November 18, 2025 |
As Monday nights go it was spectacular. Generous helpings of champagne lubricated the crowd who’d waited for nearly an hour to see what the 16Arlington made-to-order collaboration, with legendary British designer Antony Price, would look like.
Lily Allen answered that question. In full revenge-dress mode, she puffed seductively on a cigarette, stalking the catwalk in a midnight-blue velvet gown that was pitched somewhere between Jessica Rabbit and Gilda.
A year in the planning, designers Marco Capaldo and Price, (who was the architect behind the Roxy Music and Duran Duran aesthetics of the ’70s and ’80s) said their intention was to celebrate glamour and sexuality, something sorely missed on the London catwalks.
They set the dial to vamp, pouring Lara Stone into a trompe l’oeil zebra bustier gown and Alva Claire into a black feather mini dress. Each look, paired with exclusive Manolo Blahnik heels, was crafted on a corseted super-structure, from the sculpted leather ‘fetish’ jackets to crystal-encrusted gowns. Adwoa Aboah dazzled in 3D silver sequins, Kit Butler oozed sexuality in a neon blue suit based on the looks Price designed Roxy Music’s frontman, Bryan Ferry. It’s not enough to simply wear these clothes. They demand more. You must inhabit them. The cast vamped and camped, posed and preened, giving the Monday night crowd a fashion moment to savour.
Photography courtesy of 16Arlington.
