Michael van der Ham's all grown-up

Michael van der Ham is Londons prince of patchwork, master of taking a jumble of fabrics and whipping them up into breathtaking dresses.

By ELLE UK and NonePublished: 22 February 2011

<p>But maybe he's worried about being pigenholed, because for autumn hes decided to take a slightly different tack and focused on silhouette rather than contrasting patterns. So, the first few looks of the show were velvet dresses in block colours (hello

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But maybe he's worried about being pigenholed, because for autumn hes decided to take a slightly different tack and focused on silhouette rather than contrasting patterns. So, the first few looks of the show were velvet dresses in block colours (hello Christmas party outfit) that retained the crooked, jigsaw seams and mismatched sleeves and hems of his usual creations but stuck to just one fabric.

He also took his first stab at knitwear, offering up navy sweater dresses and ladylike cardigans that were threaded with vintage-style lurex roses and teamed with lightweight, flared trousers (without doubt the essential trouser shape of the season). And there were even some coats too, draped woolen numbers with the same mismatched sleeves and uneven hems.

All in all it was grown-up and lovely, and showed that Van der Ham's happy to move outside of his comfort zone

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