September 18, 2019 |
A quick trip to the roller-disco on the final day of London Fashion Week. Our skating partner? The wonderful Katie Ann McGuigan, emerging designer hailing from Ireland who looked to the early 1970s skating phenomenon in Tampa, Florida for her SS20 collection. “I always look to subcultures as where I grew up in Ireland, I was nowhere near any of that,” she explained during the presentation. “I looked first at skateboarding, then went into roller disco. I found Bill Yates’ photography and that kind of just set the whole thing off.”
The electrifying prints worn by the subjects of such photographs are immortalised through a collection of ethereal organza dresses doused in swirls and florals, paired with airy checkerboard knits ideal for those early summer days where it’s not quite warm enough yet to be laid at London Fields Lido in nothing but a bikini. Though, unlike Yates’ photography, McGuigan’s designs thrive in technicoloured glory. She tactfully clashes Solero-orange corsets with powdery blue ruffled dresses. Sugary pink leather jackets pop whilst worn over skirts dotted with burgundy flowers. “I feel like what I’m always going to do is going to be print heavy, so it’s just kind of sticking to who I am and keep going with it, make sure every season our shapes and products get better,” the designer explains.
McGuigan may be looking to roller derby’s on the other side of the Atlantic, but she’s a true home bird at heart. She prints the vinyl in-house, sources her bumbags from Camden and gets the tie-dye hoodies she makes in her studio screenprinted as a finishing touch in Brixton. She even gets her candy-coloured platform heels made in East London – giving you terrific print and colour from head-to-toe. Where do we place our order?
