London Fashion Week spring/summer 2013 collections open with a technicolour bang ... and a big brass band
By Toni Jones
Twenty five years is a long time in the fickle world of fashion so British designers Antoni & Alison knew that they would have to do something special to celebrate their silver anniversary as well as the fact they were opening London Fashion Week this morning.
And the result was a riot of colour and noise as designs from the arty duo burst on to the catwalk at London's Somerset House to the sound of a live brass band.
The playful collection was a result of Antoni Burakowski and Alison Roberts hiding away for four days listening to music they had never listened to before (that explains the brass instruments) then coming back together with their sketch pads to see what happened.
The duo said that they had gone back to basics with the collection, made up of floaty dresses with colourful and striking patterns on them.
Roberts summed up their designs as "chic and beautiful and arty".
And the results were an art class come to life on drop-waist dresses and tunic shaped tops.
The playful show was introduced with a theatrical fanfare from a brass band, with the 24th Invicta Rifles continuing to play as the models sashayed down the runway.
Following immediately in their fashion fabulous footsteps Fyodor Golan showed off models covered in Nativa America inspired face paint and prints and Caroline Charles got the fashion pack in a holiday mood by dressing her models in flamboyant printed shirts and playsuits and eighties inspired accessories including plastic sunglasses, fluoro string bags and woven bucket hats.
London Fashion Week runs until Tuesday and will feature more than 100 catwalk shows, which are expected to generate orders in the region of £100 million and to contribute further millions to the London economy.
It is classed as one of the "big four" fashion weeks around the globe alongside New York, Paris and Milan.
Highlights of the event are expected to include Burberry, Christopher Kane and the Vivienne Westwood Red Label show which takes place on Sunday, when Matthew Williamson, Temperley London and Topshop will also showcase their spring/summer 2013 designs.
Libby Banks, editor of fashion website mydaily.co.uk, said she expected the success of the Olympics and Paralympics to translate to fashion with British designers becoming bolder and more experimental than ever.
She said: 'Britishness is cool again, I think we have got a new confidence.
'After the summer that we've had, I expect that designers will channel it into their work, and we'll see a celebration of Britishness and also a confidence to do something completely different and new.
'We're definitely seeing a movement away from nostalgia.
She also said she expected print to be "incredibly strong", with Kane, Mary Katrantzou and Erdem at the forefront of the trend.
She added: 'A bold, optimistic approach to print is going to be really key.
'Not florals anymore but different stand-out pieces that shout and aren't apologetic is what I'm expecting to see.'
This season's fashion week will see shows outside the main catwalk venues streamed live on the internet for the first time.
A total of 40 shows will be live streamed - 70% of the on-schedule catwalk shows - while further digital innovation will also see designer Anya Hindmarch creating a diary on pinterest.com.
A host of famous faces are expected to grace the front rows, with House of Holland, Westwood and Acne expected to attract some of the biggest names.
A number of designers favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge will also be putting on shows, including Issa London, Mulberry, Erdem and Burberry.
And although Kate herself will not be attending royal fans might spot her sister Pippa Middleton front row at today's Emilia Wickstead show or watching Alice Temperley on Sunday.
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