Walking into the BFC London Rocks showroom, full of familiar faces and
designs was reassuring, but the majority of the designers who were
exhibiting in this British showroom in Paris, had put on a show on/off
schedule in London already so there was no need to revisit their
designs again. There were notable exceptions though such as Mary Katrantzou
who was fortunate enough to go straight to production with her S/S 09
collection following her MA collection at Central Saint Martins, which
has already got her a lot of attention. It was instantly recognisable
as Katrantzou's work as she continued the use of enlarged and oversized
jewellery prints on dresses and also produced oversized weighty
jewellery that work as ensembles with the dresses. Why ruin a good
thing was the thinking behind the collection. Of course, tweaks had to
be made. The fabrics are much lighter and instead of the double bonded
jersey from her MA collection which was highly labour intensive,
Katrantzou has also used denim in parts of the dresses. The colours are
still just as bright but are taken up a notch in the prints to give
them more of a pop art vibe. The jewellery is made out of metal instead
of wood but are still just as oversized and chunky. It's a seamless
continuity that has gotten Katrantzou a lot of attention even if they
are not familiar with her MA collection and already buyers are taking
notice. Except key stockists from next season and perhaps come next
London Fashion Week, Katrantzou will make a bigger shout about her work.