:: Dispatches from London Fashion Week ::

Sometimes a sense of a shared history, and clues to who you are come in the unlikeliest of places. In this case, on a London Fashion Week catwalk.

At the Caroline Charles show to be exact.

As one of the founding designers of what would become British Fashion Week (a precursor to London Fashion Week), Charles has been a mainstay of the Fashion Week scene.

She showed her Autumn/Winter 2010 collection early on Day One of this London Fashion Week, in what is her 47th year in the biz.

Since Charles’ breakout debut in the 1960s with a kooky and fresh collection, she has developed and defined her craft. British icons from Mick Jagger and Ringo Starr to Princess Di and Emma Thompson have been dressed by her. Charles has designed for the Queen and received a prestigious recognition by the British Fashion Council.

In the past four decades, over the course of Charles’ career, the face and nature of Britain itself has changed. Antiquated ideas about class, race and even gender have been challenged by movements and individuals, and by the very composition of Britain’s population. Global threats and opportunities have been a challenge to navigate.

The remnants of colonialism, militarism and monarchy still seek to define a nation which, as many have said, is under-going an identity crisis.
With a rise in right-wing nationalist political narratives, and a seemingly futile project to define British values– what is a country to do?

Watching the latest collection come down the runway, in Charles’ signature multiple acts was seeing the product of a seasoned veteran, perhaps with some points of reflection for a searching nation.

First up were autumn favourites, of tweeds and houndstooth fashioned in to sophisticated skirt suits, belted at the waist. The aviator caps, recalled a wartime styling, reminiscent of the grainy old photos of newly empowered women, working in factories or otherwise doing their part for the war effort. The black fascinators and leather bucket hats that accompanied the rest beckoned a 1950s aesthetic– pencil skirts, leopard print and all.

Rockabilly tunes gave way to wide, pleated calf-length skirts, trapper hats and longer jackets set to the twang of country tunes, a ballad to the English countryside perhaps.

The third act featured 1920s silhouettes, with jewel-toned fabrics, velvets, silks, coloured lace, heavy and intricate beading, silk and kimono belting to inject a distinctly “Eastern” flavour to cocktailwear– a homage to imperialism that made Britain rich, and the appropriate cultural details that continue to add flavour.

Injections of gold, latex leggings, short pants and capris added a touch of edgy London street style that pulled the collection into this century and gave it added resonance, how ever small.

Vintage-style pearl beading topped off the finale look, a black wedding dress, with two gold-clad bridesmaid dresses– firmly blending the old and the new.

There was a comfort in the familiar themes and inspirations from British history that permeated Charles’ collection. So much so, that as someone born and raised in a former British colony, I could connect with that shared history. A testament to the power of the spectacle of fashion.

Charles drew on well-known classics in this collection– a safe bet for what can be seen as troubled times. She emerged briefly to a symphony of applause to take a bow for another well-executed and commercially viable collection to add to her repertoire.

In my view, she also ought to be lauded as a bit of a tour guide– intentionally or unintentionally– providing a safe and optimistic vantage point to seek out an increasingly more distant version of what comprises a national identity.

The experience leaves us to ask ourselves: if to seek to define a nation is only capably done by looking back, how do we move forward?

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Photos via Coutorture.com - Full Gallery here.