The collection includes long and short sleeved tops made of fine quality cotton with minimal designs or richly embroidered with thick cotton lace, metallic zippers and decorative buttons in silver, oxide or black metal. Prints inspired by traditional Nomadic scarves are incorporated into the collection as embroideries or panelling applied to the garments in order to accentuate the male silhouette.

Trousers come in crisp natural cottons, cargo shapes that can be separated from knee, or as strong statements in the form of sculpted leather that can also be seen in three different styles of leather jackets as part of the range ‘Artesanal by Conquistador’. In addition, the varsity jacket is reworked in all natural leather material with detachable sleeves so that it can be styled as a vest.

Conquistador’s choice of colours for the label’s third collection includes dove grey, white, black, and caramel-camel brown hues to resemble nude and sensual tones.

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Featuring unique technical detail such as patented diagonal hinges and comfort acetate top bars, all ill.i eyewear models include a laser-engraved will.i.am ‘willpower’ logo and signature line. The inaugural collection’s colour palette combines matte and glossy finishes in gold, black, white, silver, gunmetal and tortoiseshell, whereas lenses come in silver grey, bronze grey, brown, and mirrored gold.

The Style Examiner got exclusive access to the first ill.i models and was impressed by the industrial aeronautics aesthetic that underpinned the sunglasses styles for men, which feature round and angular frames made from metal or acetate; whereas for women, frames vary between oversized cat-eye shapes, round thin spectacles and square translucent styles.

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If Lisbon has had a reasonably successful fashion week that has been running for decades owing to sponsorship agreements, Portugal Fashion uses Portuguese and European Union private and public funds to promote not only some of the designers that regularly show in the Portuguese capital but also, and rather importantly, to allow many budding labels to exhibit their collections in Lisbon, Porto, and internationally in São Paulo, London and Paris. “Portugal Fashion was originally based exclusively in Porto; however, over the past few seasons, we felt that it was important for visitors to the event to be able to see what Lisbon offered too; hence starting there on the first day before heading to Porto” a spokesperson for ANJE explained.
The first day saw Storytailors, João Melo Costa and Alves/Gonçalves showing their collections in the Portuguese capital. Of the three fashion labels, it was the young Melo Costa (whose pieces had been shown during London Fashion Week just a few weeks before) who stood out, with a well-edited collection featuring inquisitively youthful silhouettes and comprising garments made from noble fabrics and adorned with seductive embellishments.

On the second day of Portugal Fashion, and after a three-hour bus journey to Porto (Portugal’s second biggest city after Lisbon), over 100 journalists, buyers and agents were able to witness the collections by Julio Turcato, Luis Buchinho, Daniela Barros, Hugo Costa, and Anabela Baldaque in the environs of Porto’s Customs House, the majestic building designed by French architect Jean Colson and inaugurated in 1869. If Baldaque charmed for drawing inspiration from Swinging London and late 1960s womenswear shapes and patterns, Hugo Costa’s menswear collection (presented under the moniker ‘Bushido’ as an homage to Japanese culture) shone for its accomplished urban and cosmopolitan sartorial tropes, with strong examples of footwear and backpacks to match.
On 28 March, Susana Bettencourt, Estelita Mendonça, Carla Pontes, Katty Xiomara, Diogo Miranda, Mafalda Fonseca, Teresa Martins, Carlos Couto, and Fátima Lopes had the chance to show their designs in the busiest day of the showcase. Perhaps the most international of this cohort, Lopes unveiled a collection that relied on formal structures and dialectic approaches to silhouettes that balanced geometries and lines throughout a crafted range of pieces. On the opposite scale, Miranda opted for a classically elegant collection redolent of Christian Dior’s New look and suggesting the influence of some of Yves Saint Laurent’s early designs. In menswear, João Pedro Estelita Mendonça stood out for his innovative fabrics and deconstructed menswear lines. The last day of Portugal Fashion Autumn/Winter 2014 focussed on presenting commercial ranges of ready-to-wear, accessories and footwear, areas where Portugal has been revealing some solid accomplished successes over the last two or three years by relying on an investment in collaborations with young designers. Miguel Vieira, whose creations have been recognised in Portugal and abroad particularly over the last decade, closed the event with a series of looks anchored by tubular forms made possible by accentuating waists, slumping shoulders and balancing oversized and fitted garments.

However, the collection that stood out for all the right reasons was the one that Teresa Martins conceived for her label TM Collection. Through an intelligent and critical questioning of ethnicity and Portuguese folklore, Martins engendered a range of garments that, when examined beyond the styling and presentation format, revealed elegant details such as painstakingly pleated skirts and blouses, as well as embroidered coats and bags. Voluminous garments and scarves contrasted with fitted pants, and noble gold jewellery pieces were juxtaposed with heavy urban footwear. Ultimately, this was a collection that summed up the unique aesthetic mark that young Portuguese designers have been making on the international fashion arena; one that, despite its genteel level of influence, undoubtedly deserves a closer look.

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In addition to the ready-to-wear collections and its full range of accessories (including handbags, watches, jewellery and eyewear), the flagship will house two new concepts for the brand: a dedicated men’s accessory section and a women’s shoe salon carrying both the Michael Kors Collection and Michael Michael Kors shoe line.

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The idea for Fleming London was conceived in January 2013 by Sophia Fleming, a budding entrepreneur who, after working for a short period in merchandising for fashion companies Asos and Jaeger, decided to create a luxurious unisex leather backpack that would be both stylish and practical. Made in England from Italian vegetable tanned leather, the backpacks come in attractive boxy shapes and in a plain but yet vivid colour palette that includes black, white, blue and red.

