High End Honey

Each different Fashion Week has its own feel to it. Even in the ready-to-wear collections that aren’t as far out there as the couture collections, there are still notable differences between Milan, New York, Paris, and London.

What I love about London’s Fashion Week is the ominpresence of Cheeky Fashion. The London catwalks are always full of designers who are taking traditional styles and putting a wink and a nudge on them and turning them into something new.

No exception this week, which has so far brought us Paul Smith, where we saw cross-country ski boots being cut, modified, and spruced up with surprising dashes of color on the heels and soles.

It’s brought us the Giles show, with a runway full of multicolored, extravagantly Swarovski’d sandals and Christopher Kane’s GIGANTIC paillettes that make us think about what it means to be a sparkly evening shoe.

It’s brought us Eley Kishimoto’s colorful romp, where standards like tweed and weatherproof boots have been turned into bright, fashionable footwear.

And, cheekiest of all, it’s brought us the House of Holland collection, which was chock full of an invented clan tartan and accessories based on the Scottish tam and sporran. Note also, that crest on the clothes and the backdrop is a stylized picture of current supermodel (and star of the House of Holland show), Agness Deyn.

I love that the London shows can always be counted on for an element of playfulness that doesn’t often show up in the other major Fashion Week cities. Hey, if they invented British cheek, they have every right to own it, and boy, do they! Cheers!

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