Gareth Pugh is the dark knight of British fashion. Known for his severe aesthetic, which has in the past included inflatables, a collection made of zips and grid-like shredding, he valiantly pursues an elegant, futurist line.

For Autumn/Winter 12, styled by Dazed's Katie Shillingford, his DNA reached an almost purist level. Odd, alien clothes transcended to a breathing, functioning beauty; shades of separation away from the Sunderland-born designer at his most conceptually fierce.

The philosophy behind Pugh's clothes has always between about that eternal struggle of light and dark. His Spring/Summer 2009 being the most apparent example, clothes white on the front and black at the back, like the figurative calm before the storm.

This season was more than that duality, though. It was the complexity of interrogation, something more restless. The looks were black and grey after all, not the starkness of monochrome. The mood was heightened by longtime soundtrack collaborator Matthew Stone, who littered his show mix with the word 'God', the first soundtrack ever built with Twitter-sourced vocal samples.


Stay tuned to Dazed Digital for Katie Shillingford's behind-the-scenes summary of both Gareth Pugh and Viktor & Rolf, two catwalks our Senior Fashion Editor is styling during Paris Fashion Week...