The four b’s of the BFW Couture Show

Brighton Fashion Week’s Couture Show was bizarre. Andrew Bannister’s male models wore prosthetic sex-doll lips for his Studio 805 collection and a full-length latex mermaid dress drew gasps from the crowd during Joy Williams’ show, making Flik Hall’s hair-backed outfit seem almost wearable. And all this in front of an audience who had apparently come dressed as Carrie Bradshaw – their corsages and statement hair-pieces may have obscured Michael Aspel’s view, were he not sat in the front row...

The night was also bitchy, as you would expect from a high-end fashion event. From mutterings and fake smiles in the queue to an audible comment about a designer’s weight, some people were quite unaware of the caricatures they had become.

But this did nothing to detract from the beautiful designs on display, which in many cases challenged traditional ideas of beauty itself.



To Nick Cave and Kylie’s sinister ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’, models walked zombie-like in Joanne Fleming’s full-skirted pastel and mint occasion-dresses and petal-detail satin gowns. Leeanne Garrett’s black ruffle prom dresses and structured asymmetric winter coats epitomised modern glamour. And Sarina Poppy’s nymphs cavorted in white lace, bloomers and tutus with an evil black-gowned queen and Parisian Lady.


But there was also plenty of edge to the beauty on display. Kayleigh Valentine’s naughty but nice collection saw 1950’s-inspired floaty negligees toughened up with leather panels on pants, playsuits and bed jackets, while Joy Williams’ creations made latex girly with bow-detail and remarkable skirt-shaping.


Two major themes common in many of the collections were futurism and the natural world.



Ada di Vincenzo’s creatures came in shells of structured shoulders, layered capes and sheer tentacles, while Meganne Murrin created an ‘Alien Armour second skin’ with feathers, scale print and clinging bodycon numbers. Flik Hall also used feathers, as well as hair- and fur-affect on her nude and black printed-leather body con dresses and jumpsuits.


Rosalind Frances Holmes’ designs saw mesh and chains both liberate and incarcerate the female form, with a fleece dress, sheepskin coat and plastic bone necklaces helping the collection get in touch with nature.


And Nikolo Bertok’s stunning collection took inspiration from tribal and religious robes, transporting the designs into the future with sparkles, shimmer and lights.

So, what was the fourth ‘b’ of the BFW Couture Show? That would have to be boobs. Of course, in couture, mesh pieces don’t require any modesty-covering undergarments, but it was the unfortunate wardrobe malfunctions in Nikolo Bertok’s show that demonstrated just how un-wearable many of these pieces were.

Side views showed no support and at one point a model stood with one of her assets on display for several minutes before hastily re-adjusting her rope-pull tribal gown. A tube velvet dress also caused another of the models anxiety as she penguin-stepped down the runway, hitching up the skirt to avoid tripping over it in her towering heels.


And I couldn’t mention boobs without a word on Studio 805’s madcap transvestite-inspired pieces. As well as their harlequin PVC-panel harem pants and Lycra outfits, the models were given prosthetic lips, and one huge pink ball breasts to carry down the runway before Jack Frost appeared, complete with beaded icicles, and fellow models shuffled in fleece, fur and bandages.


Overall, the Couture Show was ambitious and highly impressive for an event which was only this year upgraded from Brighton Fashion Weekend to Brighton Fashion Week and began six years ago with a one-night show in the small and far-from-glamorous Concorde 2. The standards of professionalism from the models, many of whom had been scouted specifically for the shows, was also quite remarkable. I have no doubt that this is an annual fashion event which will get bigger and bigger.

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