Halfway through Paris Fashion Week and two weeks after London Week, there is an event worth noticing, which is not Milan Fashion Week but a smaller organization, for the wider public. Unlike Greek Fashion Week, the New York/London/Milan/Paris ones are only for sellers/buyers/press, so if you are crazy about fashion the Fashion Weekend is the perfect solution. Held at the Somerset House, 24-27 February.
Apart from the catwalk, where Spring/Summer 2011 trends were presented, there were stands of different brands available with discounted products especially for the Weekend. I wasn’t really impressed by the shops with minor exceptions, like certain pieces of jewerly, Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, and Tony&Guy products and drop-in hair salon; the brands were not as well-known as expected although some clothes/accessories were pretty nice.
Photo: Zara Martin by Spencer Sunar
So let’s focus on the best part—the catwalk! The presentation was amazing, Zara Martin was the hostess and explained the different trends and designers of the 30-minute show. First came an inspiration from Black Swan’s costumes (7 costumes made by Rodarte- the Mulleavy sisters), named Swan Vesta with a pastel and monochromatic colour palette, a mixed calmness of the theatrical/ballet costumes together with a summer glamour. Below was the look I liked the most:
Jacket, Top and Skirt by Reem, Silver Fox Collar by Rebecca Bradley, Garter by Agent Provocateur (not pictured)
Photo: by Nick Delaney
The next part of the show was the collection of Bora Aksu, London-based Turkish designer who was inspired for this collection by ants and their shape. This was shown on corsets and armour-like clothes. Personally I didn’t really like the other pieces much, but this one was pretty nice:
Photo: by Nick Delaney
Then came Lady Brights, a favourite of mine, a presentation of the big trend of colour blocking —mixing really bright colours together— but from an “English-lady” point of view. This was my favourite piece:
Bright Blue Dress by Lungta de Fancy, Stole by Charles Anastase, Sours Platform Shoes by Kandee
Last, but certainly not least, was the collection of Canadian-born Mark Fast (who uses models of various dress sizes in an attempt to fight the “size zero debate”, something really important and rare nowadays). His clothes sometimes resemble sculptures, because of the volume created by lycra-and-wool-mixed fringes. Last September he also added Swarovski crystals to some of his pieces making them even more desirable. 
The yellow dress (second) and the red with the crystals (fourth) were my favourites from Mark Fast’s collection. The shoes, pictured below are Christian Louboutin for Mark Fast and are available in other colours as well.
The closing of the show by Mark Fast:
Overall, the experience was nice although the tickets were kind of over-priced especially since I wasn’t expecting teens all over the place. I’m not complaining though, definitely had fun and received a goody bag and a complementary copy of Elle !
Feel free to share any similar experiences you had either by directly commenting on the post or through “ask me anything” section !
xo F
