London Fashion Week starts tomorrow with the most avant-garde and extravagant fashion shows of the season. Here 5 young talents of fashion design absolutely to watch.
PAULA KNORR
After an MA degree at the Royal College of Art and the win at ITS (International Talents Support) 2015, the German designer Paula Knorr starts a free-lance career for Peter Pilotto and many important brands. The same year she launched her own label, winning the NEWGEN prize of the British Fashion Council, and only two years later presented the SS17 collection during the London Fashion Week with great success. Fluidity is the keyword to understand her style: metallized fabrics glide over the body, cut-on-the-bias satin drawings sensual and tight silhouettes, shiny fringes and long flounces moved the outfts, with a sense of deep sensuality and just wispered vintage inspirations.
RICHARD MALONE
Graduated at Central Saint Martins BA Fashion Womenswear in 2014, Richard Malone was immediately noted for his talent and won the LVMH Grand Prix scholarship and then the Deutsche Bank Award for Fashion. With his own label he presented for 3 seasons his collections with Fashion East and started to appear in numerous magazines, such as Love, Vogue, AnOther and Dazed. His colorful style is characterized by the mix and match of different prints and the use of stripes and checks to emphasize geometric and hyper-voluminous shapes, while swirls and other interesting details can surely catch the eyes.
XIAO LI
With a BA Womenswear degree from London College of Fashion in 2012 and then at Royal College of Art with a specialization in knitwear in 2013, the Chinese Xiao Li became immediately known for her innovation in knitwear technologies and won many important prizes such as the Loro Piana Award for Best Knitwear Collection and the ITS Diesel Award. Hyperbolic shapes and constructed volumes plays together with the most unusual knitwear techniques and materials like silicone or rubber, for a “marshmallow chic” aspect. Passing time her style is even more refinedand focused on pure color sculpured silhouettes, oversize proportions with clear references to the past, with knitwear as abosolute protagonist of her collections.
RYAN LO
From Hong Kong and London, the self-taught (from YouTube knitwear tutorials!) designer Ryan Lo captures the attention of buyers and customers thanks to his incredible and dreamy vision. An adolescent imagery, rich in pastel and brigt colors, flounces and frills, diy techniques and pop inspirations. For Hello Kitty lovers or for who never wants to grow up to keep intact the gracefulness and the thoughtlessness of children.
(images from OnFeature, Jamie Stoker photographer, twin factory, the fashion spot, enquire magazine, dazed & confused)
FAUSTINE STEINMETZ
The French designer Faustine Steinmetz studiet before at Atelier Chardon Savard in Paris and then at Central Saint Martins in London. After working experiences for Jeremy Scott and other brands, she launched her own brand in 2013. In may 2017 she won the prestigious prize Swarovski Award for her ethical and sustainable approach to design and the innovative use of traditional fabrics and crystals. Interested more to craftmanship then the transient and fast fashion trends, she bought a handloom and started to work with yarns and recycled materials, giving importance to the raw aspect of fibers and artisanal techniques for dying and looming.
