London Fashion Week S/S 14 Kicks Off with Bora Aksu

The first show of the season and the new British Fashion Council catwalk space was all new, crisp and fresh ready for Aksu to show his Turkish inspired collection. Born and raised in Turkey this was his 10th year at London Fashion Week and 10 years since Aksu left Turkey and based his business in the British capital.

His first look was an all-white silhouette made up of textured cotton, embroidered in detail contrasted with soft and elegant sleeves. The mix of sheer and solid created an angelic feel based on his childhood of summer sun and frivolous fun. It was translated well and clearly shown that his collection linked back to his youth, the use of crochet, texture and pattern on a soft array of whites and china blues created a perfect outfit for a summer setting. You could imagine the sand and conjure up images of the picnics from his childhood and the landscape around him.

 

One dress that struck me was made up of layers, the under-dress was fitted close to the body with a high neck, on top was a translucent layer of blue chiffon, it almost represented waves from the days spent on the Aegean coast where Bora took a lot of inspiration for his collection.

Fitted pencil skirts were combined with loose boxy crop tops which were crocheted perfectly to sculpt the neckline elegantly. Tassels appeared in a very traditional way on the hems of skirts, it added fun to an innocent collection. Mixed woven patterns appeared everywhere, but prominently on shirts with Peter Pan cut collars.

Suddenly hot pink appeared half way through the collection injecting colour and vibrancy to it all, followed by sunshine yellow outfits which were softened with a white mix. The colours worked well for the high summer season. Commercial pieces could be drawn from this, fit & flare dresses were a highlight and so were the cropped shirts which were a favourite; a silhouette I’ll certainly be keeping my eye on.

By Sannita Hancock