London Fashion Week in pictures: ‘I’ve just gone back to the old style of beautiful fashion show,’ Irish designer Paul Costelloe says

Irish designer Paul Costelloe opened London Fashion Week saying he was “bringing back a bit of romance” to the catwalks with feminine dresses and soft, fluid looks.

The 78-year-old’s spring/summer 2024 collection, called “Il Giardino” (The Garden) dressed models in unstructured jackets – some with tails, wide-leg linen trousers, V-neck jumpers and floral printed dresses.

Plain dresses had ruffle details on the front and shoulders. He stuck to a colour palette of breezy blues, cream, sand and ecru.

“(I’m) bringing back a bit of romance and a bit of femininity into fashion,” Costelloe said on Friday. “We’ve become so aggressive and independent and all these other things that people have to require but I’ve just gone back to the old style of beautiful fashion show, beautiful models.”

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In Pictures: Irish designers at London Fashion Week 2023

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In Pictures: Irish designers at London Fashion Week 2023

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Against an illustrated garden backdrop, some models carried tennis rackets or croquet mallets.

Simone Rocha became the latest high-profile fashion designer to partner with divisive footwear brand Crocs.

The Irish designer unveiled a range of Crocs at her spring/summer catwalk show at London Fashion Week, held at the home of the English National Ballet on the Leamouth Peninsula.

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Guests wait for the start of Irish designer Paul Costelloe's catwalk show for his Spring/Summer 2024 collection, during London Fashion Week in London. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

Following in the footsteps of Spanish label Balenciaga and Scottish designer Christopher Kane, Dublin-born Rocha upgraded the traditional backless clog by adding chunky pearls and crystals.

Sporty lace-up styles in black and pink were decorated with silver and floral embellishments.

Fresh footwear aside, Rocha – who graduated from esteemed Central Saint Martins college in 2010 – returned to two familiar themes for SS24: bows and bouquets.

There were thin blue satin bows strewn over voluminous dresses and oversized bows adorning black and silver evening gowns.

They just kept getting bigger – a red satin one-shoulder top looked like a giant bow wrapped around the model and was teamed with a matching mini skirt.

Utility-style jackets in white, pale pink and khaki were decorated with fabric corsages.

A series of black and nude tulle dresses came with long pockets, with a pink rose (stem and all) inserted into each one, and some models had fake rose tattoos on their shins and faces.

Photos of an elaborate two-tiered white cake posted on the brand’s Instagram account before the show hinted at what else was to come.

Sure enough, there were a variety of full-skirted white and mint green dresses with rows of ruffled lace-like icing on a cake.

Displaying her usual mix of hard and soft elements, there were flashes of silver leather trousers, biker jackets, and lots of slouchy tailoring alongside the parade of frilly frocks.

Rocha’s glamorous garments have previously been worn by celebrities including Rihanna, Julianne Moore and Saoirse Ronan.

At last week’s star-studded Vogue world event that kicked off London Fashion Week, the designer dressed actors Bel Powley, Douglas Booth and Cole Sprouse.

Meanwhile, eccentric designer Pam Hogg dedicated her latest fashion show to the late Sinéad O’Connor.

Entitled Apocalypse, Hogg’s spring/summer 2024 collection was debuted on Sunday night at London Fashion Week.

Models walked the runway in front of a screen emblazoned with words that seemed to evoke Catholicism, including ‘Redemption’, ‘Atonement’ and ‘Judgement Day’, and crucifixes were a common motif throughout the pieces – perhaps a reference to O’Connor’s fierce stance on child abuse in the Catholic church.

When Dublin-born singer and activist O’Connor died at her London home in July aged 56, Hogg posted emotional tributes on Instagram.

“This one truly hurts. she was everything. my all-time inspiration,” Hogg wrote. “The voice the beauty the passion the determination .. the fight .. the not backing down no matter how hard they tried to break her.. and she stood firm. dignified. How can all of this not take a toll [sic].”

Hogg said the collection she debuted in February, called ‘They Burn Witches Don’t They’, was inspired by O’Connor.

“Last November I was far too unwell to even think of making a new collection but I’d had a powerful vision of Sinead burning at the stake like Joan of Arc. Everyone advised to get well.. wait till the next year to present it.. but it felt urgent.. that the time was now and it couldn’t wait,” she wrote on Instagram, referring to O’Connor as “a modern-day saint”.

Scottish designer Hogg rose to fame in the 1980s post-punk scene, making a name for herself with unconventional designs and dressing rockstars like Debbie Harry and Siouxsie Sioux.

Many of Hogg’s signatures were present in her latest collection, including skin-tight latex jumpsuits and disco-inspired mini dresses.

White, red and black hues dominated the runway, with many of the opening looks evoking old-school nurses’ outfits – complete with white hats featuring red crosses.

The show closed on a more ethereal note, with a string of floaty gowns in candy colours.

Hogg walked out to applause, hand-in-hand with models, wearing a silver long-sleeve dress, big sunglasses and her unmistakable yellow hair.

The front row was full of creative figures, including British artist Tracey Emin, costume designer Sandy Powell and Austrian designer Andreas Kronthaler, who is Vivienne Westwood’s widower. – agencies

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