What we learned from London Fashion Week SS15: streaming, social media and fibre optic frocks

If your name’s not down, you’re still coming in

With 90 per cent of LFW shows being streamed live online this season, actually being there isn’t nearly as on-trend as it used to be. Which means your new excuse is ‘oh of course I was invited – but who needs the hassle of the crowds when you can watch in comfort from the sofa?’ How wonderfully egalitarian.

 

Burberry still can’t put a foot wrong… just about

‘Digital is part of the language every day now, the way we think, and the way we connect with customers,’ the brand’s finance director Carole Fairweather told the Financial Times. Having led the way in online show streaming over the past few seasons, the kings of British heritage branched out further for SS15, teaming up with Twitter to launch the site’s new ‘Buy’ button with a trial that allowed users to purchase the exclusive nail varnish shades worn by the models. It was only available in the US though. Er, guys?

But we’ll forgive them, because the looks were as dreamy as ever. Layers of frou-frou tule in dark berry shades, oversized bows and bold, botanical insect prints splashed across dresses and trench coats. The birds and the bees have us all a-buzzing.

 

Nobody has to wear heels anymore!

Hands up if you can barely even remember heels? The best news for those of us who went fully flat and loved it this summer (not a twisted ankle since May, applaud me) is that things are staying well and truly grounded for the coming season. Cara cemented the trainer trend by turning up in a vibrant pair to the Burberry show, in sync with the models who all bounced along in trainers or stomped the runway in sensible sandals. Then there was Laura Bailey in flatform brogues and Alexa Chung in pointed pumps on the front row at Topshop Unique, cowboy boots at Felder Felder and all the models at Temperley in tennis-ready plimsolls. Think how much faster the pedestrian traffic in Soho might move soon!

 

Bad weather is the new good weather

One of our favourite shows, wellymongers Hunter teamed up with Grabyo to broadcast real-time video clips of their rainy-day runway looks, tailored to your location and weather. Gumboots never looked so good.

 

Sweat is finally chic 

If those rainy days also feature some killer humidity, we’re covered for sweatiness too! Models at the Teatum Jones show were sent down the runway bedecked in gel skin ‘sweat beads’, trickling realistically down their foreheads. ‘The Teatum Jones girl is in an evangelical frenzy,’ explained make up artist Andrew Gallimore. So THAT’S what we’re calling it now.

Instagram rules OK

It’s no surprise that the visual is pipping the verbal when it comes to fashion’s favourite social networks. Instagram’s new Hyperlapse tool was put to use by Alice Temperley to reveal behind-the-scenes insights in the run up to the show, while Topshop used Instagrammers as window dressing with its #TopshopWindow stunt. ‘As we know, everyone spends all their waking moments on all these new platforms, gadgets, Instagram and Twitter,’ said Arcadia boss Philip Green in a moment of slightly adorable grandadness. The high street king also exploited our love for gadgets by releasing six ready-to-wear items from its LFW collection for purchase exclusively through Facebook and Instagram. If this is the future of shopping, we might have to be more careful which ‘grams we like at 2am on the night bus.

Fibre optic is the new dressing up-up

When sequins and metallics have all become acceptable daywear, it was inevitable the fash pack would look around for something else to wear when they really need to dazzle – and they’ve found it in the form of Richard Nicoll’s ‘jellyfish’ dress, an incandescent fibre-optic super frock made by London tech and special effects company Studio XO. We might be waiting a while for that one to trickle down to Primark.

 

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