At London Fashion Week, Satirized Social Class

LONDON — Laura Andraschko looked into her fun house mirror once again, offering up a fun — and subversive — look at social tribes. This time she picked the British upper class, sending out a spring 2025 collection that was filled with sporty, tailored clothing and plenty of horsey details.

“I was inspired by the contradictions within Britain’s upper class. With the current sociopolitical climate, it felt timely to explore and critique this group, challenging perceptions of class and privilege,” said the German designer, whose cool looks have been spotted on Charli XCX, and championed by the stylist Lotta Volkova.

Held in a West London horse stable, the show took inspiration from equestrian wear, Savile Row suiting, and tennis attire.

The designer married those classics with her signature bubble skirts, flouncy baby-doll dresses and tailored jackets with sharp shoulders. Waxed cotton coats with checked lining winked at the British heritage label Barbour, while low-waisted, super-skinny pants nodded to jodhpurs and breeches.  

Ever inspired by subcultures, Andraschko cited the Sloane Rangers as a reference point, as well as the ultra-rich boys from the Bullingdon Club at Oxford University, whose wild, Champagne-swilling members have included future British prime ministers and other powerful politicians.

“The Bullingdon Club and the Sloane Rangers symbolize British elitism and traditions,” said the designer, adding, “In my previous collections, subcultures and hedonism were always a recurring theme. The Bullingdon Club is another, admittedly perverted, version.”

It wouldn’t be an Andraschko collection without subversion. Phrases including “My Boyfriend Went to Eton,” and “SW1W 8HQ” (a Belgravia, London postcode) were emblazoned on T-shirts, short-shorts and sweatshirts.

It was a departure, of sorts, from past collections, where Andraschko looked at lipstick-smeared partiers straight from the aughts. For the label’s fall 2023 runway show in London, models wore bloodied pointe shoes to stomp down the runway.

The designer founded her label after graduating from Central Saint Martins’ BA womenswear program. For past collections she has drawn on her experiences as a party girl in Berlin to create a label that utterly rejects society’s expectations of proper, pulled-together women.