Olive green, dark red, black leather and a lot of fluff

London Fashion Week took place from Friday, February 16 to Tuesday
February 20 and celebrated its 40th anniversary. The FW24 edition was
a far cry from LFW’s humble origins – a tent in the car park of the
Commonwealth Institute in Kensington. Back in 1984, the three-day
event featured just 15 shows, including work by Vivienne Westwood,
Katherine Hamnet, Ghost and Betty Jackson. According to the British
Fashion Council’s LFW40 cheat sheet, this time around, 67 designers
participated, with 43 catwalk shows, 14 presentations and 36 events.
In several ways, London designers echoed New York with a mostly
subdued color palette and the use of classic fabrics.

Military Bearing

Daniel Lee showed his Burberry collection in a tent pitched in East
London’s Victoria Park. He was quoted as saying that he wanted the
message to be about Burberry’s heritage of dressing military men and
explorers in weatherproof clothing. This was well-reflected by a whole
series of looks in olive green. It’s a color that has been associated
with the military since it was first used by British troops in 1868.
It can also represent strength, resilience, and a connection to the
earth and nature. Perhaps that explains its presence on several other
London catwalks as well.

Burberry: designer, Daniel Lee

Look 15: an olive-green faux fur knee-length coat over a tan shirt
with tan thigh-length boots and an olive plaid duffle bag.

Marques’ Almeida: designers, Marta Marques and Paulo Almeida

Look 1: an olive-colored zip-up motorbike jacket in metallic coated
denim with a wide belt and matching pants. Gold pointed-toed boots
completed the look.

Chet Lo

Look 13: an olive-colored ribbed sweater with an envelope neck and a
long skirt in the designer’s signature popcorn knit and a scarf in the
same color. Accessories included a black popcorn knit bag and black
patent pumps.

Paul Costelloe

Look 12: a knee-length zip-front olive-colored dress with a self-belt
and utility details. Accessories included long black leather gloves,
black ankle boots and grey pearl jewelry.

Ivan Frolov

Look 20: an olive-colored dress with a boned corset and a corduroy
skirt and matching corduroy blazer. An olive-colored boa, and
legwarmers over sandals finished the look.

Like a Fine Wine

London designers echoed New York, showing looks in bright red. However
several also favored darker shades of the color, seemingly toned with
brown or black, for a variety of designs. One of the most striking
came from the designer Chet Lo. He showed a dark red material he said
was inspired by images of China’s Terracotta Army. He had found beauty
in the process of deterioration which led the original lacquered
surfaces to fade to the earthy hues of today.

Chet Lo

Look 1: a mock turtleneck crop top with padded shoulders and waistband
less pants that twisted at the knee were both rendered in a fabric
with a metallic dark red on black snakeskin print.

Erdem Moralioglu

Look 23: a burgundy full-skirted leather dress with spaghetti
straps embellished with cream 3D flowers and pink satin pumps with
rose details.

Eudon Choi

Look 11: a burgundy cropped suit jacket over white shirting with
matching pleated-front pants and red satin pumps with pavé
embellishment.

Ivan Frolov

Look 25: Burgundy faux leather skinny pants and matching Opera
length gloves with a silver beaded bralette and silver sandals.

Emilia Wickstead

Look 34: a burgundy leather trench coat over a red sheer blouse and
dark red midi-length sequin skirt. Red sequin Mary-Janes completed the
look.

Hell-bent for leather

Black leather was once seen as a symbol of youthful rebellion, dating
back to 1953 when Marlon Brando wore a black leather motorcycle jacket
in ‘The Wild One,’ a film about motorbike gangs. These days, when a
woman dons black leather (or pleather) it is more likely to represent
female empowerment with plenty of sex appeal. One way or another it
tends to show up on runways all over the world, year after year. LFW
AW24 was no exception.

Tolu Coker

Look 12: a black leather motorbike jacket with silver details and a
knee-length skirt. Accessories included a black and white printed
headscarf, tie and gloves and black patent knee-length boots.

David Koma

Look 8: a black leather cropped motorcycle jacket with a white
shearling collar and a matching skater skirt; black hose and marabou
trimmed shoes finished the look.

Dilara Findikoglu

Look 18: a tight fitting black leather jacket with silver details and
lace-up pants with straps. Strappy sandals and leather gloves finished
the look.

Natasha Zinko

Look 13: black leather pants with a lace-up front, black scoop neck
knit tee-shirt under a mock-turtleneck asymmetric add-on piece.
Accessories included narrow visor sunglasses, a nude stocking cap and
a handheld satchel.

Yuhan Wang

Look 22: a black leather fitted suit jacket and asymmetric skirt with
a pink and green rose print. A lace scarf, gloves and hose with black
flats finished the look.

Pile it On

It’s hard to imagine that it’s about 40 years since the futurist Faith
Popcorn coined the phrase ‘cocooning,’ to describe the increasing
desire for consumers to create a retreat from the world at home. It’s
become a prevalent theme in fashion recently also, with outerwear and
sweaters that swaddles and protects the wearer from the elements.
In the absence of a great deal of color and print this season,
designers are indulging in surface interest. As we saw in New York,
cocoon shaped outerwear in fluffy textures were shown in many
collections.

16 Arlington: designer, Marco Capaldo

Look 17: an ultra-long faux fur in black and white over a thick rib
sweater and black pants.

Colville: designers, Lucinda Chambers and Molly Molloy

Look 13: a navy fur cocoon-shaped coat over a navy knit dress,
brown and cream penny loafers with whip stitched embellishment.

Erdem Moralioglu

Look 21: a cream-colored full-length Mongolian faux fur cocoon coat
with scarf front; stocking headband and black flats in the same fur.

Natasha Zinko

Look 33: a cocoon shaped full-length fur coat in shades of grey,
brown, cream and ochre with a black belt, black balaclava and black
shoes.

Richard Quinn

Look 6: a black ostrich feather coat with cream satin sash belt
accessorized with a black net fascinator.