BFW Spindle Show

If Brighton Fashion Week’s Couture show celebrated all things weird and wonderful and the Ready-to-Wear collections trend-led, everyday style, then Spindle magazine’s picks fit snugly to plug fashion's middle ground.

Oops! Fashion’s Lycra monochrome jumpsuit, geometric-print puff shoulders, capes and hoods were out-there, yet deconstructed wouldn’t look out of place in any of the summer’s self-consciously cool nu-rave festival tents.



Dig For Victory’s colour block body con dresses weren’t dissimilar to the many Herve Leger bandage dress inspired pieces that have graced the catwalk and high-street over the past year. However, the one-off pieces, created from vintage fabrics, indulged in more fashion fun as the show went on – the satin and velvet 'Red Riding Hood meets French maid' dress would be a dream for any dress-up box.



Charlotte Haggerty’s monochrome numbers used feathers and ruffles in much the same way as Flik Hall had demonstrated the night before, but also employed more pedestrian styling to create wearable yet captivating ensembles. This collection was all about taking a mix-and-match approach to fashion, keeping the colours simple but using contrasting panels and clashing prints and textures and adding details such bows and lace leggings to create a striking eclectic effect.



Finally, Brett Le Bratt’s menswear collection created hybrid fashions, merging Hawaiian surfer-dude prints with yachting-set deck style and adding an Edwardian and military edge to the boho artist look, in each case producing ensembles that were sharp, classic and fun.



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BFW Fashion Fair and Fifties fest

As part of the BFW Ready-to-Wear Shows, The Corn Exchange was once again transformed into a fashion fair, with stalls selling independent-designer clothes, accessories and shoes.



Among the highlights was Creme Nouveau's biscuit brooches and necklaces, Hatastic's domino brooches and leather bow hair-bands, MA Jewellery's vintage-inspired trinkets and Now, Voyager's ecclectic mix of brightly-coloured hair accessories and knitted goodies.


Highlighting the current obsession for all things vintage, there were more second-hand stalls than there were those selling original designer pieces, with some gorgeous Fifties-lace swing dresses, leather bags and retro-print cushions on offer.


Always up for a bit of bargain-hunting, I picked up a pair of Fiorelli speckled oversized sunglasses in a Pierre Cardin glasses case for just 50p, a navy leather belt for £2 and an Eighties' Betty Barclay dress for just £10. Score.



My finds added to the freebies I'd already received in the above-average goodie bag - given out to the first 100 people through the door - which included polka dot bow studs from Miss Funkystuff, a L'Oreal hair treatment sample, 20% off voucher for Warehouse, Irregular Choice bag (the only use for which would be to carry wine bottles to a party) and a copy of new magazine Spindle, which celebrates emerging creative talent and features the beautiful Laura Nixon on the cover.


After the fair, and the Spindle and first Ready-to-Wear shows, my friends and I chose The Dorset's 'Feel the '50s' event from the Fashion Through The Decades venues around the city, where we enjoyed a pint to the sounds of a live Rockabilly band, and a hairdresser creating quiffs, as well as the swing dresses, hair scarves, tattoos and denim turn-ups, proved plenty to admire.


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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.


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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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Brighton Frocks - Brighton Fashion Week

Brighton Fashion Week, or 'Brighton Frocks', will return for its sixth year in June, transforming some of the city's top venues into catwalks and fashion emporiums.

The week's catwalk shows, running from 9 till 13 June, will include couture and graduate collections, and Jez Eaton's Trashion Show will premiere the recycled designs that have received such great reviews across Europe. The week will also feature an exhibition for up-and-coming designers, fashion installations, free workshops and talks, competitions and shopping discounts, as well as a fair few champagne parties.

Venue details have yet to be announced but the Corn Exchange, the Clarence Suite at the Brighton Hilton Metropole Hotel and St Michael's Church have all be rumoured as possible locations.

In the run-up to the event, scouts will be trawling the streets of Brighton for models to appear in the catwalk shows. And from small beginnings come great things: Two of the girls chosen to appear in last year's show have since been signed by Storm modelling agency.

Kelly Knox, winner of BBC3's 'Britain’s Missing Top Model', in which eight disabled women battled it out to win a contract with a top modelling agency, will also take to the catwalk in the Couture Show.

Organiser of Brighton Frocks, Liz Bishop said: "Brighton Fashion Week 2010 will be bigger, better and brighter, attracting designers and visitors from all over the UK and beyond. Brighton is the perfect place to stage such an event as it’s vibrant, edgy and not afraid to be a bit different, and the week will definitely reflect this.

"Every year the event has grown and grown, and this year we’re hoping to attract big name sponsors who can ensure that we can keep staging the innovative catwalk shows and fashion-related events that we are renowned for."

Image credit: Jez Eaton