LFW: Elle4Lisa
22-02-2007
Elle4Lisa – LFW A/W 2007/08
Crowded outside the venue of choice, Café De Paris in the minus degree chill, I was secretly hoping that this show would be worth the frostbite. After waiting for over an hour my sprits were not so high and with my pen and notepad at the ready, I was taking no prisoners.
Once the venue decided to open its doors to the freezing fashionistas outside, the atmosphere was buzzing with anticipation. Although the event was poorly organised with only 30 seats for the hundreds who turned up for the show, the set up itself was rather theatrical, and after seeing previous collections, it looked like we were in for a dramatic show.
Promising a collection of sensual, luxurious and refined styles, the show kicked off with an array of voluminous silk capes with rose details and oversized hoods for the ladies, and for the men, the velvet suits with large cravat type bows and metallic hued shirts, along with slicked back hair and sombre looks on their faces.
A mixture of Venetian velvet, French silks, satins, chiffons and cottons accessorised with ribbon were evident, as well as a contrasting silhouette which went from tight fitted, body con styles to exaggerated shapes which at times, looked too oversized and voluminous that it started to resemble something from the ‘Scottish Widow’ adverts.
The female collection was a mixture of full on frock coats and capes, edgy barely there dresses and skirts (one piece had the entire derrière cut out and deep slashes on the legs which left nothing to imagination – refined and classy? I think not) as well as masculine tailored pieces, using a manly cut and contrasting it with feminine fabrics.
It was clear by the menswear collection that the theme throughout was the ‘Bow’. I say this because I must have seen the same style of the velvet suit, coloured shirt and oversized bow roughly 20 times. I had to pinch myself to convince myself I wasn’t seeing bow shaped stars in my blurring vision. Although it gave the collection a modern edge against historical styles taken from the old 17th Century fashions as well as making the womenswear seem more interesting at times, the menswear was rather repetitive in its use of the oversized bow.
Although there were some really lovely pieces from the womenswear collection, for example the hooded cape in a gorgeous forest green colour, the futuristic silver bomber-type cape (which looked very out of place but was a welcomed change in style) and the slouchy, wide necklines on the structured dresses and again, capes, I did feel that some styles were not demonstrative of the Elle4Lisa’s talent. The backless dresses and ludicrous slashed trousers gave me a bad sense of déjà vu and lacked originality and class. The menswear however was on the whole disappointing due to the lack of imagination and the repetitiveness of the styles. Although there were some nice styles, it was sabotaged by overusing it.
Overall, the show had a nice ambience and crowd, along with a handful of good styles from the womenswear (although I am not sure if the frostbite would agree).
To view more images from the elle4lisa show visit our gallery
By Kyrsty Hazell