If what initially also attracted me to Fleming London’s backpacks was its no-nonsense focus on style through a limited offering of pieces, I admit that I look forward to watching this new venture  grow and develop new accessories with an equal focus on sophisticated utilitarianism. If its initial line is indicative of what is yet to come, I can only anticipate a great deal of success.

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If the collection incorporates conceptual and physical elements from faraway countries such as rare skins, geological gems, the animal geoglyph motifs from the Nazca Lines, and traditional Peruvian needle-punched horizontal stripes, the results couldn’t be more sophisticated: silhouettes are slim and clean silhouettes, garments are crafted from noble materials, and an array of stylish accessories complements the looks.
Luxurious fabrics are ubiquitous throughout the collection and include mohair and huarizo (an alpaca-llama crossbreed) in suiting; double-faced vicuña in robes; and cashmere (sometimes blended with silk) in evening double-breasted overcoats, reversible coats, blousons and gloves, or in hand-knitted strips that resemble fur. In addition, dégradé silk is used for evening suits worn over micro-checked and striped shirts, while lounge pants, T-shirts and sweatshirts feature artisan crochet stitch detailing; and a range of scarves made from silk twill incorporate subtle patterns such as chevrons, stripes, and herringbone.

As has become expected of Louis Vuitton, opulent and textured furs and leathers abound: shearling panels are used in a reversible zip-up sweater, chinchilla-lined silk is detailed with heat-sealed zippers and seams, and a windbreaker made from python skin is finished with a calf-leather hood. Equally, accessories and footwear incorporate innovatively treated and patterned skins: a Derby city shoe comes in silver-mirrored calfskin, grained nubuck or crocodile; a city ankle boot-hybrid uses glazed calf with a padded nappa ankle; and rubberized leather is used for the trimming of bags, a predominant accessory offered in a comprehensive range that includes holdalls, totes, messengers, trolley bags, duffles, folios and hybrid backpacks.

And confirming the desirable social status that Louis Vuitton commands, the collection comprises more economical objects that stress the brand’s identity in the form of accessories and jewellery pieces: every look in the collection comes with sunglasses with coloured and mirrored lenses; whereas necklaces, rings, and lapel pins inspired by South-American geology incorporate gems and stones such as crystal, quartz, amethyst, ionite, agate and jasper.

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Drawing inspiration from an exhibition of photographs taken by Ragnar Axelsson that depicted how humans endure harsh climates and living standards with defiant endurance and stoicism, Raeburn created a range of clothes and accessories that combined contrasting textures of different weight and shape capable of fighting the coldest temperatures. This anchoring concept was achieved with remarkable elegance by bringing together the rugged outdoors and military life with the sophistication of urbane realms in the colour palette used, the fabrics chosen and the silhouettes created.
Key garments that illustrate Christopher Raeburn’s creative principle of fusing utilitarianism with style include outerwear pieces made with bespoke British Millerian waxed cotton or crafted from genuine sheepskin Siberian Officers coats, and lightweight parkas made from vintage German military sleeping bags. When not deconstructing or reusing existing materials, Raeburn still used them for inspiration, as it was evident in the parkas with contrasting sleeves inspired by the lining of British military coats, in the bomber jackets that evoked the flight jackets worn by military pilots or in the cinched lightweight jackets and coats inspired by the parkas worn by artic explorers.

The collection also demonstrated a clever balance of diverse textures and shapes, with heavy outerwear layered with knitwear and lighter garments, geometrically padded overcoats that created ingeniously stylish patterns and bulbous silhouettes, and innovative rubberised wool used to make sweaters and jackets. Throughout, motifs such the cut-out shadow of a Polar bear and screen-printed constellation maps evoked nature and organic landscapes, a notion also highlighted by the colour palette adopted that fused strong burnt orange and navy with muted shades of grey and olive tones.

The results of Raeburn’s ongoing collaboration with The Woolmark Company were also evident with great success in the intarsia knitwear pieces and in the heavy colour-block wool sweaters, while the partnership with Japanese company Porter resulted in appealing rucksacks, pocket bags and holdalls.

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Unveiled back in June 2013 during Pitti Uomo in Florence and Tranoi Homme in Paris to extremely positive reviews by critics and buyers alike, the ‘Deep Blue Sea’ collection is inspired by the colours found in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Moorish architecture and interiors of buildings in Morocco and southern Spain, namely vibrant shades of blue, turquoise, navy, sand and terracotta. In addition to a range of staple pieces that the brand has got its followers used to, such as wallets, belts, weekend bags and business bags (made primarily from grained Saffiano calf leather), the collection includes new seasonal designs such as beach bags and totes and, for the first time, a series of linen scarves. New materials include stingray and eel skins, and innovative mixed fabrics such as a linen/viscose and an organic hemp/ramie.

On launching the collection, creative director and founder of the label Mark Farhat stated, “2013 has been one of the fastest growing seasons for Mark/Giusti with the brand being nominated for two awards: ‘Accessories brand of the year’ by the UK Fashion & Textile Awards (UKFT) and ‘Accessories Designer of the Year’ at the Drapers Annual Awards. ‘Deep Blue Sea’ is a very strong collection with two times the number of pieces and we believe that this season will be even more successful in reaching out to new markets.”

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The store is divided into three main areas, each separated by portals finished in black lacquer and all including ash wood furniture finished with different colours. Men’s and women’s bags, jewellery, eyewear and fragrances are located by the ground-floor entrance in an area with silver walls and a green Persian onyx floor; a second room with gold walls and Renoir quartzite flooring leads towards the lift and staircase; and footwear and jewellery are displayed in the level above in a room with glossy blue fabric walls and South African quartzite floors.

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