SOS AW19: Lady and the Vamp

Featuring a supermarket chic bag of dreams.

It seems apt at a time when Brexit threatens peace in Britain a sweeping rebellion would take over the catwalk. For autumn / winter 2019, London Fashion Week has been laden with regal provocation, performance, royal hues and historical detail (though instead of crown jewels the modern HRH wears rainbow tinsel and tartan garms with punkish rebellion…reds are louder, collars are bigger and sneakers chunkier. See: PUSHbutton, Richard Malone and more). 

Similarly, young designer to watch Steve O Smith explores this tension of old and new in fantastical ways for autumn / winter 2019; off-setting a gown that wouldn’t look out of place during a delightful soirée in 18th-century England with a ‘Waitrose’-emblazoned hand bag (think: The Favourite in haute pursuit, with a dash of 00s euro trash for good measure).

The collection’s title ‘PANTOMINE’ reflects the era of farce that we have surreptitiously found ourselves in. “Is it a comedy, or is it a tragedy?” SOS asks. “That’s up for you to decide.”

Photography
Eva-Lili
Text
Emma Firth