What We’ll Be Wearing Next Spring: Trends From London Fashion Week

British designers really showed what they had at London Fashion Week this week as the depth, breadth and creativity of their designs

Patterns

Like New York, British designers embraced patterns from florals and repeated graphics to eclectic mixes and picture prints. Julien Macdonald’s handkerchief edged dress had a Wedgewood print feel while Mary Katrantzou excelled again with her mix of rich colours and patterns. Burberry’s graphic prints in blues and orange stood out on the runway and Holly Fulton’s holiday scene dresses bring a south of France resort feel that takes up back to the 80s.

Erdem and Clements Ribeiro went for classical floral prints for their grown-up dresses with pencil skirts – very flattering for most shapes. While Holly Fulton’s monochrome graphics also looked striking on the catwalk.

Fringing

Another trend seen across the shows was the use of fringing to create movement and softness. John Rocha and Mark Fast went for straw coloured fringe skirting that accentuated the movement of the outfits. Matthew Williamson’s canary yellow hip adornment looked great on the runway but is probably best suited to the most lithe hipped of us while Julien Macdonald’s metallic fringing injected glamour.

Brights

Block colours are still very evident on the runways as shown at the Burberry, Jasper Conran and Nicole Farhi shows. It is nice to see the injections of colour continue and blocking it can cover a multitude of sins as well as making us look taller and leaner – that’s win/win in our books!

Icecreamy Hues

If brights scare you a little, don’t fear, soft muted shades also made it across the Atlantic to those showing in London with Giles Deacon, Mulberry and Vivienne Westwood choosing subdued shades that are very feminine and flattering.

Embellishment

Fringing wasn’t the only embellishment that designers turned to for SS12. Holly Fulton’s mirrored adornments created a very sixties feel while both Temperley and Nicole Farhi’s floral appliqué added perfectly to the spring feel. There was also quite a lot of fretwork and cutout as seen at Jaeger and Mario Schwab [not shown].

Neutral

Buff shades were also evident on the runways at Vivienne Westwood, Julien Macdonald and Temperley showing that this flattering trend for fleshtones is not going out of fashion anytime soon.

Miss B

Belinda Wanis, aka Miss B, is a Belle About Town who likes to bring a little bit of style into every aspect of her life. An experienced journalist with over 20 years in the industry she turned to the web, creating Belle About Town in early 2010, to fill a gap for tech-savvy stylish women who want the best life has to offer at their fingertips. She loves a decadent cocktail bar, a beautifully cut dress, cultural getaways, quality over quantity and is partial to Asian-fusion food. A globetrotter, who has lived in Australia, the UK and Denmark, she enjoys holidaying in the sun and you can often find her on a beach in Thailand or on shopping breaks in Sydney or New York. But her first love is, of course, London!

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