Versace has always been a sexy house, it seems to be in their blood. But there has also always been a touch of punk - a

rebelliousness that simmers beneath the surface then every so often expresses itself outright. Not convinced? Remember a certain infamous dress worn by Elizabeth Hurley in 1994? It was held together by? You got it. Safety pins. There's more to it than that though. Versace loves a good controversy in their collections and have so often made the headlines for their audacity. 

Donatella herself certainly adores a bit of youthful zest and seems to be most in her stride when going full pelt with themes she identifies with personally. “I started thinking, what would we call the new punk today?" she said after the show, "This collection is my answer. It is sexy, strong, brave and full of energy.” Three adjectives it would hard to argue with. The collection was called 'Vunk' (Versace punk) and opened with a PVC swimsuit with white fluffy collar teemed with a 3/4 length white overcoat and studded white boots. This was not going to be a show for the faint-hearted. Next came a full PVC skintight jacket and trousers ensemble - with fluffy white heels (picking up the fetish vibe yet?), followed by PVC bandeau and kilt detailed with check - the punk trade mark. The other punk trademarks, buckles, spikes and nails weren't far behind and even simple black dresses had cut out details pinned together with nine inch nails - perhaps a subtle hint as to Donatella's favourite band? 

Then shocks of bright colour. Jacquelyn Jablonski looked stunning in a black PVC halterneck top, black miniskirt emblazoned with yellow skulls and a magnificent, long, yellow overcoat - which, rather incredibly, gave the whole look a very grown up and chic feel. Speaking of models, it has to be said that Donatella had one of the most exciting casts in a show so far. The line-up read like a who's who of the top 30 girls in the industry with a few exciting new faces thrown in like Julia Frauche and Chiharu Okunugi. 

As the collection moved into evening wear the same PVC was cleverly swathed into elegant cocktail dresses with accompaniments of surprisingly fetching chokers and cuffs studded with lethal spikes. Donatella herself stepped out to take her bow in PVC trousers and studded biker jacket. "They make me feel sexy" she said and clearly she's hoping that we will all throw off our winter cardigans and try a little sex appeal for ourselves this year. 

Images: Style.com

One can't help but feel that Fendi is the place where Karl Lagerfeld really lets his imagination roam free. Budget, it seems, is no object, and come winter or summer there is barely a single look that doesn't comprise luxury skins. But most unusually for Monsieur Lagerfeld is his use of colour in the Fendi collections. Famous for his adoration of monochrome, his eponymous collections never use colour and his Chanel collections stick rigorously to the codes laid out by Mademoiselle Coco, herself a devotee of black and white. But at Fendi, Lagerfeld let's his hair down, as it were, and dives into the exotic world of riotous colour. Opening with a cream fur coat striped with shocking pink, electric blue, orange and brown, Lagerfeld made it clear this season we would once again be granted a glimpse into this technicolour 

dream world. Inky blue fur coats, seemingly tie-dyed with orange led onto feathered dresses in a patchwork of pinks, purples and blacks then blocks of pink and blue jumpers or coats tempered with white skirts. 

Fendi's silhouettes are never terribly concerned with sexuality, they are adventurous, atypical and unexpected. The pieces are more like art installations that the wearer assumes for the day. Particular examples were jackets and coats that stood apart from the body, a thick, black cotton dress with a large semi-circle cut out from shoulder to waist to expose an underworld of black leather beneath and the show's finale of a phantasmagorical fur coat reminiscent of a wondrous alien species. 

Refreshingly, far from being absorbed with a woman's sex appeal, Monsieur Lagerfeld is one of the few interested 

in fashion's intellectualism and how it can take us into the future rather than being tied to age old notions that a woman

should be more concerned with her curves than her intellect. Not unlike mademoiselle Chanel, Lagerfeld could probably be one of the strongest feminists of our time.

