From Fall 07 to Fall 08, leather gloves remain a trend. In 2007, along with an abundance of 3/4 length coat sleeves, fashion saw a lot of sleek long gloves. This thankfully afforded a balancing act that kept our forearms covered. Such practicalities, however, are never explicit on the runway. In the Fall 08 shows, those who presented gloves (Nicole Farhi, Iodice, Ashleigh Verrier, and Armand Bassi, to name a few) did so by pairing them with frocks and short sleeved jackets. Almost always, a wrist or forearm was showing, and in some cases, a bare shoulder. Though we hardly ever take runway styling 'to the street', so to speak, it's possible that this pairing encouraged the unanimous notion of luxury for the season. Taken literally, indoor clothes worn with outdoor gloves indicates a sort of 'better than thou' attitude that either means you're too precious to touch the neighbor's teacup, or you're so important your about to throw on your coat and leave. When we question why we bother with fashion week at all, let us remember the power of these productions. That is, without the spectacle, these are sometimes just clothes.

nostalgia

brace yourself

spin me right round

subversive

So it seems our British friends have taken A/W 08 in an entirely different direction. That is, the fur and sparkle of New York's A/W 08, not to mention the deep plums and vibrant greens are virtually non-existent. London Fashion Week, thus far has been a little more Terminator, a little less Kindergarden Cop. Just take a peek at our photo galleries from Topshop Unique, Jacob Kimmie,
Krystof Strozyna, and Modernist Autumn, it's virtually another fashion world. All of these collections dominated by black and white, most with eruptions of red in the most brazen display (it's not worked in slowly, it's thrust into the collection and promptly removed). Sure, you could call upon Paul Smith from the Londoners, and
Camilla Staerk from the New Yorkers to argue that there is crossover. To which we'd say: "Despite some dandy-embellishments, Paul Smith is no different than Ralph Lauren, and Camilla Staerk is a newcomer. Those are bad examples.". So we win. And boy, do we love the fight.