Initial reaction:

A renewed introspection earns Lou Dalton her strongest collection to date: a considered exercise in her play on traditional fabrics and garments within a youthful framework.

Family values:

Backstage, she talked about balancing softness and control and how the collection had sprung from a 1969 photograph of her father. “I was looking at things that were happening around that time, like the Black Panther movement and Virgil Grissom who died on the Apollo 1, and tying it in with my father who fought for his family and survived, kept us going. It was about the inner strength and trying to be in control of that, exposing it a little bit so you’re showing your sensitivity.”

One boy two coats:

This dynamic between restraint and vulnerability came through in excellent double-up outerwear, where a sleek nylon jacket was zipped onto a fuzzy, dirty pink fleece coat. “Two for the price of one!” Dalton joked. While she definitely leans towards British menswear’s impeccable tailoring heritage, there is always something subculture-y going on underneath the beautifully constructed pieces, and today that surfaced in the way she layered an open, faintly punk-ish kilt over roomy suit trousers and sent out darkly modern boilersuits in black Prince of Wales tartan.

The soundtrack to Lou Dalton AW15: