- Title: UK: The stars come out to support their favourite designer at London fashion week
- Date: 16th September 2008
- Summary: VARIOUS OF MACDONALD AND RICHARDSON BACK STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOELY RICHARDSON, SAYING: "What I loved about today is that he's taken everything that's good about what he does, his outfits that are showstoppers, but at the same time he's moved on. But there's a freshness, there's an elegance, none of this stuff we've seen before and I think it was just beautiful and really fluid."
- Embargoed: 1st October 2008 13:00
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- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA1D7ZKQCVZ94P4E737H1W1TMWT
- Story Text: Mischa Barton at Temperley, Joely Richardson at Julien MacDonald for London fashion week.
The stars were out in force to throw their weight behind their favourite British designers on Monday (September 15). Mischa Barton travelled with her friend Alice Temperley as the designer unveiled her debut homecoming collection after showing in New York for three years. Barton, the former star of California-based teen drama "The O.C." said she draws fashion inspiration from both sides of the Atlantic.
"Everybody has these things about how you know British style is more eclectic but put together and city-like. I think I get an influence where I grew up London, New York. I grew up in New York all my life so I have a city sense of style but I think definitely English girls have a cool way of putting things together," she said.
The model-turned-actress sat the ever coveted front row position alongside Nick Rhodes of eighties pop band Duran Duran and Bond girl Rosamund Pike.
The heavily-pregnant Alice Temperley sells in 300 stores in 37 different countries, with an estimated annual turnover of 18 million pounds (approx. 36 million USD), according to the Daily Telegraph of London.
In a throwback to the early 20th century, with half of the models walking down in thimble-shaped hats, the designer, 32, revealed a ladylike collection with one-shouldered dresses and tops and cinched in waists with studded-black belts.
An array of Greek goddesses with gently draping dresses and sparkle headpieces made for a contrast to the youthful edge of Luella. Temperley used a majority of black and white with the odd purple, pink and electric blue mixed in. Also a big trend continuing on from the London shows were the parachute pants or harem trousers, depending on the reference. She ended on a parade of frilly dresses with thin straps upholding the garment.
Joely Richardson and supermodel Erin O'Connor were the celebrity guests the Welsh-born Julien MacDonald who returned to form with his show-stopping red-carpet dresses in a throwback to eighties power dressing. Using natural colours like beige, brown, tan and touches of silver, the former creative director at Givenchy showed a strong collection which he said was influenced by a holiday with his friend, the billionaire Sir Richard Branson.
"What I loved about today is that he's taken everything that's good about what he does, his outfits that are showstoppers, but at the same time he's moved on. But there's a freshness, there's an elegance, none of this stuff we've seen before and I think it was just beautiful and really fluid," Richardson said.
British fashion favourite Luella Bartley dazzled audiences with a jarring, psychedelic clash of conflicting themes and styles in a mash-up of aristocratic style and sickly sweet cols..
Bartley, a former fashion journalist who showed under her label Luella on day two, presented a collision of garish pinks, purples and oranges with traditional British fabrics such as tweed, creating a subversive look for the spring/summer 2009 season.
"I wanted a really colourful show. This sort of proper English lady, but it's done to an extreme degree that makes it hard and sick, so the brightest pink orange the sickest lilac the strongest purple so together it just looks very extreme," Bartley told Reuters Television.
Her previous season, which was inspired by paganism, witchcraft and the graphic novel "Ghostworld", was also subversive in the way it combined dark themes with quirky designs, but her new collection is a more deliberate assault on the senses.
High-waisted bell skirts and tweed jackets were used to create an equestrian look. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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