LFW Standouts

Dilara Findikoglu

Botticelli, devilish desire, and a darkened alley, Turkish-born designer Dilara Findikoglu debuted her AW25 show, Venus in Chaos, in a north London club on the Friday night of LFW. Scarlett LEDs pulsed through the space, and blackened walls consumed guests. Amidst the severity of the atmosphere, Dilara’s show notes promised a much more divine respite: “They say that women are from Venus, and so, in an act of spiritual rapture, to Venus, we return.” Signature Dilara codes received a Renaissance reconfiguration, with her figures transcending the normalcy of their grimy surroundings and embodying a divine transgression between the physical world they are bound to and the spiritual realm that Dilara imagines. The Birth of Venus served as painterly inspiration, with locks of red hair draped over the models’ bodies, and mesh bodysuits were embellished with trompe-l'œil hair beading, paired with dark-wash skinny jeans and Converse depicting Venus as a teenage girl. Braiding emerged as a central technique in the show, with the models’ hair loosely plaited and their bodices crafted from tightly bound strands of hair. The final look featured a leather naked dress, hand-tattooed by London-based artist Jonah Slater. The show ultimately honoured the female form in all its various manifestations – as goddess, girl,  ethereal being, and punk.

Talia Byre

Talia Byre may not be a ‘heritage’ brand in conventional terms, but heritage, Talia’s specifically, is the heart that beats from within her design process. Glancing over the show notes (which lean more into poetic prose rather than hard, cold information), this season “plays with the shape of a life, the arc of a personality. Character dressing - not a costume, not a uniform”. This idea of character dressing, of sartorial shape-shifting, is emboldened by Talia’s gently experimental collections, tweed that isn’t tweed, flute bags, primary colours that you haven’t worn since primary school. Mismatched tartan, striped shirting and a Lucinda Byre sample check dress, Talia’s printed penchant is both elegant and irreverent, its girlish whims preserved with meticulous tailoring. It’s sharp of course, but it’s also mischievous – signalled with a single wink. Less a name and more a dedication, the AW25 collection is For Lily Byre. A sister, a friend, a relative gone too soon for Talia, Lily is memorialised by the collection, which spins her memory and spirited existence into the clothes. This eclectic bunch of characters with their violet tights, slouching knits and slightly frazzled silhouettes defer from falling into costumey tropes. While Talia studies the idea of character dressing, her earnest approach to design bats away inauthenticity, positing the way we dress, or perhaps assemble ourselves, as an opportunity to embody and echo these characters, whoever they may be.

Paolo Carzana

Over a year ago, Paolo Carzana set out to define, design and produce his Trilogy of Hope. On Sunday night, as LFW drew its curtains on another triumphant season, Paolo too ruled a line under his trilogy as he presented his AW25 collection, Dragons Unwinged at the Butcher’s Block. Despite being hosted at The Holy Tavern pub in Clerkenwell, the show was engulfed by visions of purgatory, with fire ruling as aesthetic protagonist. The lingering spirit of purgatory and that torturous essence of the in-between, the double-edged sword, the land ruled by utter uncertainty formed the basis of Paolo’s vision for the collection. While the aesthetics of the show were set in fire and brimstone, with turmeric, madder and logwood used to craft the colour palette, the narrative was very much about the instability of our current times. There was a kinetic intensity present in the ruching, padding and layering, with silhouettes forming hellish spirals and impenetrable circles, carried by the 3D effect of the hand-dyeing process that Paolo relentlessly commits himself to. As Paolo’s ‘dragons’ stepped through the darkened tavern, we were reminded that these mystical creatures were being torn apart at the butcher’s block. Likening the magic of both the natural world and the LGBTQ community to the ‘dragons’ being ‘unwinged at the butcher’s block’  Carzana acknowledges the destruction and brutality they are facing. Confronting sobering themes (in a pub of all places) Paolo’s AW25 offering carried them with an exquisite grace, displaying a social and technical wisdom beyond his sophomore standing within his career. 

Simone Rocha 

When one thinks of Simone Rocha, one envisions ribbons, pearls, frou-frou dresses, and girlish accoutrements. However, as evidenced by this show, the brand also embodies punk and hardcore style. The coquettish whims that characterised previous seasons received a hardened edge as this collection explored emos, teenage phases, and toughened tomboys. Titled The Tortoise and the Hare, the AW25 collection showcased anthropomorphic accessories, faux rabbit fur accents, and hare-like toys. At the same time, the resilient spirit of the tortoise was celebrated through punk-inspired hardware on bags and shoes, featuring chunky metal fastenings and leather detailing. Subtle nods to romance appeared throughout the show, with satin pink ribbons and jacquard dresses – the collection retained its gentle underbelly. Overall, however, the show marked a spirited turn for the brand and revealed a strength we hadn't seen in some time. 

SS Daley 

A new direction and renewed consideration for SS Daley, this collection represented a fresh look at traditional craft and explored his fascination with the painterly world of the Scottish Colourists. Consumed by emotion and infused with illustrative movement, the Scottish Colourists displayed meticulous brushwork, and their atmospheric landscapes were enveloped in a rich colour palette, diverging from the flatter approach to landscape painting that dominated the early 20th century. Echoing this fixation on the outdoors, enlivened with bold hues, the collection debuted Daley’s response to outerwear. Brightly felted trench coats, duffle coats with exaggerated toggle fastenings, and quilted jackets adorned with sumptuous bramble prints focused on updating traditional archetypes to align with Daley’s artistic inspirations. Netting inspired voluminous shapes, such as puffed skirts printed with meandering vines and berries, paired with oversized jackets in olive green and deep cocoa, creating the effect of wandering through waist-high grass, twirling vines, and thorny flowers, reproducing that physically enveloping feel of the landscape for which the Scottish Colourists were celebrated. Of course, there were signature Daley codes at play, with slogan knitwear declaring that we should ‘Stay Faithfull to Marianne’ and cartoonish accents taking the form of oversized buttons or playful embroidery. With this technical charm in tow, the collection genuinely felt as though we were witnessing a designer mature in his craft. Continuing to extend his womenswear line (since debuting it at the SS25 show), the collection as a whole felt elegant yet unpretentious. While there’s always fun to be had, this time it felt more subtle and refined, with Daley continuing to exhibit a deft understanding of balance.