Runway Rundown: London Fashion Week

At Tom Ford’s show in London last week, floor-to-ceiling mirrors obscured the walls, and the soft gray velvet sofas were custom-built to fit the room. Thus ensconced, guests sat and played with their champagne flutes before the show began, feeling, for the first time since the international run of fashion weeks began, many snowstorms ago, in New York, like they were at a catwalk show in the movies.
Ford, who is originally from Texas, presents his collections in London, and his show is usually rollicking and frankly vulgar, leaning toward pasted-on dresses that leave no doubt as to the wearer’s desire (even if, in reality, it’s only for attention). This season, his offerings were relatively tame—at least, by Ford standards—which meant, for instance, that a two-piece fire-engine-red crocodile ensemble was without further embellishment. The models wore stiletto boots that were initialled “TF,” a high-end version of the kind of decoration that used to require a BeDazzler. There were sequinned dress-length football jerseys decorated with the number “61” (Ford’s birth year) and the word “molly” with a slash through it, a reference, knowing audience members whispered to their clueless seatmates, to Jay Z’s anti-drug lyric “I don’t pop molly, I rock Tom Ford.”
At Mary Katranzou, the dresses were slick and lovely enough for a young BAFTA nominee, and, in fact, those awards were taking place on the same evening. (Red-carpet devotees, who rushed back to their hotel televisions, were disappointed to find that, unlike their American counterparts, the Brits offered only a measly half-hour red-carpet pre-show, not the marathon that we are treated to Stateside before our own awards programs.) Some of Katranzou’s clever frocks were made of sewn-together patches the size and shape of Boy Scout merit badges; others were constructed of chain mail hung with dangling charms. One startling sweatshirt sported a 3-D penguin that appeared to emerge from the front (cute, if you like 3-D penguins), reminiscent of a Comme des Garçons frock in stores right now, which is made of some kind of flowered, papery material and has a whole Teddy bear (not detachable) stuck to its bodice.