London Fashion Week: Holly Fulton

By ALICE WYLLIE
Published on Wednesday 22 February 2012 18:48

COLOUR, print and embellishment are Holly Fulton’s strengths, and she made sure to play to them with a collection which focused on what she does best.

As she prepared this collection, the Edinburgh designer envisaged a young Lady Chatterley falling for the gardener, using her home city’s Royal Botanic Gardens as inspiration.

Boxy jackets, simple shift dresses and classic tailoring were the canvas for accomplished prints which worked in harmony with the lines of the clothes. The architectural hothouse windows of the Botanics could be seen on a fuchsia coat while layers of 3D butterflies clamoured for space on the neckline of a cocktail dress.

Vibrant knitwear - the result of an ongoing collaboration with Caerlee Mills in Innerleithen - saw silhouettes of palm fronds stretching across beautiful hand intarsia cashmere sweaters, while chunky embellishment clustered subtly on necklines.

A palette of kitschy turquoise and hot pink with black accents was signature Fulton, but there was plenty of evidence of experimentation. A simple black dress featured gold art nouveau-esque forms snaking down it, while the butterfly print flitting up the legs of a pair of classic black trousers was pared-back and elegant.

Examine just one look from this collection, and it’s immediately apparent that it’s Fulton’s work. Her signature is strong, and could prove suffocating and repetitive in the wrong hands. However this collection proves that Fulton is always capable of exploring the new while staying true to her brand.

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