For a brand that is well known for championing all things black, it was interesting to see the Felder Felder girls experiment with colour this morning as they showed their fall 2012 collection at London Fashion Week. The prints that they have been showing over the last few seasons were there but this time came in various shades of orange, yellow, red and blue and one dress in particular was fringed and came in bright orange and wouldn't have looked out of place at a Mark Fast show. While the print pieces often came styled together - much in the way that we saw at brands like Altuzarra last season - they also came teamed with neutral pieces like a simple black top of maxi skirt.
Particularly good this season was the knitwear especially when introduced on the sleeves of outerwear and jumpers came with chunky knitted shoulders, which gave the classic winter staple and an twist. Also new this season was evening wear pieces like a red dress with a high slit and subtle cut out down the chest worn by the painstakingly beautiful Alla Kostromicheva and will no doubt be sported by the Brit pack on the red carpet like Pixie Lott who attended the show.
Yesterday saw the second opening of the British Designers Collective pop up shop in Bicester Village. The event marked the second time the British Fashion Council and the discount retail outlet have collaborated to bring the best of Britain's new designers under one roof. A/W2010 pieces were made available at the event for a select group of press and industry before the carefully selected pieces will be made available for the wider public today.
The collaboration is all in aid of pushing awareness of British brands to an international market. In the welcome speech, a representative from the shopping village explained that their loyal customers are usually from the Middle East and Russia, making the partnership the perfect idea to propel the designers brands globally. 21 designers have participated this year including Jonathan Saunders, Todd Lynn, Felder Felder, Marios Schwab and Fash Pack favourite, Holly Fulton. Accessories were also available from Georgina Goodman, Jane Carr, Fiona Paxton and Lara Bohnic.
It's no secret that the first day of fashion week is always slow as press and celebrities make back their way back from New York but Annette and Dani Felder are clearly doing something right. Jet lagged editors and stars like Coco Summer, Paloma Faith and Shingai Shinowa from The Noisettes all made sure to attend their Spring/Summer 11 show today at Somerset House.
This season the duo wants you to rebel and get mischievous. Citing a rebellious downtown girl facinated by the free spirit era of Easy Rider as their influence, model stomped down the runway to Coco Summer's cover of the Steppenwolf classic 'Born to be Wild' in electric blue lazer cut zig zag leather dresses that also came in black and white styles. Black and grey dresses came printed with rich fuscias and sky blues as did stand out skater skirts.
As you'd expect, the sisters showed leather and lots of it. Leather skirts were high waisted in blue teamed with printed long sleeved tops and like last season chiffon and soft jersey were teamed with black leather corsetry on dresses. The most standout pieces? A black pair of high waisted leather trousers teamed with a sexy cropped top and a simple black cardigan and the printed chiffon dresses in bright red are already on my spring wish list.
Counting Dracula as their inspiration, the twin sisters behind Felder Felder sent out a collection that used contrasting panels of leather and wool, with sheer, ruffled and chained detailing in neutral colours, resulting in a range of young and edgy pieces that attracted the likes of Little Boots, Jaime Winstone and Erin O'Connor to the front row.
The underwear as outerwear trend popped up again in the form of bra tops over nude vests, corset bodices and ruffle-hip nude leather leotards, and it was the leather panels that popped up often throughout the collection that hardened up a series of otherwise feminine skater dresses. Tapping into the current mini-trend of gorilla style fashion, another highlight of the twins' AW10 collection was the fur-sleeved, long-line coats - the black version of which created the perfect finale to another fantastic show.
You'll be forgiven for mistaking German born, London based designers Daniela and Annette Felder for models. Before setting their roots as designers, the identical twins went travelling around Europe using modelling to fund their exploration. After graduating from Central Saint Martins, having interned for the likes of Robert Cary-Williams and milliner Stephen Jones, the duo made a splash on the British Fashion circuit securing a nomination at the British Fashion Awards and a legion of celebrity fans including Estelle and Gwyneth Paltrow.
This week we caught up with the design duo to talk about to talk about inspiring women and their love of Iggy Pop.
It was Mother's Day this weekend. What did you do to celebrate? Hopefully not lie to your mum, like Henry Holland, Alek Wek, Magdalena Frackowiak and the ladies of Felder Felder.
