London Fashion Week opens with reflective mood at death of McQueen

Reflective mood as London Fashion Week opens

LONDON — Fashionistas erected a memorial wall for Alexander McQueen on Friday, marking the death of the innovative British designer at the start of London’s Fashion Week.

The British trendsetter’s apparent suicide is darkening the mood at the semiannual event — normally a time of canapes, celebrity and frivolity. McQueen was a central force in helping make London cool again in the 1990s, and he is being remembered for remaining true to his vision.

A wall posted with photos and tributes from fans was set up inside the cavernous fashion tent pitched in the courtyard of Somerset House. The comments touched on his genius — and his lasting influence.

“My favorite McQueen creations are his skull clutches and scarves which fuse contemporary edginess and ladylike chic,” wrote Marigay McKee, the fashion and beauty director at Harrods. “His sculptured dresses are also an artform.”

The British designer, known for his cutting-edge creations, was found hanged only days after his mother’s death. McQueen was the son of a London cabbie, and his humble roots served as an inspiration to emerging designers and reinforced London’s image as hip and trendy.

London’s Fashion Week is not as prestigious as its cousins in New York and Paris, but has long promoted its homegrown talents, who add an edgy touch to their clothes. Paul Smith, Vivienne Westwood and Burberry are all set to show their autumn/winter collections.

Despite the unusually somber mood, the trappings of the usual festivities were evident.

Waiters passed around glasses of champagne as the glitteratti circled. Sarah Brown, the wife of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, offered a few words of awe for the designers. A woman in a skintight leopard print leotard snarled for the cameras, showing off massive shoulder pads studded with spikes and severed Barbie doll heads.

Inside the darkened exhibition space, the Fashion Week’s first designers unveiled their wares. Dublin-born Paul Costelloe showed a trenchcoat-heavy camel and caramel colored collection while Caroline Charles offered a defiantly classic look that mixed smartly cut gray tweed coats with touchable white earmuffs.

PAUL COSTELLOE:

Costelloe’s collection’s might keep you warm this winter, but you’ll have trouble looking hot.

Many of the women wore puffy brown box dresses pulled down over black leather leggings. Costelloe’s men’s coats were huge, some skimming the floor and billowing as the models strode the catwalk.

Martina Gallagher, a friend of the show’s organizers, said she found the men’s coats “very swish” but too big.

“He was a bit drowning,” she said of one of the models. The 38-year-old also criticized the wool-like material used in some of the women’s clothing.

“Honestly, I think the women were done too heavy,” she said. Highlights included a set of silvery dresses and an elegant, semi-transparent black top with lines of ruffles running from the wrists to the waist.

CAROLINE CHARLES:

Charles started off with a rigorously classic look: Tweed, fur, gloves, pearls, and oodles of black: black gloves, black hats and black leggings.

A stray flash of green or leopard print kept things from getting too grim, and the collection came into its own when it started experimenting with combinations of black and tarnished gold.

Many of the clothes seemed very wearable, and the models dropped their usual sneers and pouts for warm smiles that perfectly complemented the chirpier outfits.