Trends and sizes

The weekend papers were full of reports on London Fashion Week. Its 25th anniversary was widely covered and commented as well as London's place in the fashion world. I am not part of that world so I won't claim to have any bright insights or revelations to add to the press, but I found a couple of nuggets I thought I would share with you. Whilst one of my teenage daughter pounced excitedly on the various fashion supplements, what made me happiest was to read about one designer's "bold" use of size 12 and 14 models,  sizes which get a little closer to reflecting real British and European women. Such a move in the skeletal world of fashion warranted front page flagging of the story in Sunday's Observer. Such attempts are not new but sadly never seem to build into a lasting trend and the gloomy matchstick teenagers return to the catwalk year after year. The full article is worth reading:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/20/london-fashion-week-mark-fast
I would also like to mention the welcome appearance of Christy Turlington, an elderly model at the age of 40 by fashion standards, in the Sunday Times Style supplement. Always a favourite from the supermodels of the 1980s and 1990s, she looks predictably beautiful. Retouching,  mentioned in the credits for the photographs is not as fierce as that applied to the Madonna/Vuitton campaign where the singer appears unrecognisable,  ridiculously flawless, bathed in a subtle pink hue as a painted China doll. I have always admired her talent for  reinvention but I find that is a dangerous and rather unsustainable road to take. What next for Madonna, the 50 year old toddler look?

I  find it rather confusing to read about Spring/Summer trends showing at London Fashion Week whilst trying to grapple with the Autumn collections and it creates a feeling of "deja-vu" when clothes finally turn up in the shops. As a result of the "deja-vu" feeling and of my advancing years, I find mentions of "country styles" and "military look", over-the-knee boots and leather jackets rather old-hat. But ultimately everything has been done, so it is more a matter of picking which styles I would happily revisit. Hounds' tooth is one. The first proper jacket I ever owned, part of a skirt suit that I loved, had that pattern. I have kept it all those years as a precious memento of what felt like a defining moment, access to adulthood. My father bought it for me and it made me feel terribly grown-up and sophisticated: "Clothes makes the man" or rather the woman in that case.

Another comeback of meaning-charged clothes is the return of "Big shoulders". It is a tricky trend. I have fond memories of shoulder-padded suits I wore in my working life. They did correspond to the 90s belief in corporate life and women's deluded notion that they could have it all: the powerful job, the jet-setting life, the husband and children.  Now that we know the exhausting fallacy of superwoman's life, we can look at those shoulder pads as simply too big and awkward. The only incarnation of big shoulders that might be worth revisiting is on 1940s style jacket, closely tailored and feminine where shoulder pads just enhance a feminine shape.