Designers dream of flamboyant winter at London Fashion Week

LONDON, Feb 11, 2008 (AFP) - Fall-winter collections promise to be a flamboyant affair this year, with a designer as well known for his affinity to black as John Rocha, who opened the second day of London Fashion Week on Monday February 11th, having succumbed to luminous orange and bright pink.

The Hong Kong-born Irish stylist's collection explored "a new tailored silhouette to portray a modern and slightly quirky femininity."

His resulting effort included dresses and skirts, often above the knee, and sometimes padded or with textured overlays which helped the designer create dresses with a bell or lantern-like effect around the waist.

The collection included outfits in tomato red, candy pink, purple and gold, with cashmere and wool sitting comfortably alongside silk.

At PPQ, tulle and silk were put front and centre in the "Freedom to party" collection, which included black ball gowns peppered with small planets in luminous colours and silk combi-shorts in the season's dominant colours of coppery orange, mustard and plum.

There were also several instances of outfits with broken lines, with seams and clothing seemingly out of place, seen for example in the Sinha-Stanic collection.

Also on show Monday were quilted outfits, along with some examples of overlapping fur, that played with differing volumes, with combinations of a bolero put together with tight-fitting tops and bouffant skirts.

Jasper Conran's collection put out a more classical offering, with pleated dresses in monochrome gray, black, ivory and cream, combined with vivid colours such as mustard and emerald green.

The duo behind Eley Kishimoto opted for a graphical and geometrical set, with jackets reminiscent of the 1960s, along with raspberry corduroy outfits combined with white gloves.

Meanwhile, Amanda Wakeley's collection is likely to help women hoping to cope with an especially harsh winter with its array of fur stoles and boleros.