Designer A-Z

STELLA MCCARTNEY SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Autumn/Winter 2012

SHOW SCHEDULES

By Carrie Tyler

The return of Stella McCartney to the London fashion week schedule was shrouded in mystery.

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Rumours centred around an Olympic sportswear collection, was it a show, was it a presentation? We should really know better than to second guess Stella McCartney, the queen of throwing a curveball.

To set the scene: a black tie dinner in the grand surroundings of a former church in Mayfair accompanied by a full orchestra. Stella's mates in residence on a table plan that saw Kate Moss , Rihanna , Jamie Hince and Shalom Harlow swap puddings with Alexa Chung , Yasmin Le Bon and Amber Valetta, each wearing a slinky fluid gown or Jessica Rabbit curve-inducing number all from McCartney's eveningwear collection—the focus of this "presentation".

That might have been a starry enough return to the London schedule for most, but the action was only just beginning. The band hushed, a chap that looked remarkably similar to one of Siegfried and Roy took to the stage, beckoning Alexa Chung with him. With one click of his fingers Chung went limp, and was positioned flat across three swords before they were removed and she levitated. Yes, levitated.

But there was more of course. Some of the exquisitely dressed guests—the few we hadn't recognised—jumped up from their seats and burst in to a choreographed dance routine that then included Amber, Shalom and Yasmin. Colourful gowns collided with minimal black sheaths in what was fashion's version of West Side Story.

And then we shuffled off in to the night, quite convinced we'd been dreaming it all...