So it’s Wednesday now and I’m half way through my fashion week coverage. LFW (as Londoners in the know refer to London Fashion Week) has proven to be very intense and I’m actually quite knackered.  I walk past Selfridges, turn off Oxford Street and go to Molton Steet to attend my next show at No.43 South Molton Street. No. 43, to my amusement, turns out to be a fairly small bar!  About one hundred ratty fashion journalists are cramming themselves, their cameras and their “plus 1’s” into the three levels of this charming little bar. Some of us are balancing on bar stools, others find chairs to share or find a spot on the stairs and corridors on which to perch.

 
We were all there to see Taiwan-born designer Mei Hui Liu’s new collection.  The bar is a strange venue for a catwalk but choosing it certainly was an interesting idea. I was quite amused, as were most of the models as they picked their way through the crowd, striding up and down the stairs and through the bar with their fabulous outfits and powder-white faces.
 
The collection itself was an homage to all things Victorian and precious.  The show featured intricately sewn dresses and skirts with fine lace trims and floating silk and wool details. It was all done in pure white, pale pinks and peaches. The girls were bound in corset-style bodices and had fabulous designs etched onto their white cheeks.

The venue was actually freezing (I think they left the door open for the non-stop surge of attendees) and with spooky classical Victorian nursery music playing in the background, the whole experience was rather ghostly and unnerving!  But the clothes were beautiful, certainly not very wearable as whole outfits, but lovely and unusual as separates.
 
Mei used to have a fantastic little boutique in East London, located on the aptly named Fashion St just off trendy Brick Lane.  Sadly her boutique is now closed, so Mei is now focusing her attention on the other (world-wide) outlets for her collection and continuing her work with the huge London fashion store, Topshop. Topshop was one of the first retailers to recognize Mei’s talent and place in our vintage-loving fashion market.
 
Mei has also been chosen to take part in the British Government backed campaign, British Fashion At The Cutting Edge, which was created as an effort to promote British fashion designers in markets such as China.  Her inclusion in that campaign plus her packed-to-the-rafters London Fashion Week show certainly showed all of London where Mei ranks in the British fashion hierarchy.

Comments? Questions? Email gail@greenroom-digital.com.
Gail McClelland | Greenroom Digital
Fashion & Lifestyle
www.greenroom-digital.com | www.greenroomstyle.com