London Fashion Week: DAKS

DAKS celebrated its 120^th anniversary at LFW AW14 with plenty of British heritage, sending chunky knits, thick woollen coats, capes, checks and even beefeater hats down the catwalk.

The British label mixed traditional with non-traditional, offering up some new silhouettes, military-inspired garments, pops of metallic, sheer detailing and plenty of leather.

They took knitted dresses to the next level, bringing the standout piece of the show to the helm at the end of the show: a beautiful camel-coloured, basket-weave knit ball gown.

The eye-grabbing dress was complete with metallic elbow-length gloves and a thick, knitted buckle belt—a master class in how to bring new shape to knitted dresses and jumpers.

A head-to-toe camel colour scheme was splashed across the catwalk, but metallic gloves, detailing and capes broke it up very nicely. Oxblood leather was also big news, as was military green, which featured on everything from military style capes to skirts and trousers.

Knee-length boots were the footwear du jour, paired with long leather gloves—another staple look for the DAKS AW14 show.

Flashes of check were also big and were spotted on everything from collars to coats, skirts, linings and even made a grand appearance in the form of checked beefeater hats. Really!

Metallic pops were nicely juxtaposed against a neutral colour palette, appearing on everything from coats, knits, gloves and detailing. Beautiful, long, sheer dresses paraded past, beautifully broken up with metallic stripe panels.

The knitwear, in particular, was absolutely exquisite. A firm favourite was the chunky rib-knit dress with fine metallic threads that cast a beautiful sparkle across the room.

DAKS also broke new fashion terrain at the show, setting what will most likely become something of a major trend. I’m talking about shirts wrapped around the waist which have been on the radar since last year, but this season DAKS created a new silhouette with what looked to be skirts with ‘sleeves’ tied around the waist.

One skirt looked like it might actually have been a checked cape. Tied at the waist and left flowing open, buttons trailed along the hem and checked tights were visible underneath.

Another feature was a big, Jimi Hendrix-style coat made of patchwork-coloured material and metallic piping. It was bold and beautiful and I predict it will be a very big hit.

Palazzo pants also made an appearance, proving they are still in for AW14 and—wait for it—actual fur trousers made a grand appearance. I have doubts this trend will seriously take off (!) but I applaud its originality.

What a trend-setting start to LFW. If the DAKS catwalk is anything to go by, leather and fur are still on for AW14, military has made a comeback and mixing textures and structural shapes will see us through the rest of the year.

Basically, if it’s eye-grabbing and screams ‘touch me’, then it’s here to stay!

Image by Charlotte White