  
| 
| |||||||||||||
Old and new shine at Fashion Week
 Julien Macdonald dazzled London Fashion Week this year with his trademark glitter and glam. RELATEDSPECIAL REPORT
• Focus: Design takes on Risk
• Icon: Haute Couture in Crisis
• Prototype: $100 Laptop
• Design365: Forthcoming events
• Click here for showtimes and all the latest news from the world of design.
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Like most London fashion weeks, British veteran designer Julien Macdonald stood out on the catwalk this year, but he also shared the limelight with rising star and compatriot Giles Deacon. Welsh-born Macdonald -- famous for glitter and glam -- has been dazzling the fashion world for almost a decade. He is one of the few remaining high-profile designers to show in London. Most of the city's most well-known designers, including Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Matthew Williamson, now show abroad, in Milan, Paris or New York. But while others have left, Macdonald has stayed loyal to London, and his latest collection did not disappoint: bringing the beaches of St. Tropez to the English shores. Macdonald explained his collection to CNN as, "for people who are young, alive and just want to be happy." "When you go on holiday, you pack a different wardrobe of clothes from your everyday wardrobe," he said. "You pack clothes for a summer holiday. And this was a Julien Macdonald summer holiday that was fan-glamorous and excited." But it was not only the old-school that made its mark at London Fashion Week this year. The designer being hailed the next Alexander McQueen also got his fair share of press too. Britain's Giles Deacon showed his fourth collection to critical acclaim. His immaculate tailoring, clean lines and attention to detail has got the fashion world buzzing Canadian catwalk veteran, the supermodel Linda Evangelista, who modeled for Deacon this year, told CNN she predicted growing success for him. "I really think you're going to see him in at an international level soon. I am usually right about these things -- I have been around for a while. It's good to be part of a growing success story." Deacon's success goes from strength to strength. Named best new designer at the British Fashion Awards last year, he also won the award of the same name at the Elle Style Awards earlier this year. For his spring/summer collection, he used a 1963 painting by early pop artist Colin Self as inspiration. The painting features two women, one wearing a dress and black gloves, the other in a pale green coat and dress, waiting underneath a B-58 nuclear bomber. "I just love the whole contradiction from that period of time -- the onset of (the) nuclear age and the sort of 60s couture," he told CNN. "The bright acid colors, the super heavy silks the really clean shapes then contradicting that with all the heavy corseting, the embroideries, the bead work." 
|
| |||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
