowess and divinity all on one runway. An ode to inner strength, self reflection and empowerment we see cracks in leather garments, bellies protruding or revealed honouring fertility, veins trailing behind, veils, and wrinkled corsets. Di Petsa reveals a sculptural essence to his collection in which development and transformation are the driving force. Dimitra Petsa himself grounds his runway by a performance of dialogue narrating the show and interacting with his designs. A warming brown/golden colour palette courses through the show with an all encompassing ethereal energy. Let yourself sink into the cracks, sliver between its layers, adhere to its smoothness. Di Petsa….