Fred Butler is a clever girl- she's created a niche for herself amongst the plethora of designers competing for attention over the fashion week schedule. On Monday afternoon, Fred presented her latest collection of out-there shoes and accessories. Although she mostly works on commissions for editorials and shoots, Lady Gaga being a recent client, Fred uses the LFW platform to show the potential of her creations. For AW12, that's sushi. Yes, that's correct, the Japanese rolls of raw fish, vegetables and rice. Add to that obi belts and kimonos and you'll see that Japan is a major theme here; that's not surprising given the that Butler's aesthetic probably has most appeal for cool kids who are already massively influenced by Japan.
Lady Gaga wears Fred Butler headpiece in the Telephone video (from guardian.co.uk)
The collection is called 'Tank Top-Ranking Tongue Tied and Twisted'. The name gives some indication of all the knots and plaits which Fred has incorporated into that sushi theme so that end result is a collection of origami-like 3D creations in the sweetest of colours which make the wearer look like they may have walked straight off the set of a souped up fashion version of Star Trek.
A high collar gilet
This harness which looked like a string of marshmallows was my favourite
This presentation wasn't just about the amazing pieces on show. Butler has teamed up with singer Charli XCX, together they have worked on a track which accompanies the collection and which Charli performed during the presentation. Red Bull brought the two together as part of their Catwalk Studio project which brings together young musicians and designers. Charli explained that Fred had already began working on the Japanese theme when they met so she used Taiko drum sounds as the starting point for the track. The pair spent plenty of studio time together which means that the whole project is a true collaboration as well as being an exciting way to do a fashion show, after all fashion doesn't exist in a vacuum but is created from all manner of cultural references.
Fred Butler and Charli XCX (image from red bull.co.uk)
I loved that there was nothing literal about this presentation. The song was catchy and the accessories certainly didn't immediately bring to mind a tray of sushi- thank goodness!
Any pop stars/ performers/ lovers of exuberant costume reading, take note, Fred Butler should be on your wardrobe radar!
There's a thing called the #lfwtimeline. If you have a look at this hashtag on twitter you'll see that it tells you how late (or not) a show is running. We've worked out that this timeline is perhaps not the most reliable of sources- its default setting for each show is "the XXX show is running 10 minutes late' even though sometimes it is 15 mins and others it's 30 mins. Anyway, when you do manage to be punctual, there's almost always some cool music playing and setting the tone for what you're about to see. And once the show begins, the music has a massive impact on how you start to interpret the collection.
Here are a few of our favourite songs from the week...
Azealia Banks hasn't even released a single yet but that hasn't stopped her becoming a YouTube hit, as well as being enlisted to perform for Karl Lagerfeld. She also appeared at last night's Topshop party, celebrating ten years of NewGen. Her 212 song was heard all week, including at House of Holland, Mulberry and Topshop Unique.
One of the Fashed's favourite tunes at the moment is 'I'm His Girl' by Friends. We heard it at Emilio de la Morena and Felder Felder among others.
In terms of music, last LFW was rather overshadowed by a certain Lana del Rey and her (then) fresh new voice in 'Video Games'. We still heard this song a few times over this season including at Aquascutum. Oh, and in case you hadn't heard by now (where have you been?) then Mulberry have named their new bag, the Del Rey, after the former Lizzie Grant. Plus she rocked up at their show, but we didn't need to tell you that did we?
Meadham Kirchhoff were bound to deliver on the music front, given their obsession with teen girl tunes. Their show closed with Abba's Dancing Queen.
The new Muppets movie is out now. What with Miss Piggy guest editing Grazia, it's hardly surprising it was on the mind of designers. Mulberry closed their show the Ma Na Ma Na song.
Hanna Hanra took charge of the music at Louise Gray. before the show began, she played some Whitney. The show was all about 90s house music, including Work It Girlfriend by Jack and Jill.
Pringle's show took place to the sound of INXS 'Need You Tonight'...
And finally, Marios Schwab's entire show was based on Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony no. 5.