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Maxmara's S/S 13 palette of beiges and fawns was obviously so successful that they decided to carry it on into winter. Chunky fleece-like towelling, jersey and felt all appeared in numerous combinations of jumpers, oversized coats and knee-length cardigans interspersed with flashes of sporty satins underneath. The emphasis of the season was very much on layering and the clever impressions that can be made, not by pairing different colours or prints, but simply by experimenting with contrasting fabrics of the same tones. The flashiness of a caramel, sporty vinyl jumpsuit was tempered by what would have, on its own, been a seemingly rather dowdy brown cardigan. Conversely a loose-cut, woollen, knee-length, double breasted coat could appear the antithesis of modernity but with sleeves rolled up to reveal a flash of golden satin lining and a bronze Lycra long sleeved top underneath - the effect quite stunning and showed an acute awareness of the importance of detail. 

Midway through the show, bright mustard tones were introduced before heading into the sartorial favourite of every fashion editor; black - all the while playing on the themes of layer and texture. In all, this was a concise, confident and thought-provoking presentation. It left one thinking that perhaps we shouldn't rely on fashion houses to feed us complete looks ready made, but that we should try to adopt a little of their creative thinking into our own daily wardrobe choices.  

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by Nicola Kavanagh

Frida Giannini said of her last A/W collection, "It has a confidence," and this confidence has certainly  not been lost in 2013. As model after model powered down the runway in strict, structured jacket and skirt suits it became clear that Giannini's woman for winter '13 is no delicate flower. Sculptured shoulders, tightly nipped waists  and high collars gave an austere appearance whilst hinting at an intense sexuality hidden beneath that would by no means be explicitly revealed. Gucci has always made a good profit from being a “sexy” brand but this season the sex appeal lay very much in what you couldn't see. The Luxury skins such as snake, lizard and horse hair added an unmistakably dominatrix impression but the more provocative suits were cleverly paired with somewhat matronly shoes – simultaneously ensuring that the point was not over stated and yet curiously adding to the overall fetishistic impression.

Silhouettes were multifarious. Balloon-cut jackets gave way to 50s shaped dress-coats - high on the waist and low on the shoulders – which then gave way to leather ensembles which seemed to have moulded themselves around the wearer's bodies and arced around the shoulders. The palette of black punctuated with occasional accents of burnished orange, plum or bottle green was reminiscent of Gucci's previous winter collection, though with some new introductions such as dog-tooth checks and Chinoiserie style embroidery. The latter made subtle appearances throughout the show in golds, blues and oranges but peaked with a fitted trouser and cropped jacket ensemble whose sculpted hips gave the impression of a magnificent suit of armour –  Italian tailoring at its finest. 

Giannini showed her softer side as evening wear approached. Her love of floor length dramatic gowns, silks and feathers were shown to full effect as wave after wave of ink blue and plum silk dresses glided down the runway - each with a sheer top half adorned in varying arrangements of feathers and embellishments. The result was entirely more sensual woman. After all, Giannini clearly realises that at cocktail hour it would not do to appear wholly inapproachable.   

Images: Style.com

by Nicola Kavanagh

The highlight of day 1 was undoubtedly Lou Dalton’s A/W13 men’s presentation. A collection of superbly masculine shapes and silhouettes that held flatness and body while blurring the edges between usual and unusual. With somewhat oversized overcoats and jackets with low-sheen vest-panels that folded around from the back of the garments, the collection hinted at the shadow of the depth of the season in shades of burnt crimson and dark maroon whilst almost emerald green injections were added in beautiful felted sweaters, all tied in with tartan trousers underneath and even an electrifying twist with oil-slick gloss splashed in for an added abstract perspective.

All this brought together in one collection what it is to be masculine; clean cut with a certified sharp edge and even a splash of depth with deep colour, almost hauntingly twisted into the same thread.

If you are in a quandry for what to do with yourself one cold winter's evening, take yourself down to the newly opened Churchill's bar at the Hyatt Regency in London. The extensive menu has been playfully developed around what a young Winston Churchill might have drank in the '20s and '30s. As a result, there are fascinating cocktails that you won't see anywhere else, and that might have been lost to the sands of time if not for the inventive chaps who came up with the idea of breathing new life into them. 

