London, England is well known for producing some of the most flamboyantly fun designers in the fashion industry. The city has bred Henry Holland’s playful patterns and Meadham Kirchhoff’s Courtney Love-worshipping grunge girls, to name a few. Golnaz Ashtiani, who graduated from the London College of Fashion in 2007, brought London’s whimsical and quirky approach to style across the pond to show her ASHTIANI line Wednesday night at World MasterCard Fashion Week.
ASHTIANI combined London’s eccentric approach to style with the grown-up look that has permeated the runways this season: clean lines, sparse tailoring, and more trouser pants than you can know what to do with.
Ashtiani riffed off the minimalist trend in her own way, keeping the clean lines but doing away with the simplicity. The collection seemed to take an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to textiles: a cozy dimpled knit dress was hemmed with flirty velvet ruffles, and a cropped wool jumpsuit had vinyl side panels tacked on. Models walked down the catwalk holding rainbow fun fur clutches. There was sheer mesh, Persian lambswool, metallic leather and pleats − all in the same outfit. If space aliens came to earth and all got MBAs from Harvard, they would wear this collection.
The juxtaposition of quirk and straight-laced was the sartorial equivalent of a Nirvana song: loud, quiet, loud.
Ashtiani is a creative force to be reckoned with, but the collection’s conservative silhouettes felt stifling. There hasn’t been a show yet this season that didn’t feature some combination of boxy sweatshirts, cigarette pants, matching separates and a sparsely tailored coat. Call it “fashion fatigue,” but seeing the same silhouettes show after show is stifling. The fashion cycle now moves so quickly that what we see on the runway can be replicated in stores in a matter of weeks, and many showgoers were already clad in some combination of those staple trend pieces. If the runway takes inspiration from street style, and street style takes inspiration from the runway, then fashion has become one giant ouroboros that can’t wait to swallow itself whole.
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Isabel Slone is a Toronto-based fashion blogger and writer. Follow her on Twitter at @isabelslone.
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