London Fashion Week spotlight: Ones to watch

Summer is drawing its last gasp here in London, but the fashionable folk have only one thing on their minds: the bi-annual extravaganza that is London Fashion Week. In just under a week LFW kicks off and with all eyes on London this summer and on its fashion industry in particular, as it goes from strength to strength, here at The Upcoming we have selected a few of the “ones to watch” this season.

Louise Gray 

Possibly Scotland’s answer to New York’s fabulous Betsey Johnson, this young Central St Martin’s alumnus has just hit the big time with a capsule collection for Topshop.  Known for her poptastic collections that are a riot of colour, glitz and sparkle, Gray has a fondness for sequins, smiley faces and all things punky and eccentric.

Her LFW signatures are colour, textures, hand silk screening and the use of specially developed fabrics in woven, embroidered and printed techniques. Gray’s off-beat and quirky miss-match style shouldn’t work, but somehow does, perhaps through her strict belief in a piece of fashion advice her mother once gave her: “Everything matches if you like it.”

Louise Gray shows her SS13 collection at LFW on 17^th September. For those not lucky enough to be invited, pop down to your local Topshop to get in on a piece of the action (there is even a make-up line too).

Simone Rocha

Daughter of famed London fashion stalwart John Rocha, this young lady must really be feeling the pressure to live up to expectations this season; NEWGEN designer Simone Rocha has just been named by the British Fashion Council as one of this year’s nominees for the prestigious Emerging Talent Award, Ready-to-Wear (“An innovative and directional designer who is emerging as an influential force in British fashion in the ready-to-wear category.”). Like Gray, Rocha is a CSM graduate who has also produced a capsule collection for Topshop.

Rocha is Gray’s antithesis, however, the two are polar opposites in terms of style. Simone Rocha designs for “women who like to wear beautiful things” and her collections have a distinctly feminine quality. Airy and romantic, Rocha’s clothes are for the modern girl’s girls who are not quite ladies. Signatures include lace, knitwear, and crochet and brogues, with an artisanal feel that also possesses a distinctly modern and flirty edge through the linear cuts and Rocha’s penchant for metallics.

Visit Louise Gray here

Shop Louise Gray for Topshop here. 

Visit Simone Rocha here. 

Ian Michael Turner