Fashion occasionally mirrors life, but was it mere coincidence that so many collections at London Fashion Week at the weekend featured rainwear and protective clothing?
The first ever show from Hunter, the 160-year-old wellington boot company in Dundee – now being reinvigorated as a global clothing brand by creative director Alasdhair Willis – made a splash in every way featuring a waterlogged catwalk, high-heeled wellingtons, orange duffel coats and sturdy raincoats with matching backpacks.
Hunter's hardworking country boot image was transformed the day Kate Moss rocked a pair with shorts at Glastonbury in 2005. The decision to diversify and expand was taken two years ago after investment by a US private equity firm. No matter how fashionable the brand may now become (with these new "cool" wellies costing €103 and rubber jackets €460) the idea of Anna Wintour (sitting front row in Chanel beside Stella McCartney, Willis's wife) ever wearing a neon- and-grey balaclava or a yellow poncho is unimaginable.
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It was raining cats and dogs in another sense at Orla Kiely’s show where heavy downpours formed the soundtrack to her presentation on a set got up to look like a city park with models opening and closing umbrellas.
Her neat little raincoats in white or black patent featured a cat and dog print and the cat motif crept throughout the collection whether on knitwear or more subtly in darker-coloured 1950s-style brocaded skirts and coats. The designer, whose footwear collection for Clarks sold out, is to launch her first menswear line in May exclusively for John Lewis.
The most hotly anticipated collection, however, was that of Derry native JW Anderson, his first since getting investment from global luxury giant LVMH. His skill lies in that mix of creativity and commercial sense, but this show saw him experimenting with texture, earthy colours and shapes that were artful, contrary and interesting.
Dresses in stiff fabrics such as elephant cord and bonded satins were softened with sweeping and circular bias cuts. Long off-shoulder tunics worn over longer skirts had a grandeur and elegance that was both medieval and modern.
