Ignata International Fashion at LFW f/w 2019

London Fashion Week kicked off last Friday the 15th of February and, of course, The Ignata International Fashion Team couldn’t miss the big event!

Giovanni, Ineta and I are regularly attending fashion events to keep up to date with the changes in the industry, it’s also a great opportunity for networking and, of course, it’s fun! Friday happened to be also the first day of work of our newest addition to the team Viktorija, so we were very happy to start her off with this LFW tour together.

The first show we attended was Johan Ku in the amazing Fashion Scout venue at Freemason’s Hall.

As soon as we arrived at the venue the “people show” started! We were bang in the middle of a cool crowd of Fashionistas, Bloggers and of course Influencers – Among  many others it’s worth mentioning the Pink haired twins (https://grazia.com.au/articles/pink-haired-twins-dominated-fashion-week-fw18/) .

Johan Ku is a Taiwanese designer now based in London and presents his collections in New York, LA, Paris, and Tokyo.

His last season’s collection (SS19 ) was a great success and it was based on the Luca Guadagnino’s film adaptation of the 2007 André Aciman novel Call Me by Your Name which premiered in cinemas in the UK.

For this FW 19 season Johan carried on the same theme, proposing his collection in a romantically dramatic environment. The show started with a contemporary dance which set a theatrical atmosphere and the collection itself was aligned with the designer’s handwriting. Based on the idea of breaking through the boundaries between fashion and art creating a combination of sculpture-like silhouettes with the unique textures of knitted fabrics.

Personally I loved the sculptural knits, but I didn’t find much cohesion within the pieces in the collection. Having said that “Clashing prints and colours “are a big trend” at present, therefore maybe the bond could be found in the non-bonding flow of garments.

Up next we headed downstairs to the presentation of Riona Treacy.

Irish born and London Based, Riona started her career in Textile design and this totally shines through the bold prints and hand dyed fabrics that constituted the main pillar of her collection. The silhouettes are clean and simple to compensate the elaborated fabrics and the fusion of the two are intended to enhance the female forms.

Big shout for the hair and makeup choices, the models looked like attractive marine figures, with wet-like hair “attached” to their faces and the makeup preferred green and blue tones.

The choreography encouraged the interaction with the public and the models walked around the venue mixing up with people which I believe was a winning choice as it promoted intimacy to the performance.

Photography Serichai TraipoomAfter Riona’s presentation we walked to 180 The Strand, this year’s official LFW venue.

First we attended the Marta Jakubowsky Show and that, I have to say, was the highlight of my day.

The London Based, Polish born designer showcased an elegant collection, in line with her   minimalist signature aesthetic that has evoked endorsement from the likes of Beyoncé and Rihanna and gained international recognition.

The collection focused on tailored pieces that highlighted the importance of old school craftsmanship and timeless elegance. The collection just flew together very well from one look to another and it was, very importantly, wearable.

She put her own twist on classic chic and the beautiful tango she used for the music added even more emotional level to an already very passionate and enticing show.

Style wise, the models were wearing their hair backward in a sophisticated chignon and were “biting” an exotic flower in their mouths. According to Anna, the reason of the flower is tied to a line from Cixous’s “The Laugh of the Medusa”: “She spits Anthuriums. She will not be silenced.” Which has been the main inspiration theme for her collection.

What a show! I could not hold a loudly shouted “Brava!”  (Italian style) and an emotional and energetic clap!

At the end of the show we enjoyed making the most of the freebies around (Deodorants, Magazines and Popcorn like there’s no tomorrow!) and we made our way to the official “LFW designers showroom” in the same building.

Among the many beautiful things on show I was particularly attracted by an Italian Glasses designer brand, Marco Lanero, for their super light and super stylish titanium glasses that see Japan as their core business. The Irma Cipolletta Sculptural bags were also a main attraction for me, Irma is actually an architect, and this definitely shows in the geometric structures of her leather bags collections, accompanied by special attention to details, a contemporary touch and a minimal aesthetic. Finally, we ended the LFW day in the Kocca party (Kocca is a Korean Creative Content Agency - KOCCA)

The agency “provides support to organisations in the Korean content industry in areas of fashion, animation, character licensing, music, mobile content, games and broadcasting to ensure they have a strong competitive edge in the creative landscape. KOCCA strives to ensure that Korean content is at the forefront of the rapidly changing content environment, increasing its competitiveness in the global market “. ?

The collections were beautifully crafted and we were greeted with a Mignon Champaign bottle with the wholly important “Sustainable” straw, made of metal rather than plastic. Beautiful!

At the end of a Long day we were excited, enriched and definitely exhausted too! We joint our colleagues (from Ignata and Gemini People) at Bond Street for a celebratory drink for our Colleague’s Sophie Birthday and we all left for the weekend. What a lovely way to end an amazing Day.