With her women’s wear collection for Spring/Summer 2014, Holly Fulton resorted once more to her signature geometric patterns, embellished details and textured fabrics to reaffirm her reputation as one of the most ingenious British designers currently showing their creations during London Fashion Week. Taking as a conceptual starting point the memories of relaxing afternoons and hedonistic evenings experienced during the summer holidays, the collection used 40 looks to frame a day in the life of a nonchalant and confident woman.
In a nostalgic celebration of the 1970s, Fulton found inspiration in the imagery associated with Noosha Fox and the hazy soft-focus ways in which the pop singer was often captured in photographs and films. The work produced during that period by interior designer David Hicks and by concrete artist William Mitchell also influenced the fashion designer’s treatment of multi-layered geometric patterns and textures.
Throughout the collection, the influence of 1970s silhouettes was evident in garments such as belted shirt dresses, daytime suits, wide pants, pinafores, full length skirts, and short boxy coats featuring a colour palette of faded pinks, lilacs and washed-out denims that evoked hazy summer mornings and contrasted with vivid oranges and purples that suggested sunny afternoons and heady nights out on the town. Similarly, soft cottons, silk and layered organza were juxtaposed against textured materials such as cork, tinsel and paillette-encrusted fabrics.
The notion of daytime relaxation was present in sportswear-inspired tops with lowered shoulders and embroidered numbers, drawstring waist trousers and collarless bomber jackets, whereas the sophistication of night time was suggested in accessories such as fan-shaped handbags and orchid-detailed crystal-encrusted chokers. In addition, Holly Fulton’s customary exploration of graphic designs could be noticed in the exuberant prints of flowers, fish and storks, in the elegant pleats and in the painstakingly placing of embroidered flowers and ribbons in symmetrical patterns on blouses, dresses and coats.
