NYFW has wrapped, which means it’s now London’s turn to showcase the latest fashion offerings for the SS27 season. Best known for spotlighting emerging talent, this London Fashion Week will feature collections from Tolu Coker, Talia Byre, and Lovebirds. It will also feature established houses including Simone Rocha, ERDEM, and Burberry, who will close the season on Monday 21st September. Perhaps the most exciting show of this LFW will be McQueen – after decades of showing in Paris, the brand is making its way back to London for its big homecoming. The Mulberry show is also highly anticipated, with Christopher Kane making his debut as Creative Director.

Read on for all of the highlights of the London Fashion Week SS27 season.

McQueen

Courtesy of McQueen

The show we’ve been waiting for in London for 25 years. McQueen is finally back at London Fashion Week with a collection that pays homage to the city’s energy and attitude.  “This collection is a celebration of London’s ceaselessly stimulating and transcendent power. McQueen is a London-born house, and the city’s uncompromising attitude and subversive spirit sit at its very heart,” says Creative Director Seán McGirr in the show’s notes. The collection comes precisely engineered in Savile Row traditions  – a practice that is embedded within the house. Sculptural shoulders designed to resemble‘angel wings’ contrasts tall, strict suiting. Dresses are finished with silk and leather harnesses while precious metals adorn others. Eveningwear is elevated with the same artistry we have come to expect from McQueen – with intricate embroideries and jacquards that fade into sheer organza. This is McQueen returning to its dark, ethereal roots in more ways than one.

Erdem

Courtesy of Erdem

For SS27, Erdem looked to the 1920s, and in particular the American aerialist Barbette, who would ascend the trapeze as a woman and descend as a man. This transformation of masculine and feminine forms is seen throughout the collection, in cropped tuxedo jackets styled with crystal-embellished micro shorts and bras. In car coats, oversized shirts, deconstructed lingerie slip dresses, and petal embroidery. The influence of the 1920s is evident in skeletal tulle dresses, opera coats, and shredded flounced skirts that add fluid movement. Erdem’s signature romantic femininity is imagined through contrasting textures of jacquard, lace, silk, and fringe. Once again, Erdem Moralioglu proves to be a heavyweight of the London Fashion Week scene with a collection that is arguably one of the best of the season.

Mithridate

Courtesy of Mithridate

For Mithridate SS27, creative director Daniel Fletcher drew inspiration from the New Romantics in ‘80s London. It was a time when fashion was inhibited by convention – androgyny and flamboyance were brought together in fashions that were theatrical, yet wearable. Which is exactly what Daniel gifts us with in this collection.

The collection offers party dresses with bubble hems, a form-fitting dress covered entirely in feathers, and tulle-trimmed gowns that play into the dress-up mood of the 1980’s. Briefs are low-slung with fringe-scarf ties, and corsets are worn with suspender clips exposed. Ballerina motifs are seen throughout in shades of candy floss pink, tutus, and sheer knitwear. Mithridates’ signature numerical motifs are rendered in leather across shirts and scarves. Other prints include West End theatre advertisements and stripes that retain a sense of preppiness.

As for accessories, glossy leather belts and cummerbunds are borrowed from the New Romantics and, in keeping with the drama of the decade, bicorn hats that were designed by Noel Stewart.