Giles AW15

Initial reaction:

MEGA. Exquisite gothic-Georgian fairy tale gowns and Miss Elizabethan Whiplash brought to life by a stellar cast – Andreja Pejic, Edie Campbell, Lily Donaldson, Kendall Jenner, Erin O'Connor, Jessica Stam and Aymeline Valade – that channelled all the joie de vivre and theatrical shenanigans of 80s and early 90s blockbuster shows, throwing couture poses along the runway to spontaneous and elated applause. Anna Cleveland closed in a fan pleat dress and worked the floor to such a degree it took her a good five minutes just to do her lap as she twirled and danced and pressed her hands against the door frames, Michael Jackson “In The Closet”-style. Pure bloody magic.“The casting that Katie and I did was very much to have girls who wanted to and were able to have a strong character, and that’s something I feel very strongly about, to see more strong characters and people being themselves in a catwalk presentation, because I’m so bored of seeing this homogenous ‘bleh’ – you know, gorgeous girls, but just all looking like robots from the same factory. I like to see what’s different about everyone,” Giles Deacon said after the show. Amen.

Sinister fairy tales:

The collection had grown from Deacon visiting the Chelsea Physic Garden and its collection of medicinal plants. “It’s very peaceful but also quite romantic, and it also has a bit of a sinister aspect to it, at certain times of night and in a certain light,” he said. This gave way to a fairy tale world of girls in hallucinogenic prints and silvery hourglass silk dresses embroidered with mushrooms (pastel-coloured, of course, in the designer’s witty universe), Sleeping Beauty-like prints of brambles and thorns and evil fairy godmothers in black feather jackets. It was like walking into a kinky Georgian salon (the gathering kind, not the getting your hair did variety) where Kendall Jenner played the naughty maid, or like attending a séance held by a deliciously demonic Eva Green in “Penny Dreadful”.

How they wore it:

With satin bows on everything – the kind that would make Marie Antoinette and Martha Stewart weep – and pristine ruffles, pearls and French braids with little ribbons, and amazing pointy mules with silk bows (a prerequisite for ultra-couture-y looks). “I wanted it to be very feminine and really romantic, but with that gothicness to it as well,” the designer said before Stephen Jones quipped: “And a bit of wrath!” to which Deacon replied: “Yeah, a nice bit of wrath!”