LONDON FASHION WEEK NEWBIE

What I'm wearing: 

JAEGER Stripped shirt

GINA TRICOT Asymmetrical skirt 

NEW LOOK Sandals 

UNKNOWN Sunglasses 

Hi world. So here we are in February…. The month of love, chocolate and roses, but for some reason the only thing I really associate the second month of the year with is FASHION. Oh yes fashion – fashion in all aspects. With fashion week going on in New York and London Fashion Week right around the corner I am more than thrilled to see what this season will bring. Last year around this time I was scrolling through my Instagram news feed enjoying different snapshots of fashion week around the world. Little did I know that a few months later I would actually attend one. Personally, fashion week has never really been all about the shows, because let’s be real, how many shows does a so-called newbie have access to? No, what I found interesting and to some point quite intriguing were the people I saw outside the catwalk.

Fashion week is namely the only place where you just did not want to ‘blend in’ with everyone else, owing to the fact that nobody would notice you and actually want to take pictures of you. See, I wasn’t aware of this when I attended London Fashion Weekend in September last year. Although I was beyond excited to be there and had the perfect outfit in mind, I ended up just looking like the girl next door. Even worse, nobody stopped me to ask me where my sandals were from as they did to someone else wearing shoes that excuse my language, looked like bricks. Admittedly I felt over the top, maybe a little bit overdressed and slightly feeling myself a bit too much.

The sun was shining, I had my sunglasses on and for a quick second it felt like it was all about me. This was just until I made it to Somerset House and saw all these different fashion enthusiasts e.g. bloggers, stylists, photographers, you name it. Wow! I felt like a newbie in an instant! But I still managed to pose for a picture in front of the famous ‘London Fashion Weekend’ signboard and immediately uploaded it on all social platforms, because hey – now I was one of “them”.

However, being a fashion student, a year older and wiser, my view on LFW has really changed. Not in a bad way or anything of that sort, I think I’m just very fascinated about it all – the people, the shows and just the atmosphere in general.

 Moreover, I got the biggest grin on my face when they published the show schedule for this season, with so many designer graduates from Central Saint Martins and London College of Fashion such as the incredibly talented Bora Aksu, who had a gorgeous S/S15 ballet inspired ready-to-wear collection, which by the way was like being taken into another world. As Bora mentioned in an interview with Vogue.com, he really did create something light. “I wanted to create something light and weightless but at the same time not too nostalgic.” If you haven’t seen the collection yet, please do – because it is exactly what he describes it to be like. In addition to UAL designer graduates on the schedule this season is LCF graduate Lucas Nascimento, who in so many ways is quite different from Aksu. His S/S15 collection semaphored contemporary colourfulness. With lovely cuts, great lengths and bright colours he definitely had a collection to remember.

Although both designers are completely different in their own way, one thing is for sure. They do not fail to deliver contemporary collections, which is also a reason why I’m so fascinated about the fashion industry and I can’t wait to see what they have to show us this time around. Now with an understanding of how the industry works, how effective and extremely talented people are I am so eager to experience it all over again.

So if you’re like me a newbie to this whole fashion week thing and you don’t really know what to do or how to dress, just make sure to get there in time, dress to not only impress but to stand out and have a blast! Enjoy your time, because you might just be lucky as I was last September and end up getting a seat front row. Good luck.

I hope it was a good read! 
Until next time, 
Mell O.