London Fashion Week - February 2001

Remember ski pants? Paul Smith does - 20/02/01

Financial row clouds London Fashion Week - 18/02/01

The eyes of the world will be focussing once again on London with the opening of the VS Sassoon sponsored London fashion week from the 18-23 February 2001.

This years fashion week will feature collections from 30 new designers who will be showcasing their collections for the first time. Of the 30 designers, five will debut their collections on the catwalk and 25 will debut in the London Designers Exhibition.

Debuting on the catwalk will be Blaak, Daniel Herman, Eley Kishimoto and fake London. On show at the London Designers Exhibition will be Alice Lee, Arkadius, Bernstock Speirs, Blaak, Boudicca, Camilla Staerk, Christian Blanken, Danies Hermann, From Somewhere, Homeless, Katarzyna Szczotarska, Louis de Gama, Manelaine Press, Marilyn Moore, Mathew Priestly, Michaela Callaghan, Michelle Lowe-Holder, Miss Italy, Pebble, Pringle Scotland, Sphere One and Unknown.

Ann Watson, vice president, Saks Fifth Avenue, USA commented last season,
"We come to London because the vitality of the catwalks extends beyond Fashion Week into the streets of the city itself. It's a great place to find new labels and there's a willingness to take risks and follow trends that you just don't see anywhere else."

Read more about London Fashion Week 2000...

Yes, that staple of the Eighties wardrobe, a far kinder alternative to leggings for those not in possession of legs like matchsticks, are back for autumn/winter 2001. At least, according to Paul Smith - that's Sir Paul Smith to you and me - they are. Thankfully, this time round, they won't be worn with shoes, unsightly stirrups on display for all to see.

Instead, Mr Smith had the sense to tuck them into high-heeled boots to extremely flattering effect. Smith's show opened yesterday's proceedings at the London Fashion Week and buyers and press were treated to a veritable Winter Wonderland.

Christmas trees twinkled with fairy lights, seats were draped with pristine white fur (fake fur, naturally) and the floor was scattered with opalescent snow flakes which, though pretty, played merry havoc with fashionable shoes. Mon dieu! Mes Manolos! The collection itself had all the idiosyncratic details that Smith's fans have come to know and love.

Heavy tweed skirts came with cute polka dot linings. Fake fur jackets were trimmed with oversized pom-poms. A double-breasted striped coat came with matching trilby. Dresses and T- shirts were printed with merry snow scenes that could only come from this designer's stable. Not for Smith the passion for logos - instead, he splashes an illustration straight from a Heidi story onto a tote bag and it is instantly recognisable as his own - no one else would do anything quite so bonkers, after all. Pretty snowflake sweaters, worn with or without ultra-cute bobble hats, looked sweet. Even these were scattered with sequins to very merry effect.

Smith's snow queen had more than a little of the rock chick about her too: toffee coloured soft leather biker jackets and long lean trousers will no doubt cut a dash next winter for apres- ski activities. As, no doubt, will corsets, laced up the back and in heavy wool.

These didn't look the easiest of things to wear, it has to be said, particularly worn as they were over chunky knitted sweaters. Vibrant colours lifted the look: tomato red, chartreuse, peppermint green, sugar pink and baby blue made for a collection that was light-of-touch and upbeat from start to finish. Smith launched his womenswear collection, Paul Smith Women, to the London catwalk three years ago now, in response to women borrowing their boyfriends' "Smithy" clothing.

It by now has recognisable signatures in its own right, vital to establishing a designer collection. These are eveningwear in luxurious velvets - this time in ivory embellished with gold sequinned snowflakes - and the man's shirt adapted for a woman, bright white or candy-striped, cropped at the waist or worn long as a shirt dress.

Joining the accessory of the autumn/winter 2001 season, meanwhile, will no doubt be Paul Smith sock boots - vicious stiletto-heeled creations which miraculously transform into warm woolly ribbed socks in schoolgirl black and grey from the ankle up. Sexy and practical too - a very rare thing indeed.

London Fashion Week opened on Sunday with attention focused away from the catwalks and onto a row behind the scenes over financial help for the industry.

The row was sparked off by the notable absence from the week's activities of Hussein Chalayan, whose haute couture skills have earned him the title of designer of the year. Celebrated fellow designer Alexander McQueen put the spotlight firmly on the problem in a BBC Television on Friday.

He said he thought it was sad that the government was not giving financial help to the fashion industry -- as the French government did in France -- particularly in the light of all the publicity it generated. The minister for trade and industry , Patricia Hewitt, responded by saying she regretted McQueen felt isolated and that she would be happy to meet him to discuss the situation.

But a BBC report on Sunday only served to rekindle the debate by saying that Fashion Week "has a long way to go before it can rival Paris and Milan." Meanwhile, back on the catwalks, the designs kept up a British tradition for surprise. A Russell Sage's latest creations in particular seemed to take a dig at the funding controversy by parading a series of models covered in banknotes.

Keen observers said at least 10,000 pounds (14,500 dollars, 16,000Aeuros) was on display.