8:00 PM
Sadie Williams' vision for Spring Summer 2017 was executed through a mix of nautical and galactic influences in her signature shimmering textiles. Her girl crew accessorised with customised Dr. Martens and earrings with plastic knick-knacks dangling from them to match. Even though it's only her second on-schedule show, this NEWGEN designer succeeds in showing collections that are lively yet mature; case in point — a twisted white dress made out of terrycloth.
As for the beauty department, this presentation wins today’s Because award for best hair — we’ll be spending the night trying to figure out how to braid our hair with a nautical rope!
5:39 PM
We caught up with Hannah Weiland at her Shrimps Spring Summer 2017 presentation. "I was inspired by Paul Gauguin. I wanted to strip it back so I used a lot creams, frog greens, etc," she told us.
Pretty pastels and creams with exaggerated details like ruffled collars created a haunting innocence in the faux fur queen’s latest looks. But it wouldn’t be Shrimps without some tongue-in-cheek embellishments and bursts of colour!
5:00 PM
We took a pit stop at the Designer Showrooms to ogle Sandra Park’s brilliant foldable bags. The geometric-shaped bags are all made with leather from Spain, where Park was born and raised. Her brand, HEIO, is available at Wolf and Badger.
3:55 PM
In a collection dedicated to Sonia Rykiel, Ryan LO's Spring Summer 2017 collection was a showstopper — in more ways than one. It was a bonanza of colours, prints and textiles ranging from quilted brocades to animal prints with models bopping down the runway to The B-52's' “Love Shack”. The clothing was fun, the pirate-like millinery, the fruit of a collaboration with Stephen Jones, was wacky, and you could see LO's signature in every second of this fashionable performance. His doll-like girls were having a ball, and so were we!
3:00 PM
"Its quite dark...I was looking at funerals, it's about the circle of life," said Marta Jakubowski as we watched her very UN-merry Go round and its rotation of shocking pink slips and black gauzy hoods with a distorted soundtrack of children singing German lullabies. No wonder we were feeling in a darker mood then when we arrived (the rain and storm clouds didn’t help). But Jakubowski’s work is autobiographical and comes from her heart. For the collection she was thinking of the arrangements she made for her own mother’s funeral this summer which was a fairytale spectacle. This show was a moving tribute, a personal statement that moved us to a deeper, darker place. For more on Marta, check out our film here, where she talks about her Autumn/winter 16 collection...
2:23 PM
Bora Aksu’s collection, inspired by the designer’s late grandmother, was beautifully nostalgic. In sumptuous colours, florals, embroideries and gathers, the dreamy dresses were perfect for any vintage shop princess with an Alice in Wonderland fantasy.
1:26 PM
Eudon Choi has turned a talent gone too soon (that of photographer Francesca Woodman) into a joyful inspiration for his Spring Summer 2017 collection. His crisp shirts in intriguing proportions will be on our must-have list for a nonchalant yet oh-so stylish statement. Make sure to check out our latest Because Meets starring the designer for insights into the making of his collection.
12:55 PM
We're backstage at Eudon Choi and we bumped into the star of our Because Casting Guide, Sara Soric from Next Models who's going to close the SS17 show!
12:15 PM
“Look there she goes, that girl is so peculiar…With a dreamy far off look. And her nose stuck in a book.”
Taken straight from Steven Tai’s show notes, the lyrics to “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast paint a clear picture of the designer’s muse: a brainy beauty who chooses daily between letting her head float to the clouds or burying herself in a book. As a gang of shaggy haired bespeckled girls stood on swings in a makeshift park inside the Elms Lester Painting Room, Tai’s classic nerd aesthetic shone through but as always, was soft and covetable. If this is fashion’s version of revenge of the nerds, hand us that heavenly organza look and count us in!
11:00 AM
So it begins! Day 1 of London Fashion Week Spring Summer 2017 has officially begun. Dame Natalie Massenet and the BFC Ambassador of Emerging Talent Sarah Mower welcomed us back into Brewer Street Car Park and introduced us to this season's designer showrooms. We’re already having a ball glimpsing collections by Teatum Jones, Ryan Lo, Marta Jakubowski and many more. Keep an eye out for our real time diary here and on Instagram.