Fashion Click Look of the Day: Olympia Contopidis looks sweet and chic in nuetrals
London calling! As the McQueen exhibit sets sail at the Met, Jane Keltner de Valle crosses the pond and meets generation next.
Charlotte Olympia designer Charlotte Dellal stops traffic in her banana platforms and clutch.
Nicholas Kirkwood.
Nicholas Kirkwood platform heels.
Erdem designer Erdem Moralioglu.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, in Erdem.
Mary Katrantzou.
On the runway: Mary Katrantzou Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear.
Christopher Kane.
Carey Mulligan in Christopher Kane.
J.W. Anderson.
On the runway: J.W. Anderson Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear.
I still remember my first Alexander McQueen show nearly a decade ago (his last in London before moving his runway spectacles to Paris). It was staged around a spooky merry-go-round with hauntingly beautiful clothes, magically transforming in that famous McQueen way. As a young editor just out of college, being assigned to cover London Fashion Week was like hitting the jackpot. The city was bursting with creative energy and raw talent— so much so that most of the clothes on the runway never made it to store racks.
Returning to London Fashion Week this season, I was struck by how little and yet how much has changed. The city was once again buzzing with energy and creativity, but this time due less to shock-value fashion and more to gotta-have-it-now fashion. Take Charlotte Olympia designer Charlotte Dellal, whose line of shoes combines old-Hollywood glamour with cheeky British humor (Carmen Miranda-inspired fruit heels, anyone?). Perhaps because she is a woman designing for women, she's taken a step away from the torture-chamber devices of yesteryear to shoes you can actually walk in. "I'm not one to be avant-garde," she admits. "I think accessories should be timeless." It ought to be noted, however, that her idea of timeless—leopard platforms and flats embroidered with cats—is hardly a dull moment.
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