Roving Reporter: Noir/Bllack Noir

Okay so it’s official. Ethical fashion is the way to go and not just because you’re conscience is bitting you on the butt; ethical fashion designers really are serving quality designs that we want to wear. After a bad morning of trying to navigate through South Kensington in platforms making me look like a six year old playing dress up in her mum’s heels, not to mention the lack of food in the tents this morning (the credit crunch has officially hit fashion week), I actually have a smile on my face. I’ve just run to the press room to let you all know that I’ve officially become an ethical fashion convert.

On a more serious note, the presentation, in conjunction with the British Fashion Council and Esthetica, aimed to highlight and encourage sustainability in the fashion industry. At a time where our economy is in a meltdown and every day we are confronted with the effects of global warming, the show did raise a lot of important issues that the fashion industry needs to take on board.

BFC chairman Harold Tillman was on hand to emphasise the need of the fashion industry to be receptive to ethical fashion. With that in mind, he was pleased to announce that London Fashion Week is officially the only fashion week to dedicate a whole exhibition to ethical fashion, making the show a much needed addition to the official schedule.

There’s only one word to describe the show; amazing. It’s exactly what London needed to kick of the week after mediocre shows this morning. Creative director, Peter Ingwersen, definitely proved that a fashion forward aesthetic and social responsibility can work hand in hand to create edgy, wearable clothes that people actually want to wear.

The collection was definitely dark and romantic, drawing on a lot of the features that we all know and love from Alexander Wang but with a British flair. Models strode down the runway in hooded boxy hounds tooth jackets. Trousers were skinny on the leg and heavily studded. The collection definitely referenced 90s goth.

If there’s one thing that you’ll be wearing this season its leather. It appeared on everything from a beautiful asymmetric dress to harem trousers. At a time where people are looking for wardrobe staples with longevity, Ingerswen is telling us to keep on to our wet look leggings and leather trousers because they are going to be big again come fall.

The designer definitely compounded on tailoring, a trend that has been circulating the runway at New York this week. Cigarette pants were teamed with a waistcoat and leather over the elbow gloves.

The secret to the Noir/Bllack Noir show is to wear your clothes with attitude and confidence.

Roving Reporter: Marc by Marc Jacobs

The younger version of MJ gave two pieces of advice yesterday: Wear your layers bulky, and keep piling them on.


For women's wear, Jacobs' formula was to start with tights (whether in autumn colours, stripes or geometric patterns) and cold-weather-survival boots. From there, he added dresses accentuating the natural waist or roomy peg-leg trousers with bold and cosy jumpers. Many of his looks were topped off with velvet hats and blanket scarves.



Luxurious textures played a big part - think wide-wale corduroy, rich herringbone and oversized houndstooth. And when textiles were basic, colour and construction were not. How about this turquoise dress with ruffles both on the button panel and the skirt?


In terms of menswear, Jacobs maintained the boots and voluminous trousers, but put up grandpa cardigans with shirt-tie combos and structured blazers. The designer upheld the spirit of the line by keeping things bold in a season when many are going dark, and all the better for a line targeting young label-lovers who want to mix their plaids with stripes (another of Jacobs' techniques).

My only gripe with this season of Marc by Marc? That it wasn't around when I went to uni. Life would have been so much easier if I had pieces like these to grab off my floor 20 minutes to lecture time in the winter months.