London Fashion Week: The news dominating London fashion this week was not so much about the new hourglass figure in the spring collections, but of Kate Moss and her downward spiralling career.
The beleaguered supermodel, a style icon whose personal life seems out of control due to her alleged use of cocaine, was dropped from an advertising campaign by Swedish company H&M which is due to launch a Stella McCartney collection next month.
Burberry and Chanel also cancelled lucrative contracts, while Rimmel stood by her and Dior made no comment.
The last of the London shows drew to a close as a police inquiry was announced, and seemed tame in excitement by comparison. Jean Muir's show, for example, is always about propriety in dress, her quiet, controlled discipline and refinement the antithesis of a rock 'n' roll lifestyle.
Yesterday, despite the superb craftsmanship, the luxurious leathers and well-mannered suits, the collection seemed a trifle dull and uninspired. You can get away with the artful use of glitter, with a delicious olive green leather coat and a classy coffee satin suit, but the tweeds and striped knits seemed garish rather than girly, the tropical prints rather loud for a summer's day in Berkshire.
Paul Costelloe, the last but one to show, in the Natural History Museum, based his collection on Cate Blanchett in The Aviator which in turn was all about Katharine Hepburn's mannish, laid-back style. The casual look is one with which he has always been at ease and it showed in a pair of flared white linen pants worn with a perfect white shirt, collar up, over which a casual cigar suede coat might be thrown. Tailored suits with shapely skirts in cherry satin or speckled gold lamé tweed added a touch of opulence. "It's a Hollywood look", he told The Irish Times.
A big collection with a number of familiar themes, it had some pretty dresses in pinktucked white linen, 40s florals and bold coffee and cream prints that were more in keeping with his style than the rather blowsy orange and tangerine numbers. The collection was accessorised with summer bags and a new line of jade and silver jewellery launched this season.
At another major event this week held in the Trocadero in Piccadilly Circus, the Fashion Fringe award of £100,000 went to Erdem Moralioglu, a 27-year-old Canadian-born designer with a British mother and a Turkish father and an MA graduate of the RCA.
Mary O'Donoghue from Dublin was one of the four finalists.