LFW: Bora Aksu

It’s all begun. It’s raining, it’s damp but it’s begun. In a decidedly British climate it was rather nice to burst into London Fashion Week with a little Turkish joy in the form of Bora Aksu. The newly revamped BFC tent confounded us all a little with its double catwalk and circular route (that’s a long walk for the models) but we began to grow fond of it quite quickly.

Pale blue was the order of the day; inspired – in the words of Aksu himself – by the colours of the traditional Turkish ‘evil eye’. For those of us not quite Turkish enough to be familiar with the exact shade of the evil eye, it’s a sort of cornflower blue. Delicate but vibrant. The rural village feel was carried through in stripes, off-whites, hand-crochet, full skirts and small lace-edged apron affairs over short dresses. The apron (although we’ll really have to think of a more glamorous name for it) is set to be something we’ll be sporting with abandon next summer.

Just as we were settling into the blue, along came a pale yellow and then a shocking bright fuchsia on beautifully draped gowns with cape backs and sweet little twinsets in thick, pleasing textures. To focus on a small detail, embellished hair slides played a significant role in neat, done-up hair, slicked into centre partings and worn low.

A somewhat sunnier, less severe approach in comparison to Aksu’s previous efforts and one I’d like to see more of. Of course the swift return to his Turkish roots could be something to do with his sponsorship by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism perhaps. Whatever prompted it, it’s a fitting celebration of his tenth year at Fashion Week. Nice work Aksu.

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London Fashion Week SS14 runs from Friday 13 to Tuesday 17 September. Stay tuned for more coverage.