Late show makes lasting impression

Oct 1 2007 by Hannah Davies, The Journal

Vicky Pepys finds Fallen Angels at Fashion Week. Pictures by Chris Moore.

THE last day of London Fashion Week; one of last shows in the official schedule at a venue fast winding down; it’s a tough slot to fill.

It doesn’t help that Fashion Fringe, the previous show on the schedule and a big crowd puller, runs late. It’s a roundabout way of saying hold ups earlier in the day now make the Modernist Show 50 minutes late to start, and we’re all getting a little edgy.

But there’s an excitement, too. Modernist is the only design label to receive funding for both a catwalk show and an exhibition stand under the New Generation scheme sponsored by Top Shop. Something special is about to happen.

Modernist you may remember is the design duo who made it through to the Fashion Fringe competition finals a year and a half ago. Fashion Fringe was “invented” by fashion critic and author Northumberland-born Colin McDowell as a way of rooting out the design and business qualities of fashion graduates already in the business, but with potential of running their own empires.

Sierra Leonean Abdul Koroma and Cramlington-born Andrew Jones (a former BTec fashion student at Newcastle College), both graduates of Kingston Polytechnic, met while working for Max Mara in Italy and decided in their spare-time to create their own label for the purposes of entering the yearly competition. Although not an outright winner, being a very close second made them even more determined to be present at the next Fashion Week and they managed to attract buyers in London, New York, Singapore, Jakarta, Bangkok and Riyadh for their current Neo Couture A/W line, an all-black collection with workwear-inspired detailing which included a hand-knitted cashmere dinner jacket.

The lights eventually dim, the soundtrack turns to full volume and with a burst of brightness from the disco lights, and the first outfit is on stage.

This is Spring Summer 08, a collection called Fallen Angels and what’s being billed as “punky nymphs ready for an elegant fall in the concrete jungle”.

There’s a similarity in the detail to their very first collection, all designers develop their own signature and you can occasionally glimpse the oh-so sophisticated interpretation of workwear and particularly dungarees, but these “cotton-pickin” styles are body-defining, body-revealing, and all terribly elegant. There’s a glimpse of jet-set resort, a hint of red carpet, and all highly individual.

Twelve minutes later, (yes 27 outfits equals 12 minutes catwalk time) it’s over… the still-too-shy-to-take-a-bow pair wave and turn away. The last slot in show week Modernist may be for now, but bet you it ain’t for long.