LFW AW24 Highlights: Part 2

“What are We Fighting For’” asked British-Yemeni designer Kazna Asker for her latest presentation, a season on from when we caught up with her back in September. Not so much a fashion show, but more a community showcase, with the space decked with traditional Middle Eastern rugs, a henna art station and free-flowing cups of steaming herbal tea, Kazna continued to pay tribute to her heritage, activism and community.

The models reclined on floor cushions and wandered the space wearing abayas spliced in the style of early 2000s tracksuits; keffiyehs wraps and football shirts that expressed support for a #FreePalestine. One of the few designers opening calling action, Kanza’s ode to her community was powerfully effective in depicting the need for collective activism, now more than ever.

Welsh-born Sarabande scholar Paolo Carzana returned to London Fashion Week for a second time to present his new collection “Melanchronic Mountain” – and indeed the mountain air itself seemingly swept the delicate vintage cotton and silk chiffon that made up the collection. Referencing both the act of trekking and the rocky landscape itself, with stone grey and muddy earthen colours, Paolo’s ragged raw edges and voluminous gathers, formed blouses, headpieces and sheer, loosely belted trousers, which became beautifully moving rock faces on the runway.

The closing looks paid homage to mountainous crosswinds, with an almost pearlescent chiffon that whipped around the body and matching hats, blouses and trousers that erected like stiff peaks. Paolo’s signature natural dyes and elemental renderings provided some organic respite from the city this season.

For Eudon Choi’s Autumn/Winter 2024 collection, the Korean-born designer expressed a fascination with the ancient Roman city of Pompeii and its illustrious history of decadence and destruction. The show, titled “Temporis Processum” meaning “Time Process” wonderfully illustrated Eudon’s well-trodden narrative while avoiding wading into on-the-nose waters.

The collection featured “luxurious materials'', like velvet, cashmere, heavy wool, and silk satin, offset by raw edges, exposed seams and distressed finishes, that depicted Pompeii’s crumbling historic murals. The city’s preserved architectural grandeur comes across in the razor-sharp tailoring of oversized coats and neatly pleated trousers. While elegant draped silk resembles the dresses petrified in ancient Roman sculpture, wonderfully transporting a classical silhouette to Eudon’s well-defined contemporary woman.

For his much-anticipated debut runway show, Luke Derrick presented "Nightwalking", a stitched and sewn love letter to the 12-minute nightly stroll he takes from his studio in Bethnal Green to his flat in Spitalfields. A romantic take on urban London life, the collection featured scarves that could double as snoods in black, cream and khaki, and joggers rendered in towelling fabric that felt elevated enough for his typically tailored aesthetic.

Meticulously cut trousers were paired with clean T-shirts, wrap-around jackets and obligatory rainproof coats. With a muted colour palette, styling was at the helm of DERRICK’s narrative for the show, for which he enlisted the help of Ola Ebiti. The heads bundled in scarves, and fists shoved into pockets really emulate the bitter evening walks home that we all dread come winter.