Posted by Fashion Junior at Large
The general consensus flying around Somerset House is that next season is all about English heritage style, and if there is one fabric that captures the essence of English-ness, it's good old-fashioned tweed.
Yes, tweed. The fabric of grandad caps, riding jackets and skirts worn by geography teachers everywhere has been embraced by London designers across the board, and been made to look fresh, exciting and desirable. Blame the Royal wedding, blame the Olympics, even blame the Kings Speech, if you like, because for a while now, there has been a feeling that now is the right time to celebrate our culture and style heritage. Tweed is the perfect fabric to showcase this feeling, and just as silk has overtaken jersey as the reigning summer fabric, tweed has replaced leather as the outerwear fabric of choice for Autumn/Winter 11. These tweedy collections show just how brilliant the Englishwoman can look, if she puts her mind to it.
Jaeger London
AW11 for Jaeger was strong, powerful and elegant. Large lapels on knee skimming jackets with military pockets, and high waisted, wide leg trousers gave traditional tweed a contemporary feeling, whilst referencing its' classic style.
House of Holland
Trust Henry to take something traditional and give it a cheeky twist. The tweed skirt suit was updated with a flippy mini length and black velvet lapels, while the hot pink colour swiftly vamoosed any granny-chic connotations. The classic sweater and slacks combo was also created in a yellowy orange tweed, lending the entire collection a very tongue-in-cheek feeling of retro, ladylike dressing with added naughtiness.
Margaret Howell
Margaret Howell's extremely elegant collection made me want to throw out my garish wardrobe and start again with a neutral palette, refined, classic pieces and some incredible, belted, tweed outerwear. So simple, yet so completely beautiful.
JW Anderson
Both myself and the Fash Ed are MASSIVE JW Anderson fans, and were so excited to see his debut collection just for gals. His womenswear contained all the elements that make us go crazy for his menswear, and in the AW11 presentation he mixed traditional tweed for outerwear with Liberty silks, for a double dose of English heritage.
Mulberry
Mulberry's brilliant English countryside-inspired collection is the perfect vehicle for the tweed trend. Again, updated with a modern colour palette of deep pinks and forest greens, their tweed jackets are the perfect item to get the urban fox running around in some fields, while still looking stylish.
Holly Fulton got playful with tweed, oversizing it and using yellow and black threads to make the fabric come alive!
And last but not least, we have just returned from the typically awe-inspiring Erdem show, where, shock horror, a little bit of tweed crept in amongst his trademark prints. Pictures to follow later!
Basically, if you are wearing anything this Autumn, better make it tweed. London has spoken.
All images: Chris Moore Catwalking (except for Holly Fulton, from
Style.com)