There are standard English classics but with a twist such as a gin and tonic using Sipsmith gin - they are the only distillers within London to produce gin and in fact, when they applied for their license, it had been so long since anyone within London had distilled the spirit that the council at first rejected the application simply because it was no longer in living memory how to issue such a permit! The gin is infused with citrus and angelica and served with cardamom tonic, simply spiffing! Or for something a little more adventurous the Trafalgar Sour is a must, it blends subtle English apples and pears for a taste that is pure sunshine and then topped with frothy egg-white clouds. 

And if this is all a little too heady for you, the light bites are to die for - the best Scotch eggs you will ever taste - and the miniature burgers are made with 28-day aged steak, hardly your average bar snack! Best to arrive early to snag a table or for more excitement, sit at the bar and watch the master bar-tenders at work. 

The Churchill Martini

Bar tenders whip up a delicious Trafalgar Sour

The lounge

The Somerset Smash - a muddle of gin, blackberries and apples - sublime!

Now in his third season at Balmain, Olivier Rousteing is proving that his knack for reinterpreting the maison's DNA into 21st Century style codes certainly comes naturally. And it's good to see the iconic house once again on an upward trajectory and making serious attempts to be a leader rather than relying on reinterpretations of the same silhouette season in and season out. That said, the oversized shoulder on his power suits was a little too '80s for the modern woman, but no doubt the ones that reach the shop floors will be toned down and more contemporary. If the catwalk isn't an excuse for a little excess then where is? Other jackets however completely hit the mark. Magdalena Frackowiack strutted out in an exquisite embellished and woven boxy jacket with the kind of craftsmanship that is rarely seen in RTW these days and Kasia Struss sported a similarly covetable number in a harlequin print. Balmain has always done mini dresses well and the intricately crocheted and basket-woven examples this season were exceptional, if slightly impractical in the case of the latter. Away from the excess, Rousteing also showed his practical side with simple denim tailoring, pleated leather trousers (which must be worn with something very fitted on the top half though to avoid veering towards an MC Hammer look) and chic, oversized tuxedo jackets.  At just 27, there is still a lot to come from Rousteing and he of course still has much to learn, one can only hope he continues to experiment and doesn't fall prey to the comfort and complacency that praise can bring. 

One just never knows what to expect at a Balenciaga show, or quite what to say - for fear of causing offence. Nicolas Ghesquiere's particular brand of fashion is as inexplicable as it is fastidious. Pieces don't fall, they simply 'are', they sit on the wearer like a crown. Cut with a surgeon's precision, Ghesquiere's clothes appear simple at first glance and mind-boggling at closer inspection. The attention given to a simple cropped tunic top or pleat-waisted trouser beggars belief. In keeping with his 'IT crowd' (that's IT as in information technology rather than 'cool') office look of fall/winter he has kept to a rigid palette and certain elements that wouldn't look out of place in a working wardrobe but added fresh, spring, almost girlish (gasp) elements. Long black skirts with a white ruffle/wave detail were demure and reminiscent of Valentino's '80s cocktail dresses while whimsical, assymetrical short skirts added a playful, youthfull touch. The feminine but strict boucle skirt suits will undoubtedly be the best sellers but what I wouldn't give for one of those ever so slightly sculpted cocktail dresses with mismatched, silk print top and bottom halves and Grecian-esque, intricately scalloped hem. Bravo Ghesquiere! We may not always understand you but you make the most simple elements into a study of perfection and for that, we must be truly grateful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana know what they want and they know what women want. They might come under fire occasionally for adhering to certain lifelong 'themes', but when your clothes are amongst the sexiest and most flattering in the world, why change your recipe? They once famously said that they would be happy even if they were "only remembered for having invented the black bra", but again and again they have proved that there is so much more to them than that. And it is at their women's RTW shows that the genius that has sustained them these last 25 years really shines through. 

The spicy Sicilian temptress has long been a fascination for the duo but this season we saw her carnival side. Bold, bright baroque city prints on red silk, plaited raffia bra tops and skirts 

in red, blue and green and beach stripes in blue and white gave  way to elaborately embroidered hessian dresses and basket woven corsets. Of course the ubiquitous black lace dress made an appearance but it played only a supporting role to the riot of colour and what was, by Dolce and Gabbana's standards, an outrageous mix of textures, fabrics and 'raw' materials. 

Lina Zhang - our issue 10 cover star stole the show!