Daily Front Row

2013 February 18

London Fall 2013: Burberry, Christopher Kane

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Burberry Prorsum Fall 2013
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(LONDON) Burberry
The materials that rained down upon Burberry's runway, from ponyhair and neoprenes to tassles and metal embellishments, stepped outside the proverbial Burberry box. In particular, rubber sneaked its way onto classic trench coats showing up on sleeves, skirts, and storm flaps as an alternative to leather. Ditto for grommeted tassles on trenches and skirts, which had a lovely feathery effect from the front row. Leopard, giraffe, and zebra ponyhair prints peppered the collection while a silk striped jump suit and a smattering of A-line dresses kept that preppy coolness intact. Another winning mark for London's Christopher Bailey.

Christopher Kane
With his new boss, PPR's Francois-Henri Pinault front and center, Kane debuted a militant collection showcasing his chameleon-like qualities. Camouflage covered everything from kilt skirts and silk, A-line frocks to bomber jackets with fur collars. Cadet-style piping mixed with lace appeared on rouge evening dresses and transparent black jackets to give the air of an armored breastplate. Blue and white organza skirt suits splattered with squares and rectangles and outlined with black piping also demonstrated an armored vibe, but with an abstract arty appeal. And how about the ongoing punk theme at London Fashion Week? Kane sent out tees, sweaters, and shift dresses displaying the inner workings of the human skull followed by eveningwear with giant orange, pewter, and cobalt sequins, which gave the appearance of spikey studs. If this collection is any indication, Kane doesn’t plan to be a shrinking violet to commercialism in his new digs.