Day 5 London Fashion Week- Mary Katrantzou

Everyone knows the popular mnemonic Richard Of York Gave Battle in Vain (ROYGBV) used to recall the key colours of the spectrum. Mary Katrantzou's collection this season brought to mind this memorable childhood phrase as the models walked down the catwalk in a gradual transfusion of colour, from white, gold and silver, to bright yellow, red, blue and indigo, to forest green and jet black. Katrantzou's clothes often border on the level of detail of couture, with an intense amount of pattern, craft and embellishment. This high level of craftsmanship was shown in this collection with multi-layered chiffon dresses (as seen above) and mundane objects printed into unrecognisable and exquisite patterns. Her signature stiff bell-bottomed skirts and dresses were adorned with images of spoons, phone dials, typewriters and watch faces, and one dress even had hundreds of real yellow pencils attached to it, taking Crayola to a whole new level. 

 Images

Mary Katrantzou- London Fashion Week AW'11

Mary Katrantzou's beautifully crafted and intricately embellished collection made a big impact in London yesterday. Her opulent prints made the models look like fragile Imperial Chinese vases or carved Russian dolls. The bell shaped skirts gave the garments structure and form, creating a modern silhouette with vintage prints, while the bodiced dresses gave a sophisticated simplicity. The real achievement of this collection, however were the prints and patterns, which far from looking heavy or old-fashioned, looked fresh, summery and well balanced. Images: www.elle.co.uk

There is a real resemblance to Chinese patterns in pottery and also traditional dress. There was a recent exhibition at the V&A, titled, Imperial Chinese Robes, which will be finishing on the 27th February. Emperors wore official dress for rituals, which had a special colour symbology, for example, blue was for the Altar of Heaven, yellow for the Altar of the Earth, red for Altar of the Sun and pale blue for the Altar of the Moon. See http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/asia/imperial-chinese-robes/

                                                    Photos:http://insideout.topshop.com/