Dolls Eye View: London S/S 2020 Fashion Trends

 A little bit here, a little bit there....London fashion right now is all over the place. I suppose the problem is Brexit...Great Britain's planned exit from the European Union with all of its woes. Word is, many companies are looking to relocate their businesses somewhere else in Europe out of fear of potential problems down the road. In the meantime....what do you do! Design a collection with the idea of making a fashion statement or.....put together a collection of tried and true clothes guaranteed to sell! As a fashionista this makes finding something new and interesting difficult. The girls had to contend with pretty much a continuation of what we saw in New York...lots of chaotic concept clothes in odd shapes and mishap color palettes or.....seen that-worn-that (already) styles. Still, upon very close scrutiny when the girls were able to a find those few rare "jewels."

Neutral Territory

There is a lot of fashion left overs from the 1970's these days. Most of it me and the girls can really live without. On the other hand, we kind of like that decade's palette of neutral beige, ecru, brown and nature kissed hues. The girls agreed that the classic safari or sportswear separates: jackets, shorts and trousers are always a good bet. We even threw in a floral printed dress with "faded" prints in tones of off-white, coral and jade.

So if we have to go back in time to simple style, Giselle decided she'd opt for the timeless look of a short-set (safari jacket and cuffed shorts) worn under a chocolate brown micro coat. (Pssst....we also made her these lace-up boots in brown leather!)

The New Pants Story

 What we could appreciate in London was seeing a wide variety of pant silhouettes. If nothing else, we can have fun with pants. It's not just about skinny jeans here, but rather....loose trousers gathered into waistbands, wide pants of varying lengths and even the combination of shorts worn under sheer straight pants.

One-Armed Bandit

The one-shouldered look we saw last year, really takes off for next summer. There are lots of ways and many different shoulder treatments to explore!

Noor opted for the sleek look of a simple black jersey dress with a sheer, bias cut square added to one hip.

What's Your Point

And if you haven't noticed already...there are a lot of asymmetrical details to the hottest summer looks...especially those destined for party wear. The girls love how they almost look like puzzles that come together into sexy dresses with points over the thighs. 

Floral Kaleidoscope

Here is where things really became interesting. At first glance, this appears to be an extreme, even outrageous look. But when I stopped to think about it, I saw the resurgence of a popular trend from the 1980s....a proliferation of floral prints worn in "maximalist" mode. It started with the collection of Duro Olowu....vintage prints put together into a single outfit that somehow work together. The Erdem outfits may have you wondering...."who wears this." But again, this is about drawing inspiration from the essence of the concept, then simplifying or scaling it back into something charming, if not beautiful!

No, I would never wear Richard Quinn's dress, but I imagined how cute this look would be on a Barbie. Kimora made me promise I'd scale the look down into something she would actually wear. I also liked the idea of the matching stockings....but I went one step further and saw them as matching thigh high floral boots instead. So Kimora's outfit is a simple halter neck top and opera length gloves worn over a micro skirt bouncing with two rows of ruffles!

The original ensemble appears to be made from strips of brocade...perhaps even vintage ties. What we loved about the look is how three different prints could work so well together. Naturally I don't have those prints. And to be honest...the patchwork is too much work for a 1/6 scale ensemble. But the real message here is taking two or even three completely different prints and marrying them together into one beautiful ensemble. The trick to making it all work....be sure there is one color shared by all prints! Inspired by Erdem, I went a step further by incorporating a "pop of color" via her gloves and shoes.

Fringe Benefits

Well... you know already how I feel about fringe! I love the use of long fringe here!. The black fringe top over the white fringe under skirt is sublime!

Easy Does It

At the end of the day...we are talking about summer clothes. So instead of super fancy, why not dress dolly in cool, easy to wear silhouettes that drop from bared shoulders and swirl around her calves. The overall silhouette is flared or one that cascades loosely from the bust or hips!

Marpessa loves the sheer simplicity of what appeared to be a strapless indigo denim dress dotted with tiny colorful daisies. For Marpessa's dress, I used a blue silk (with a twill weave) resembling denim. The dress is comprised of a strapless bustier top joined to circle skirt. Initially I had planned to add tiny white daisies cut from trim. But I soon discovered the scale was too big and there is much more embroidery detailing on the original dress than I had the time to reproduce. So instead..... I added medallions cut from a piece of beaded lace and sewed on tiny silver sequins to the body of the dress.

We're only half way through our fashion journey. Next stop......Milan!

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