gfw: kingston round up.

went to see the kingston show with work last monday, felt nice to be watching it this time round, as opposed to sweating it out backstage.. i don't want to say too much as there were other collections that i really liked but looking back through, these are the ones that stand out. for me, ross williams' first menswear look was the most accomplished in the entire show and could have stood its ground easily alongside designers showing at international fashion weeks - love the pleated pinafore over digitally printed suit combo, not to mention the fresh length of trousers.. the other highlight (although you can't see it that well under all that beard) was the flash of teal - just wish there had been more of it...

next up is patricia pereira da costa, who won me over with the most beautiful fluid grey trousers.  i'm always going to like the whole 'simple thing' but da costa had moved it up a notch or two, with everything there done really well - silhouette, colour palette, print, accessories.. probably my favourite collection overall now seeing the pictures, and definitely the strongest when all together in the final line-up.

i'm not a fan of the sickly sweet and when i first saw abi swann's collection come out, i felt like i needed to squeeze a lemon into my eyes but i ended up absolutely loving it - fashion is a far too serious game and this collection put the biggest smile on my face, it really reminded me of the girls from austin powers with the gun boobies...

last up is sum lo wai - perfect rusty orange colour and although done before, the tassel detailing was both fun and sophisticated and helped lift a very simple collection into something really lovely.. this collection also stood out to me as one that could appeal to women of all ages - something mastered by high street label cos.  i think there's a temptation for graduates to focus on appealing to youths their age - playing up to the whole 'cool', fashion-y thing and whilst it is obviously important for the graduate to generate a lot of press and appeal to magazines, i think something can be said for mastering a collection that could be worn equally well by a lady of 60 years as it could by the 18 year old on the catwalk.