LFW diary: 101 Dalmatians at Topshop, Old-fashioned romanticism at Temperley

Date February 21, 2011

lfw-topshop — Topshop shot by Ian Gavan/Getty Images

I’d be dead certain the Topshop Unique show was inspired by my Halloween costume, Cruella de Vil, had it not also been… Lady Gaga‘s Halloween costume. In any case, it was a Cruella, Cruella world at Old Billingsgate Market, this year’s expansive Topshop venue.

So it began with great big faux-Dalmatian fur as the stuff of winter coats, or trim on a prim suit, or a monster stole. Anna Wintour was sitting front row, probably ordering everything in real mink. The hair was all done in Minnie Mouse buns. Take this in conjunction with Mulberry‘s foxy ladies, and Day 3 of LFW was a plushie’s paradise.

The show then changed gears and became about motor cities and skylines and art deco prints. Shapes remained the same: loosely structured and secretary-like, without the sex. Jumpsuits and sack dresses with Peter Pan collars (also seen at Charles Anastase) are going to be a big thing—at least for girls who never want to grow up, and aren’t those are the very girls who love Topshop so? The latter part of the show, with its nods and winks to Detroit and Manhattan and Chicago and Miami, was a cheeky nod to the ‘30s.

Meanwhile, nothing changes at Alice Temperley, London’s most incorrigible romantic. She celebrated her tenth anniversary with a serious homecoming: a massive show at the pomp-and-circumstantial British Museum. It had a retrospective flair, unsurprisingly, and spared no expense—at least not in the textile department. Standouts: Spanish lace “tattooed” onto peach silk, an intricately knit, clotted-cream poncho, and all those cloudy lacy embellished underthings, because it’s not a Temperley show without very expensive nightgowns.

Later, I went back to the drawing room at Claridge’s. It was a pretty stiff wait in the cold and my tiny-dotty stockings. I stood it out mostly because I wanted my 18 year old sister to see a real live fashion party. Also, they brought out warm roasted nuts. At the door they were apologetic. Doesn’t it make you feel like a celebrity? said my sister. No, but that’s the idea.

All Mulberry’s girls were at the party: Kirsten Dunst, Alexa Chung, and “dj” Harley Viera-Newton. Harley had on a tea-coloured Mulberry dress all in extruded felt flowers. It was Cory Kennedy‘s birthday. I didn’t explain to my sis what Cory Kennedy was.

We bowled and drank ginger beer and an old-fashioned shutterbug snapped us in animal masks. The Strokes came on and people sang along, which is the mark of a good party, fashion or not.