Commonword Blogs

Two Fashion Shows: Kirette & Platt Fields

People often comment on my sartorial style, wondering where do I shop, how do I find such marvellous garments. Total strangers have been known to gasp and shout out, ‘hey, look at that guy: if only I had a shirt like that!’ I’ve finally decided to let you all in on the secret of my style success: I am a keen frequenter of fashion shows.

And so when the opportunity to attend Kirrette Couture’s Summer Launch at the trendy, Joe’s Bar, Manchester, 30 May 09, it was not the promise of VIP treatment or the chance to mingle with high society that attracted me. It was the sure-fire certainty that I would be discovering the latest trends from one of the hottest new design schools.

Those Kirette people did not let me down. It was a magnificent occasion. The clothes were displayed in the trendiest way: a cross between catwalk and gallery. The models sashayed up and down the runway, then mounted small wooden plinths and posed Vogue/Hollywood style.

The crowd whooped, bulbs flashed. A poet broke out into verse. If some of the guys in the stalls did seem to be weighing up the models more than the dresses, it was understandable. They were all very pretty (the models, that is). They also all had very muscular and athletic boyfriends ostentatiously watching from the VIP section.

So, what’s the scoop? Cameroon-inspired silhouettes are going to be all the rage. The shiny skirts were fine, but it was the non-shiny, cotton dresses, with small flower prints on them that really wowed the crowds. I name that style African Meadows. It will be the hot new thing this Summer. Thanks Kirette Couture!

Feast Organics Launch, Platt Fields Park, Manchester, UK

Occasionally a Fashion event comes out of the blue and spins my world. The Feast Organics range was one such moment. Moving undercover at the outdoor Festival/Fair called Feast, an intrepid male couple showed off an out-there new range of prêt a porter. The first guy was wearing an organic coat. Specifically a coat made entirely out of mustard cress – I could smell the mustard. Very fetching it was too, exhibiting a soft green, rippling fabric effect.

His colleague zipped about in a suit of brown linoleum. Yes, lino, such as sticks to the floors of student kitchens across the UK. He looked wholly comfortable in it too. Which was the greater achievement? The cress suit would mean one would never go hungry, and very healthy cress is too. The lino suit would mean no more embarrassing moments passing out drunk on students’ kitchen floors, since you would merge with the existing floorcover. I could not decide which was more inspired.

These guys had more. In a mobile wardrobe they showcased tops, bikinis and skirts, all made out of sea shells and Welsh slate. Plucking one brave spectator from their rapt audience, they encouraged her to slip off her day clothes and climb into their creations. This she did with an embarrasing keenness, volunteering to go starkers in the name of organic fashion.

Decency prevailed, perhaps to the disappointment of some in the crowd. She went on to twirl and shimmy in a full range of shell couture, professing herself a convert. At her bow, the crowd gave her a hearty applause. These mystery Revolutionary Organic designers then disappeared with their wardrobe. True innovators, they have convinced me cress-lino cloth fashions will be huge in 2010. Mark my words.