LFW TREND SPOT #2: TWEED

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

The general consensus flying around Somerset House is that next season is all about English heritage style, and if there is one fabric that captures the essence of English-ness, it's good old-fashioned tweed.

Yes, tweed. The fabric of grandad caps, riding jackets and skirts worn by geography teachers everywhere has been embraced by London designers across the board, and been made to look fresh, exciting and desirable. Blame the Royal wedding, blame the Olympics, even blame the Kings Speech, if you like, because for a while now, there has been a feeling that now is the right time to celebrate our culture and style heritage. Tweed is the perfect fabric to showcase this feeling, and just as silk has overtaken jersey as the reigning summer fabric, tweed has replaced leather as the outerwear fabric of choice for Autumn/Winter 11. These tweedy collections show just how brilliant the Englishwoman can look, if she puts her mind to it. 

Jaeger London

 

AW11 for Jaeger was strong, powerful and elegant. Large lapels on knee skimming jackets with military pockets, and high waisted, wide leg trousers gave traditional tweed a contemporary feeling, whilst referencing its' classic style.

House of Holland

Trust Henry to take something traditional and give it a cheeky twist. The tweed skirt suit was updated with a flippy mini length and black velvet lapels, while the hot pink colour swiftly vamoosed any granny-chic connotations. The classic sweater and slacks combo was also created in a yellowy orange tweed, lending the entire collection a very tongue-in-cheek feeling of retro, ladylike dressing with added naughtiness.

Margaret Howell

 Margaret Howell's extremely elegant collection made me want to throw out my garish wardrobe and start again with a neutral palette, refined, classic pieces and some incredible, belted, tweed outerwear. So simple, yet so completely beautiful.

JW Anderson

 

Both myself and the Fash Ed are MASSIVE JW Anderson  fans, and were so excited to see his debut collection just for gals. His womenswear contained all the elements that make us go crazy for his menswear, and in the AW11 presentation he mixed traditional tweed for outerwear with Liberty silks, for a double dose of English heritage.

Mulberry

Mulberry's brilliant English countryside-inspired collection is the perfect vehicle for the tweed trend. Again, updated with a modern colour palette of deep pinks and forest greens, their tweed jackets are the perfect item to get the urban fox running around in some fields, while still looking stylish.

 Holly Fulton got playful with tweed, oversizing it and using yellow and black threads to make the fabric come alive!

And last but not least, we have just returned from the typically awe-inspiring Erdem show, where, shock horror, a little bit of tweed crept in amongst his trademark prints. Pictures to follow later!

Basically, if you are wearing anything this Autumn, better make it tweed. London has spoken.

All images: Chris Moore Catwalking (except for Holly Fulton, from Style.com)

THE ALLURE OF JAEGER - A PEEK AT THE TOP PICKS FROM SS10!

Posted by the Fashion Editor at Large

An apple green suede jumpsuit, with the Jaeger double belt and a Scott Wilson neck-piece

Jaeger is not a brand I would traditionally wear, but after picking up pn a piece from their summer 09 collection quite by accident after admiring it on a friend, I went and bought it. It is a voluminous blouse with a super-magnified animal print in a grey and black colourway, as well as multi-fronds swooping down from a kind of Elizabethan collar. I guess I really should find a picture....

ANYWAY. After that I occasionally shopped the lookbook (as you do) and recently bought a grey sweater dress from the Jaeger London collection during the cold snap, which my girlfriend promptly stole to wear for work. Well, she was filming outside. I feel weird saying this because I am the sort of girl who wears Rick Owens and longs to wear Givenchy and Haider Ackermann, but I am becoming rather partial to some of the staples that Jaeger has to offer. So I gathered a few together with the help of Jaeger press office so we can start our week with a "Oh my god I can't believe its Jaeger" moment.

These black trousers looked amazing on the runway, and are the perfect volume level and stop just on the ankle - which is the trousers length of the spring season, I'll have you know

A nice close-up of the Scott Wilson piece - a good collaboration methinks, this piece really lifts the outfits

This is the signature dress in the collection, and the stripes make it really flattering, and would give me some curves. I've seen the Jaeger girl Lara Stone modelling this dress, and she looks hot, so it works with curves too. In fact it would probably work with most body shapes! Again I like the double belt and neck-piece (noticing a theme there). The orange pops give it a fashion kick.

 

Here are the black trousers above shown in red. See what I mean? I wonder if I would have the guts to step out in a 100% red look like this?

Khaki is the hot colour for spring, (well, and pastels) and I like the crazy dimensions of these shorts, they would make any leg look slimmer, and they're cute and on trend. A girl with a bit of fashion nous could definitely make them her own.

I think even I could wear a pastel pink taffeta mini-skirt - especially when paired with a chic blazer, loose

fit tank and some cool shoes. I would probably wear my Givenchy wedges with this.

This bag is subtle enough to be taken out a lot, and glamorous enough to get noticed, which makes it a perfect social staple.

Will be back at you with on sale dates, and links through to all items within the week - when Jaeger know, we'll know!

Until then, visit Jaeger at http://www.jaeger.co.uk/

Picture Credits: Chris Moore / www.catwalking.com