Evening wear has been getting a lot of love in London where designers including Erdem, Mary Katrantzou and Simone Rocha have been cleverly building on the idea of glamour that ruled the Autumn runway season.
This season's update is the bubble hemline, the voluminous pouf that Cristobal Balenciaga made famous. The house's creative director Demna Gvasalia brought the look back into the spotlight when he recreated five archival gowns for his AW17 collection and the pouf is now becoming one of the most unlikely and appealing trends of London Fashion Week so far. Let's have a look shall we?
Mary Katrantzou cleverly used sporty drawstrings to create the iconic shape in a collection that mixed elements of athleisure with 'festive dress' in an Eighties colour palette. In her press notes, she described the collection as a 'restless nostalgia for the signs, signifiers and symbols of youth' — something most of us can probably relate to.
Erdem's take on the idea, a Fifties inspired pouf of a dress with an embroidered tulle overlay, had a much grander tone. But that's to be expected when one's collection is inspired by such icons as The Queen, Dorothy Dandridge and Billie Holiday. His dresses — fantastic stunners in jewel tone brocades, crystal embroidered florals and silk tinsel — would elevate any red carpet.
Simone Rocha's version, meanwhile, may have been inspired by a different era entirely (the designer is known for mining the Victorian and Edwardian periods), but her elongated puffs, here more sweet and romantic than glamorous in ivory, added fuel to the trend nonetheless.
Emilia Wickstead, however, showed the most faithful ode to the Cristobal puff yet in pretty florals and a soft sage green. Prepare to dress up this spring.
