London Fashion Week: Emilio de la Morena

Master mixologist of the cocktail dress, Emilio de Morena delivered an AW14 show of modern, sexy, figure flattering frocks in an array of colour blocking jewel tones.

The Spanish genius’ show oozed sensuality and femininity offering up restoration fabrics in a palette of scarlet, midnight blue, mauve, honey and a firm favourite of the 80s; teal.

There was more than a touch of 80s about the collection, thanks to a combination of the colour scheme and the restoration of taffeta-frilled hemlines and velvet sweetheart necklines.

Subtle sexy is what Emilio de la Morena does best, as demonstrated once again in his latest collection. An off-the-shoulder dress here, a sheer neckline with a peek of décolletage there, fitted bodices and ruched bodycon dresses that softly accentuate hourglass curves.

There was a welcome overload of texture with everything from velvet to taffeta, shag, lurex, mesh and PVC – all perfectly combined by Morena into captivating, eye-catching ensembles.

In the past, he’s described his style as ‘structural chic’ and he lived up to this with work of art shoulders found on figure hugging dresses as well as cropped, boxy jackets.

The tiered layers of flouncy, ruffled velvet piled high atop the models’ shoulders swished and bounced as the girls strutted down the catwalk.

The jackets were a focal piece, including wonderfully enticing longline velvet blazers with contrasting PVC sleeves. Other stand-out pieces include a cropped leather jacket with shag fur at the shoulders and cuffs paired with a black net skirt with metallic taffeta underlay.

Vibrant and bold, Emilio de la Morena perfectly nailed that hard-to-get mix of provokingly sexy and elegantly refined. And we all know that’s not easy to achieve…

London Fashion Week SS14 runs from Friday 14 to Tuesday 18 February. Stay tuned for further coverage.

Image by Christopher James, BFC.