Say yes to the dress: this season's London Fashion Week was all about big, beautiful dresses

The catwalk is a happy place as joy and big dress energy dominate the capital, says Karen Dacre
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Karen Dacre17 September 2019

You can tell a lot about a fashion designer’s mood by the music they select for their catwalk finale. Undoubtedly, that sweet moment when stress, late nights and hours of fittings dissolves into relief is perhaps where the truest insight into the creative mind can be found.

At London Fashion Week, which kicked off on Friday and hit a crescendo last night when Richard Quinn closed his show with a performance of Handel’s Zadok the Priest, it was no coincidence that so many made optimistic choices for their show’s closing moments.

Christopher Kane, who presented his own Big Bang theory with a collection inspired by the wonders of nature, chose a cover of Joe Cocker’s Up Where We Belong. And at Emilia Wickstead’s unveiling of rainbow-hued prairie dresses on Sunday, the final moments belonged to Nina Simone’s mood-lifter Here Comes The Sun.

Among the fashion world’s many paradoxes is the fact that during times of uncertainty — talk of the devastating effects a no-deal Brexit could have on the country’s most exciting design talent has dominated LFW — designers seek out a happy place.

The pertinence of the dress in collections of everyone from Burberry to Roksanda Ilinĉić to Henry Holland served as another indication of this determination to generate optimism.

(House of Holland) 

Big, bold and brave, the dress in supersized form served as a prevailing feature in the collections of those who are familiar with the style — see Molly Goddard, whose new take on the gown Killing Eve’s Villanelle gifted iconic status has a buttery custard hue, and Victoria Beckham, who went long on crowd-pleasing dresses with sumptuous shades and featuring ruffle sleeves.

At Burberry — currently the charge of Riccardo Tisci, whose modernisation process up to this point has included the introduction of streetwear and the globalisation of a once inward-looking British brand — dresses suggested a softening and a lightness. In a collection which was all about looking to the future, they were figure-hugging, with bold feather trims and supersized sleeves.

It was the same story at JW Anderson, where the designer’s signature awkward tailoring and conceptual silhouettes gave way to delicate knitted dresses. They were worn with metallic capes which seemed to shield the models from the dangers of the modern world.

Are designers suggesting we must cocoon ourselves in order to cope with what spring could bring? Undoubtedly.

Clinging hard to this idea, Emilia Wickstead closed her show with a sugar pink gown that resembled a giant marshmallow. Simone Rocha, who has long looked to empower her female protagonist with volume, took a similar approach, enveloping Karen Elson in swathes of white taffeta.

Emilia Wickstead
SplashNews.com

But this new dress movement is as much about inciting positivity as it is fearmongering.

For Christopher Kane, whose More Joy slogan has become as crucial to the brand’s DNA as seatbelt fastenings and neon, the inclusion of tiered supersized gowns, and dresses printed with clouds, were a means to encourage us to stop and look up at the sky. Richard Quinn’s all-white finale brought with it the same energy: what is fashion if not a means to escape?

For labels operating at a luxury level, dresses equate to sales, which further explains their ubiquity. But it’s also perhaps indicative of a shift towards a slowed down approach to shopping. While we once coveted the bag, the shoes, the blazer and slogan T-shirt, today’s customer is intent on one considered purchase.

Mindful consumption doesn’t need to mean versatile clothing — it also covers one-off pieces you’ll adore forever. In that respect, next season’s dresses are wearable works of art.

Click through the gallery above for our pick of the biggest and best dresses from London Fashion Week SS20.

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