BFW Ready-to-Wear shows

With nine collections to exhibit, the models’ changes at Brighton Fashion Week’s Ready-to-Wear (RTW) shows were fast-paced, and I imagine frantic behind-the-scenes, yet the runway performances didn’t show a hint of it.

While not as electrifying as the Couture Show, the event showcased some exciting emerging talent – even Biba’s Barbara Hulanicki seemed impressed, although it was hard to tell behind those huge dark glasses.

Each collection stood on its own merit, stamped with the designer’s signature style, yet there were numerous examples of the themes currently celebrated throughout the wider fashion community.

Exotic enjoyment


Suited to the season, many of the collections could be packed up, ready-to-wear on holiday. Playsuit Parlour’s light Asian-print kimonos and floral short-suits looked perfect for the beach or better a beach-front bar. And for exotic evening wear it’d be hard to choose between Orleans Designs’ tropical and tribal print silk dresses, Yamama’s cute Hawaiian print numbers and Ailsa’s bright sheer and bodycon designs.


Praise for the past


Taking inspiration from three fabulously fun decades in style – the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies – the RTW show reaffirmed fashion’s special relationship with the past. From Former Glory’s re-worked vintage swing dresses and beaded and sequined shifts and Be Urban Chic’s monochrome heart-print mini and Sixties two-piece dress suit, to Ceci’s bold floppy beach hats and kaftans and Ailsa’s maxi dresses, the styles the Biba generation remember proved far from forgotten by the fashion world. Hints of the Eighties also snuck in through Ailsa’s jumpsuits and harem pants and Former Glory’s OTT prom dresses.


Classic chic


Advocates of the less-is-more approach, Another 7th Day and Kerry Knowles’ chic and simple monochrome collections striped fashion back to highlight the designers' skill in tailoring architectural and artisan pieces. It was all in the strong detail with these two, Another 7th Day using fringing, hoods, waterfall jacket lines and distressed denim and knits to create a focus for the minimalism, while Kerry Knowles’ drapes and architectural detail ensured that the pieces in her unisex suit-inspired collection hung just so.


Click on images to enlarge.

Mad Men: Betty's maxi dress

Mad Men is by far the most beautiful thing on television. Expertly crafted, cleverly written and seductively stylish, it's an aspirational show.

Each time I watch an episode, I wish I could be transported back to that time, to wear those clothes and to exude that elegance. But in actuality I wouldn't want to swap places with any the three main female characters. Trapped by the societal constraints of the Sixties, they aren't able to reach the potential that they could if living in 2010, when they could all embody the best bits of each other.

I, as I'm sure many women do, aspire to be as beautiful as Betty, as sexy as Joan, as ambitious as Peggy and as strong as them all.




This week's BBC4 show (series three, episode eight) featured Betty at her best - glammed up in Rome, flirting in fluent Italian and, for once, enjoying herself. But it was the Biba-style bright geometric maxi dress that she wore once back at home that really grabbed my attention.

The maxi-dress is one of the defining styles of the Sixties: Long not because it had to cover up skin - this was the decade of the mini after all - but because it was comfortable and, being informal enough for daywear, a departure from the floor-sweeping evening gowns of the Fifties.

The loose and floaty design was a staple of the Sixties and Seventies bohemian look, yet as Betty's dress proved, if the cut was right it could be also be the height of elegance.

Now, where do I get myself one of those?

My favourite decade for style: The Seventies

Stylist Lou Taylor on the swinging Seventies.

The Seventies are my favourite decade for style for the main reason that they were an incredibly empowering and fashionable time for women. We were ditching our bras, listening to Ziggy Stardust, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd and aspiring to be just like Charlie’s Angels. We were fighting for our rights, but in glittery hot pants, rollerboots and satin tights, just like our heroine and Seventies style icon, Wonder Woman.

Much like now, the Seventies saw a deep recession but fashion and music rebelled against depressing times with glitz, originality and glamour, with films like Saturday Night Fever and Annie Hall creating looks that are still copied and popular today. I hope that the next decade we can react in the same way. The Noughties have been dull, it’s time we claimed our creative individuality, using the Seventies as inspiration.

The Seventies are epitomised by the creations of my favourite fashion designer, the iconic Yves Saint Laurent, founder of modern fashion for women. He created the beatnik look, shift dresses, safari jackets and the most beautiful tuxedo jacket for women, ‘le smoking’. I would give anything to go back in time to visit him in his Marrakech villa to hang out with the Rolling Stones and his muse Loulou de la Falaise or party with him and Bianca Jagger (maybe without the infamous white horse) at Studio 54 in New York.

My Seventies style icon is Barbara Hulaniki, founder of Biba. Not as much for what she wore but for her store. Fashion was, at long last, instantly accessible to all. Biba was a real experience, where fabulous clothes hung on coat stands, bands played and, for the first time ever, girls could try on make-up in the store. Saturday afternoons for Hulaniki’s ‘fresh little foals with long legs, bright faces and round dolly eyes’ meant hanging out at Biba’s dancing, drinking and buying outfits for Saturday night.

I have an original Seventies Biba jacket bought for £5 in a charity shop in my wardrobe, it doesn’t fit but it looks beautiful hanging there. However, the item of clothing I’ve chosen to be pictured in is this amazing jacket by Belleville Sassoon (also bought in a charity shop). As soon as I put it on, I’m transported straight back to the Seventies, it feels decadent, stylish and daring – just like the decade itself.


Lou is one half of the Frock n Roll stylists.