Exploring London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter '18

After taking a few days to recover (read: sleep) from my first properly full-on London Fashion Week experience, I thought I'd do a little write up here with my LFW highlights, from new collections and new clothes, to new foods and new friends, featuring some street style snaps by Ellie Morag at Somerset House.

My highlights this season were definately the presentations of two of my favourite British fashion brands, Katie Eary and Pringle of Scotland. I much prefer presentations to runway shows as you can take your time, speak to the designers, see and feel the clothes up close and generally take a much more relaxed, low-pressure attitude. Plus, there's none of the snooty FROW favouritism, and usually the drinks are flowing!

This was Katie Eary's first womenswear collection after firmly establishing herself in the London menswear scene, and what a debut it was. In collaboration with Cartoon Network's Powerpuff Girls, she created a capusle of comic book and cowgirl inspired looks with adorable Powerpuff prints everywhere.

It was set in the minimalist Maddox Gallery, but built up to look like a skatepark, with models posing on ramps with cartoon-covered skateboards surrounded by neon lights. Basically, it was my childhood dream come true (Bubbles is my spirit animal), and I can't wait for the collection to hit the stores!

For Pringle of Scotland, I had the chance to discuss the collection, and the brand, in depth and detail with its wonderfully skilled design and press team. There was even a live display of hand intasia knitting, and the building was adorned with agate stone artwork to complement the colour scheme of the Scottish nature inspired collection. My favourite piece was a heavy knit jumper with an abstract lion rampant raggedly embroidered on the chest; a modern Scottish fashion must-have.

What I loved most about LFW was the people; from hanging out with the lovely Lucie Dhog (callmedumpling.com / flamingosaurusrex.com) and meeting a whole host of new blogger friends in the queues outside Freemason's Hall, to bumping into university coursemates at 180 The Strand and finally meeting Howey (howeydon.com) in person, London model and blogger who is now based in humble Dundee!

I also ate some great food whilst down south, because fashion week is hungry work! I tried vegan mac n' cheese at cult fast food cafe By Chloe, delicious Vietnamese food at Pho, out-of-this-world red velvet doughnuts at Doughnut Time, and a mountain of mouthwatering fresh gorgonzola pasta at Spaghetti House.

Edinburgh photographer Ellie Morag and I got the chance to catch up about all things creative too, sipping on wine at midday (#freelancerlife) and snapping street style shots all over the city. Thanks Ellie for these outfit pics!

Outfit details:

Coat: Oxfam (similar here) Denim shirt: Armstrongs Vintage (similar here) Jeans: Gap x Mickkeus (similar here) Shoes: Comme des Garcons Play x Converse (buy here) Earrings: Steve Madden (buy here) Tote bag: Hahan @ NGV Design Store (buy here)

I've been writing up reviews of my favourite shows I attended this LFW for The Glass Pineapple, a platform for talented emerging fashion designer, and Fashion Fix Daily, an online Scottish fashion magazine. Catch up on my latest pieces below:

Ilaria Lepore' This collection pushed the brand’s pillars of fetishized fashion to the extreme; this was perverse sexual power present in a post-apocalyptic new world.'

Fortie Label 'Fortie’s showcase had an effortlessly old-school cool aesthetic and a fun-loving, take-no-shit attitude, but with meticulous attention to detail and supreme design and construction skill'

Simon Mo 'Through his work, the designer aimed to raise awareness of the ecological threats of climate change and human development posed to native species and peoples.'

DDFC x FAD 'The collection was eclectic, bringing together clashing fabrics like tweed, sequins and printed jersey with ruffles and ruching, all structured into highly feminine silhouettes'

House of MEA 'A diverse collective of Middle Eastern and Asian fashion brands that aims to inspire, empower and educate the industry'

Micol Ragni 'Micol Ragni creates conceptual pieces for the intelligent individual, without compromising on realistic wearability'

Pringle of Scotland 'From hand-intarsia knitting on diamond argyle jumpers to mohair and shetland wool textured by being brushed with thistles, traditional Scottish textile techniques were everywhere.'

Pam Hogg 'Drenched in eye-popping colour and filled with theatrical silhouettes, the Queen of Scottish fashion’s new season offering is every maximalist’s dream'