London Fashion Week opens, Westwood the big draw

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — London Fashion Week's display of autumn-winter collections for 2008 kicked off Sunday with a typically eclectic mix of influences and inspirations.

Vivienne Westwood's return to the catwalks after a nine-year absence Thursday evening is being billed as the highlight of the event.

But Irish designer Paul Costelloe opened the biannual event with a show big on touch, cut, texture and history, with a nod to the world of opera and what he called the "bold, voluminous style" of the 1940s and 60s.

He described it as "a modern take on ladylike dressing."

Jean-Pierre Braganza meanwhile played on straight lines with origami-shaped garments casting highly-structured futuristic silhouettes, overlapping fabrics and shades, imposing shoulder pads...