International Fashion Showcase 2017

Eclectic exhibition at Somerset House organised by the British Council, British Fashion Council and Mercedes Benz as part of London Fashion Week to showcase emerging international designers with over 80 designers from 26 countries. There was a loose theme of local\global.

Most of the show was a series of countries that had taken rooms and featured a selection of their designers. Some stuck more closely than others to the local/global theme and some were arranged more like installations than a display to show off the clothes. Can I have a small whinge here at exhibitions which use flashing lights in their displays? I find this very distracting and I find it hard to look at the thing which is meant to be on show.

On the whole most of the clothes weren’t that practical and I’m not sure I’ll be wearing them for the office. I did like the Indian display which had an interesting striped woollen suit on it and other designs on a pastoral theme. I fell for some handbags in the Egyptian room based on a bud of cotton. Also, but I don’t remember which room it was in, a wonderful wrap which slits for the material to slot through to keep it round you.

The entrance hall featured designers from countries which didn’t have displays and I fell for a lovely straight silk dress (pictured here) with a bold pink design based on Japanese Indigo paintings. Now that I could wear.

Closed on 21 February 2017

 

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