Here’s What Made Us Tick from London Fashion Week Fall 2017

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 24, 2017 during the Fall 2017 collections.  But fall is around the corner — and before we talk trends — let’s look back at the best of the fall 2017 runways.

As London Fashion Week Fall 2017 drew to a close, we are looking back at all the collections from across the pond with the top 100 choices, favorite collections, who disappointed us, plus what are the most noteworthy trends out of London. From Burberry’s new way of design, and Mulberry and Roskanda’s joyful use of color, to Eredm’s re-imagination of the applique and manipulated lace, let’s delve in and see what make us tick from London Fashion Week Fall 2017.

Here we go.

Top Collections

It was a wonderful to see Burberry head in a different direction. It’s been all change for the brand, from a business and marketing perspective, but to see it on the runway is very refreshing. For starters, Burberry departed from color (the brand’s staple for a while). Bailey showed us what he can do with white, black, gray and blue — and what we saw was pretty spectacular: roomy trenches (as opposed to the classic, nipped and the waist), asymmetrical knits slashed at the shoulder, white, feathery capes at the finale (hear it first: these capelettes will be a street style phenomenon next season). But our favorite pieces of the collection were all the white-on-white ensembles — tiered dresses in cotton poplin and lace, and the wide collars on solid blue or striped shirts.

Combining traditional fabrics with futuristic silhouettes is what Christopher Kane gave us for Fall 2017, a collection which also had the perfect combination of glamour and industrial aura. Floral designs in soft peaches, pinks and blues were designed into dresses with stiff, sharp-edged panels. Elsewhere he showed 3-D flowers,  sequins and see-through fabrics, which some may have perceived too busy, but not for us. The collection was all about the process of designing, and stood out as one of the most interesting ones out of London Fashion Week Fall 2017.

Other collections we loved were Mulberry, Roksanda and Roland Mouret who all gave us a joyful, optimism through color, and of course Simon Rochas, who not only enlisted models from all ages (three generations of women, to be exact) for her runway, but also celebrated female resilience through her quiet glamour collection. Spectacular.

Who Failed the Runway

Of course, not all was beautiful and dandy out of London. Mary Katrantzou for starters disappointed us with a collection inspired by Disney’s Fantasia. Katratzou’s flow-ey silhouettes seemed too safe, with a huge lack of color; she is known for high-tech, often-weird-but-great digital print ensembles that put her on the map, and slowly she is drifting away from that. Let’s hope she’ll stick to what has worked for her in the past. It’s funny because she was the only disappointment for us out of London.

Top Trends

Statement coats, extreme patterns, and lustrous metallics, were quite visible in almost each collection out of London Fashion Week Fall 2017. What were were drawn the most toward was the colorful clashing at Mulberry, Roksanda and Roland Mouret who brought colorful, saturated brights on the forefront of their collections.

Inasmuch as velvet was a huge trend out of New York Fashion Week, the London designers like Peter Pilotto, Emilia Wickstead and Erdem  re-imagined and revived the fabric with adding glistening appliqué and manipulated lace onto velvet dresses. Stunning effect.

Statement pockets returned to the spotlight thanks to Simone Rocha, JW Anderson, Joseph and Christopher Kane. Pockets were added onto  flowing dresses and trousers, giving casual wear an elegant refresh.

MORE: Come see the top looks from New York Fashion Week fall 2017 here!

Copy by Anna Marevska
Research by Carlin Rollenhagen