February 20, 2022 |
A Richard Quinn show remains the highlight of London Fashion Week. To a cinematic rendition of “Adagio for Strings” by the London Chamber Orchestra, his cast of otherworldly beings slowly stalked a pink carpeted cube shadowed by a giant chandelier in the centre.
Quinn’s romantic leanings to haute couture shapes and silhouettes saw the designer this season crossbreed coats, catsuits and caftans, animated by glitchy florals, with kinky fetish gear – RuPaul’s Drag Race winner, Violet Chachki, walked a human pup, both in full latex get-ups. We’ve seen these themes from the designer plenty of times before; they shape his design lexicon. But emerging from a bleak two years, a collection awash with so much hedonistic colour and vivid print felt optimistic and poignant at once.
That’s not just because Covid put everything to a standstill, but because having a designer like Quinn, indebted to cinematic glamour the way he is, working within our shores, is something to be proud of. The designer took necklines and yanked them up into cocooning hoods, especially terrific on a MA1 bomber jacket elongated into a red carpet gown, worn by Lily McMenamy.
Like the couture greats who came before him, Quinn’s very presence on London’s schedule has become shorthand for fashion in its most spectacular form.
Photography courtesy of Richard Quinn.
