Designer A-Z

Peter Pilotto

Autumn/Winter 2012

By Rebecca Lowthorpe

The challenge for all London’s print designers – ever since London became mission control for the whole digi-print revolution – has been to take ownership of what they do best without feeling, well, a bit last season.

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Peter Pilotto and partner Christopher de Vos, whose prints are part of their brand’s bloodstream, tackled this test wisely by drilling home the message that they can cut just as well as print. They literally stamped their mark with their scissors this season: the dresses were stricter curvier, sharper. The trousers were leaner and meaner. And their new bomber jacket? Straight to the top of many editors’ personal wishlist - marked ‘priority’.

And what of the prints? They wisely continued with their rip-roaring digi-prints – this time of customised Japanese trucks and abstracted opera masks in a spectrum from searing lime to rich navy and every blue and green in between, plus the occasional volcanic burst of lava red.

Yes, it was darker and sexier, too. ‘They understand and celebrate women’s bodies without ever being too overt,’ said Ken Downing, the fashion director of the American store, Neiman Marcus. ‘And they’re brilliant at translating the trends of the season within their own vocabulary.’

London’s trend for big blooms? Check. An unusual twist on a pencil skirt - theirs had fluttering hanky hems? Tick. Bedazzling beadwork and sequins laid over prints? Yup. And an altogether tougher, more powerful image of womanhood? Absolutely.

So who were they looking at this season? ‘We were so impressed by the women we met in China when we visited Shanghai and Hong Kong last year, they definitely inspired us.

London’s strong Asian influence? Check, again.

Ken Downing, fashion director of Neiman Marcus: ‘I’m a fan, and more importantly my customers are fans. They understand and celebrate women’s bodies; it’s sexy without being overt. I mean, they really love women so they really speak to women. They translate the trends of the season but within their vocabulary.’