I spent an inappropriately long time hanging out with British designers at the Centre For Fashion Enterprise pop-up showroom at the Soho Grand this morning.
With coffee in hand, I caught up with Hannah Marshall, Richard Nicoll, Jean Pierre-Braganza and the team behind Aminaka Wilmont - also, I got up close and personal with Anna's favorite Meadham Kirchoff dress.
Let's start with Hannah, the name on everyone's lips this season. The tightly edited collection - her fifth, actually - includes armored dresses, textured pants and snakeskin harnesses. "I've just made this catsuit for Beth Ditto and it's confirmed she'll wear it in her new album artwork! Actually, she called me and was like, Can I order eight of them? Or no maybe like twelve?"
Post-Hannah, I literally fell into Jean Pierre-Braganza's furs. The Canadian/Brit designer's been showing in Milan for the past couple seasons and for Fall 09 he went with a futuristic Native American battle theme.
"It's the first time I've done furs," he said. "Saga sponsored me and the furs were really important to my design vision. I don't think I actually thought they'd really sell so well but they're doing amazing with buyers."
"Is that often the case?" I asked.
"Yes!" he laughed. "Honestly I'm always surprised by what sells best. It's kind of fascinating."
That trend continued throughout the morning. Marcus Wilmont of Aminaka Wilmont said the exact same thing.
