Stolen Girlfriends Club have taken a more commercial, less risky approach for their AW12 collection but you can’t fault them for putting on a helluva show, and the best opening at a fashion week show so far…
Stolen Girlfriends Club have taken a more commercial, less risky approach for their AW12 collection but you can’t fault them for putting on a helluva show, and the best opening at a fashion week show so far.
The collection isn’t by any means overly designed, but, as they state themselves in the show liner notes, "It’s SGC for everyone this year with a comprehensive offering of wearable silhouettes alongside the more directional and daring." The collection entitled ‘Here Lies the Bones’ follows "A free-spirited globe-trotting magpie with a slightly twisted itinerary on a journey to the darker corners of the globe."
The more daring pieces of past collections didn’t appear this year – my fave collection has to be their slutty Scot schoolgirl look with ripped tights with tartan minis a few seasons back- and in their place, saleable pieces and staples in distinctive prints.
But they can put on a show. They have pulling power and showmanship in spades. Guests waited outside – in mercifully fine weather – for Shed 6 at Rhubarb Lane in Wellesley Street to open the doors, and the largest crowd so far poured inside to be met with scaffolding and a white sheet wall.
Silhouettes moved behind the sheet, creating larger than life shadow puppets as the first model walked out. I thought at first it was their collection in taffeta with leg o’ mutton sleeves, but no, it was a wink and a nudge with retro bridesmaids and weddings gowns from yesteryear set to a pumping Madonna soundtrack of Like A Prayer.
Was I at the bastard child of the Weddings Magazine show and Salasai’s venue of St Matthew’s in the City? Nope, just a joke by SGC, as the models peeled off their gowns to reveal little black dresses. Bridesmaids, let’s party.
How does the show’s opening model, Penny Pickard, manage to rock an 80s bridesmaid dress and look this cool?
Another flammable bridesmaid dress walks out, before the big reveal.
I loved this start to the Stolen Girlfriends Club show – models stripping off bridal wear to reveal the AW12 collection.
What clothes lacked in originality they made up for in styling; this leather jacket has been seen a few times before, but I liked the use of 80s earrings.
This earring even dangled from her hip. The tattoo lace dress was one of the more directional pieces.
Shaggy furcoats – yes, seen last winter – but here again.
I think if trousers are not flattering on a model, what hope do mortals such as I have?
This is a better look for SGC; cute shorts in a signature print – the hip streetwear look that works best for them and their clientele.
This black illustration print was also shown in sheer georgette frilled shirts.
SGC do well when they do updated late eighties retro, as seen in this cutaway black dress which to me evokes the prom dress Molly Ringwald sews up in Pretty in Pink. There’s an inspiration for next year’s show, perhaps?
I would have liked to have seen more of their menswear; it only walked once, quickly in the finale.
Who says fashion designers are two-dimensional? A cardboard cut-out of Luke Harwood walks at the finale held up by co-designers Marc Moore and Dan Gosling.
Hair was styled by Greg Murrell and the Ryder team for KMS California. The show featured hair pulled back off the face, fastened at the back of the head with a series of three knots sewn to the head, with the resulting ponytails pinned to the knots, and the ends allowed to drop towards the nape of the neck.
.jpg)
The key make-up artist was Fatima Thomas for M.A.C Cosmetics with the inspiration, “Patrick Nagel’s Illustrations From The 80’s – Flawless, Matte Complexion With A ‘Slept-In Eye.’”
The make-up chart is below:
By Megan Robinson
31 August 2011
Photography by Kevin Robinson.
Leave a Reply