Streetwise and sexy was the name of the game as London Fashion Week kicked off, with Paul Smith’s spirited “Rebel Debutante” show dazzling the audience, and Kate Moss performing a tongue-in-cheek striptease for the label owned by her friend Sadie Frost.
Paul Smith’s collection was full of surprises as he combined his usual streetwise cool with elegant evening wear in muted colours of olive, burgundy and black. “It was all about putting together the unexpected… as you might wear a silk shirt with jeans at the weekend,” Paul told Reuters backstage. “It was all about modern dressing.”
He played with unexpected combinations in styles and fabrics – a quilted jacket with springtime floor-length skirt, ball gowns worn with parkas, cashmere paired with nylon – to capture the “Rebel Debutante” essence of the collection. Explains Paul: “It’s about staying up all night, then going down to feed the chickens in your dress and daddy’s overcoat, made in Savile Row.”
Paul combined opposites throughout the show’s execution, from the fancy invitations sealed in cheap envelopes to the dingy cellar-like location of the event, decorated with silver walls, chandeliers, silver foil and chrome spotlights. The soundtrack, too, was full of contradictions ranging from thumping mambos to a remix of Swan Lake.
Supermodel Kate Moss made a splash at Fashion Week, performing a striptease at the show for FrostFrench, the three-year-old label owned by actress Sadie Frost and designer Jemma French. The waifish catwalk star was one of four models – including Lisa Faulkner, Rose Ferguson and Ronnie Wood’s daughter Leah – who got dressed and undressed on stage in a one-act play, preparing for a make-believe date with a fantasy “bad boy” named Kid.
Rolling Stone Ronnie, along with photographer Mario Testino, Liam Gallagher’s ex Meg Mathews, and actress Patsy Palmer looked on as Kate, on a shaggy white rug, slipped in and out of a pink cashmere jumper and micro mini. The model eventually zipped herself into sexy suede knee boots over pink thigh-highs, ready for her date.
London Fashion Week runs until February 21.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
