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| Photography by Magdalene Golembiewska |
Bravely breaking the ice at the VFS
Ones To Watch show was ice blonde Central Saint Martins MA graduate
Phoebe English. It had been a long wait for the overwhelmingly
overcrowded 5:30PM showing and it kicked off with a multitude of
monochrome mini dresses with raw fringe details that almost scraped
the runway. English, well known for her use of hair in her previous
collection went back to her roots; honing her signature style which
she says is 'defined, complex and detailed'.
Scooped backs, minimalist cuts, short
skirts and capped sleeves. From afar the collection looked clean cut
with sporadic floor length fringing, however it was all in the
details. Not a stark contrast from the black rubber faux-hair
godess-esque dresses from her previous collection; for
Spring/Summer'12 English reverted to an organic, clumpy atmosphere
that resonated through the carefully constructed, tightly pleated
calico canvas separates. Predominantly dominated by black; the lack
of colour simply enhanced the exquisite hand detailing and man hours
spent on perfecting each individual garment. Her background in knit
was evident to see through the sheer precision of the intricate
details, and despite the fact that she stuck to genuine fabrics this
time rather than the thickets of hair; the level of innovation left
all the forward thinking fashion mavericks in the room drooling.
However as soon as it began, it was
over. The collection went by so fast it was hard to keep up. The raw
edge fringing struggled to keep up with the power houses that were
the half ponytailed, half extended fringed models that stormed the
catwalk like sirens in the night. A wide eyed smile from Phoebe and a
nod of recognition and the music dipped.
I caught up with English shortly after
the show backstage chatting to stylist Rebekah Roy. Post storm
thoughts and feelings were a mixture of relief and fatigue but
ultimately happiness. “We have been working on the collection for
about 7 weeks so yeah quite a short amount of time but i've had a
really fantastic team helping me and we work really well together so
it got a good pace to it. The inspiration I had, well I just wanted
something a bit heavier, a bit bulkier than the stuff from the last
collection so I was just trying to move it forward in a new
direction.” As to what she is doing this evening? “I'm going to
have some champagne”...We think this sounds like a good idea!
Text: Madeleine Ayers
