Was Julien Macdonald trying to break the big-spending Asian market with his spring summer 2012 show? We had Chinese Ming prints and Japanese dragon tattoo designs on trousers suits and silk dresses.
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But then again we had a slice of bird embroidery stitched over transparent gauze, and then a series of leather biker dresses, and another of deconstructed suiting on shirt and waistcoat dresses. In short, there were many different themes going on and it was hard to pick out a singular one that summed up the show.
There was no disputing Macdonald's skill, each piece was skilfully created by an army of studio hands, and his brilliant way with knitwear was realised in plasticised wool tank sweaters and pencil skirts. But it wasn't as coherent as he has been in recent seasons. It was a collection that had many fabulous looks, but will appear a little confused when hanging on the one rail.
