London Fashion Week SS13: DAKS
There on behalf of London Fashion Week sponsor LG, this is a good reason to get at 6:30am on a Saturday morning. Early shows are always a treat at London Fashion Week. They’re quiet, civilised and everyone is feeling refreshed from the mayhem the day before.
As I took my seat behind DAKS designer, Sheila McKain-Ward’s beaming family, the buzz of the audience and my first cup of coffee were keeping me going for show one, at 9am on day two of London Fashion Week.
Spring/Summer 2013 marks the third collection for American born designer Sheila McKain-Ward as DAKS head of womenswear and accessories. It is a collection inspired “by the free form handwork of Abstract Expressionist painters such as Robert Motherwell and Jasper Johns”. Featuring cross-hatched surfaces in the popular DAKS print, floating colour and weightlessness in the choice of fabrics, there was a sense of fluidity and an aim to “reimagine the energy created by the artistic movement”.
The collection opened with images in white. Clean cut lines in chalky shades, layering of luxury textiles and natural tints. It felt playful and light, a breezy entrance into summer.
The heritage of DAKS is its print. I am not leaving fashion week without having put the DAKS checked cape on my shopping list. Wow. It is just fabulous. Perfect for a chilly spring morning, for popping on over your office outfit in the summer and for that transition into autumn. It looks so soft, so rich, so inviting. DAKS are all about outerwear and the trench coat and the jackets shown in the collection weren’t cumbersome or heavy, but perfect for a summer in Britain.
Then came a darker, edgier side. Mixed fabrics, leathers and straw paired with semi translucent nylon and silk gazar. Box bags were the accessory of choice, looking fabulous with simple floor length jersey dresses.
This collection felt very fresh, but very open to interpretation and accessorising. There were no strong colours in the collection – this I like, you can add that injection of colour in accessories and shoes. The only nod to a colour palette were hues of peach and tobacco in shirts and shorts. The evening wear was exquisite, layered and sparkly, subtle and sophisticated.
DAKS is a label all about luxury, quality, wardrobe staples, from office to cocktail hour and everything in between.
Thanks to London Fashion Week Sponsor, LG.
The LG Steam Team are the fab people who work behind the scenes, making sure that the designer collections hitting the catwalk look perfect.
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