The Garden Room of the Royal Opera House in London was the setting for Nicole Farhi's lovely winter collection, a stone's throw from her flagship store in Covent Garden. One of the few sightings of a black trouser suit, increasingly rare in the season's collections, made an appearance in the shape of a winning crossover jacket with stiff high collar and a sharp pair of narrow pants.
Farhi has a feminine way with masculine tailoring and brings a Frenchwoman's aesthetic to an everyday metropolitan staple. In her hands, even pussy-bow shirts and Donegal tweed coats look sexy and modern.
This was a confident collection, free of gimmickry and grand statements, but with interesting details and sure-fire proportions. There were things every woman could wear: tunics over cropped trousers or longer skirts, wool shifts with flattering necklines and a variation of the sleeveless jacket. Her Gallic élan showed in dirndl skirts with white cutwork lace embroidery and stylish raincoats in glossed black linen worn with fringed black leather gloves.
Turkish designer Bora Aksu, four times winner of the New Generation Award, presented a collection inspired by a book of roses found in a flea market. It was very beautiful and pretty, featuring layered chiffons in faded pink, grey and khaki, with little ruffle skirts, pintucked fronts and Peter Pan collars. The mix of transparent with opaque created some lovely effects such as an iridescent purple organza coat over a blue underdress of fairytale lightness.
Talking point of the day was the Armand Basi show which one woman described as "Fat Couture". By German-born designer Markus Lupfer for the Spanish label, the collection defiantly brought the idea of volume to its limits. From the vast tangerine leather dress that opened the show to the huge black rose-studded tent dress that closed it, it was like viewing a collection with a magnifying glass.
So exaggerated were the proportions, so bold and loud the patterns, so dangerously Cinderella-like the golden shoes on which the models tottered and so daring the vision that sent out such a parade that the whole collection challenged modern conventions.
There were massive tent dresses, huge grey fake-fur coats, enormous green brocade suits, oversized double-breasted coats and skirts with raised and gathered hips.
Slim models in obese clothes. It was a far cry from Farhi.