"Opera meets rock 'n' roll" was the theme of John Rocha's autumn-winter 2007 collection shown at London Fashion Week yesterday, at which he also unveiled a new menswear collection and details of his Mayfair shop due to open in August on London's Dover Street. Deirdre McQuillan reports from London
The two collections, both monochrome, were a study in contrasting approaches and proportions; the womenswear voluminous and decorative with intricate crochet and patchwork embellishment, the menswear sharp and close-fitting with coats belted military style and city suits flecked with tiny hints of shine.
Skin-tight trousers, often at half mast, were common to both, emphasising a lean, Teddy boy silhouette or the angular shape of a tent dress with huge bell sleeves.
If at times many items in the women's collection seemed unnecessarily overloaded with detail - who can wear cumbersome belted capes or oversize crochet coats with bucket sleeves? - sweet little black dresses with silk and satin panels and cropped frock coats with frou-frou derrières looked more romantic and delicate.
Two Danish collections stood out yesterday; one from Noir, showing for the third time in London, and the other from Peter Jensen, a young designer growing in stature each season. Noir, as its name suggests, produced a collection that seemed aimed at the woman of the night, all sleek black jackets and ruffled shirts with Swarovski crystal in ribbon-like strips snaking across the body.
Even daywear items like black taffeta trenchcoats, brass-buttoned waistcoats and jackets with a metallic sheen, had a cool Nordic glamour.
Peter Jensen's collection inspired by the l6th century beauty, Princess Christine of Denmark, was an idiosyncratic look at modern power dressing and took Holbein's portrait of her as his starting point. Medieval-style robes were in utilitarian nylon, Harris tweed suits with long skirts were cut on the bias and black organza pinafore dresses were worn with cheeky paper crowns.
It was a new kind of luxury and elegant, but kept a tough woman in mind; colours were sombre, and steel-grey chainmail hoodies looked like the armour of today's urban warriors.