Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
There was only ever one logical outcome to the London fashion fraternity’s longstanding obsession with all things 1980s.
And last week, to the appropriate musical accompaniment of Depeche Mode, the inevitable came to pass when shoulder pads returned to the catwalk.
The show was staged at Lord’s cricket ground, but genteel cricket whites were nowhere to be seen. Instead, beneath a helmet of backcombed, Elnett-sprayed hair, a pair of linebacker shoulders came marching down the catwalk, courtesy of the padding in a cropped black jacket - worn, of course, with a black mini, sheer black tights and high heels.
The athletic, body-conscious aesthetic of the Dallas decade was also evident in the brief and to-the-point shift dresses, in Cruella shades of black or Ribena. Opened zips snaked around the body, from hairline to hip to hem, their metal teeth bared.
Preen may not be a household name in the Giorgio Armani league, but the label, designed by Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi, has been a staple of the London fashion week calendar for over a decade.
In that time it has evolved from “edgy” (fashion-speak for “ugly”) to elegant. Kate Moss is a fan of their trousers; Yasmin Le Bon sat making her next-season shopping list in the front row at the show. The camel wool “cocoon” coat which opened the show may well figure on it.
Jess Cartner-Morley
