Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s Autumn/Winter ‘Merit Award’ Winner,
Phoebe English has had the fashion media’s full attention since winning the
coveted award. With her first solo-showcase, it was the young-designer’s first
“all eyes on me” showing; a prospect that would have most ill at ease. However,
this season, we saw something that proved entirely otherwise from the acclaimed
designer.
Opening the show, maintaining previous seasons’ palettes- a
mostly monochromatic affair- we saw English’s exploration of her treatment of
rubber carry through into next season’s collection. However, skirts with planes
of shivering sand-washed viscose, set against sculptural heavy knits carried a
depth of texture that communicated English’s growth as a designer since her
graduate showcase.
As more looks made their way down the runway, hemlines went
from asymmetric, thigh-skimming, to full-length in translucent, stony rubber.
Sticking with black, the contrasting, layered textures- with latticed,
lacquered latex- became more drastic in their difference, proving English’s
talent is in her ability to showcase textures with minimal colour- minimal, not “monochrome” being this
season’s biggest difference.
Only last month, English confessed to ELLE’s Emily Cronin
that she was uncomfortable with moving into “bolder” coloured territory; but
not content in a place of safety, English pushed as far out of her “comfort
zone” as tonally possible, with- quite literally- shocking pink. Bands of
hot-pink, silk-screened gloss introduced a weightiness to the show’s previous
viscose draping, enabling the all-black stoicism to transition into pink
without looking “Barbie”. Still proving that a great deal of her skill is in
experimental surface-textures, depth was added by way of the collection’s dense
wool-uppers, and their fibre-glass finish produced by layers of fine, broken,
rubber weave. If there’s anything to be learnt about English from her Autumn/
Winter collection, it’s that the ‘Merit Award’ winner’s future is likely as
bright as her recent foray into colour- and that, is bright indeed.
Sara McAlpine (@sara_mcalpine)
Photography: Christopher Dadey