Print chiffon poncho with nude bustier dress by Hermaione de Paula (COURTESY OF HOTEL MULIA SENAYAN)
British fashion is not only about Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney or Julien Macdonald.
Through this year's London Fashion Week, held about a month ago, London proves that it really does deserve its reputation as a city of style for it has many raising stars that are bound to make significant contributions to the international fashion world.
The Brits have a real unique style of their own that is both quirky and traditional.
Some names and labels made bold moves at the Best of British (BOB) fashion show at the Hotel Mulia Senayan recently.
Talented designers like Alice Lee, Hermione de Paula, Richard Sorger, Rosalind Blezzard and Michelle Lowe Holder, as well as more established ones like Marjan Pejoski, Mary Katrantzou and in house label KTZ, had their chance to show their pieces.
The names might not be familiar to Indonesians' ears. Mary Katrantzou is probably the "biggest" name among them all.
Unfortunately, Katrantzou's creations displayed in the event were not her latest ones. It was her Fall/Winter collection that had been showcased in February this year.
The collection, however, is both unique and beautiful and sure to get her lots of attention.
The Greek-born designer has made a name for herself with her bold and prints. Perfume bottles inspired her latest collections.
Short perfume dress by Mary Katrantzou (Courtesy by Hotel Mulia Senayan)
She simplified images of multicolored perfume bottles patterns on a series of flowing shift dresses. ?Her motifs packed a clean, colorful graphic punch and polish that belied the effort they had taken to assemble.
The prints created the illusion of an hourglass silhouette and the female figure is accentuated. A separate jewelry line completed the collection.
Katrantzou, who studied at Rhode Island School of Design and Central Saint Martins, added neckpieces and cuffs to complete the theme.
KTZ (stands for Kokon To Zai) emphasized shoulders and waists with playful prints. Take a mini black-yellow print dress with black trench coat. The label also created a number of pink-blue dresses with playful motifs like polka dot and stripes.
KTZ matched the dresses with sophisticated bags, including funky paparazzi bags with the magazine-like covers, and fringed items.
Another established designer, Marjan Pejoski showed off transparent pieces and seasonally focused on the legs. He is known for designing Icelandic singer cum actress Bj*rk's iconic swan dress for the 2001 Academy Awards.
His collections featured a sexy gold bustier dress with attractive accents was matched with black stockings, as well as a classic little black dress with long multi chain necklace mar.
Central Saint Martins graduate Hermione de Paula created a softly printed silhouette that dissolves seamlessly into the contours of the woman's body, capturing representations of the beautiful female body on red print chiffon poncho with nude bustier dress.
She brought in a palette of nudes, pinky reds and icy grays in her collections. She put fading colors from the shoulders down through the body creating an illusion of nakedness while corsets and lingerie were depicted as delicate prints.
Rosalin Blezzard of Pazuki affirms the feminine sensuality of textures and cool layering of life forms prints.
Another Briton designer, Richard Sorger delivered gray chiffon tunic tops with black satin trousers.
Alice Lee, one half of the duo behind the knits of Giles, designed a number of glamorous dresses, ranging from knitted outfit to fringe long dress.
A multicolored-striped knit dress looked sexy with its low neckline, while another multicolored-striped knit dress was paired with a red cashmere lace wrap.
Although British designers are long known for their funky, wild and edgy creations, the outfits showcased in the fashion show were quite wearable for Indonesians.
Glamour Inc, a London-Singapore-based company which promotes British designers for fashion lovers in the Southeast Asia region, brought in dozens of collections from 15 designers, comprising ladies wear, accessories, bags and perfume.
Cary Cheng, the retail consultant of Glamour Inc, said the collections were very exclusive and special.
"It's difficult to find designers like these. You go to any city in the world and you can find Stella *McCartney* but the designers like these, you can't find them anywhere in the world," he said.
"They might not the regular names that are always on the magazines, like Chloe, Stella or Gucci.
"But these are quite special names. Even the big houses are employing the English and even all these people are the designers of designers because they do consultation work for the big houses."
