DAKS at London Fashion Week

Day two of London Fashion Week yesterday started grey, with a distinct autumnal chill in the air.  Even the fashion set were thin on the ground at Somerset House, and those who were there for the DAKS show were wrapped up and subdued by a combination of the cool weather and last night’s revelries. 

Moods were instantly lifted as we trooped into the BFC show space to see 1950s holiday film clips projected onto the walls and bags of sweets lining the rows. Even the invitation was a pop-up ferris wheel. The show itself transported us back to an era of beauty pageants, picnic hampers, parades and the great British seaside holiday.

This was Sheila McKain-Waid’s debut collection as head of Womenswear Design, and the collection was sweet, playful and very wearable. To a soundtrack that included Pulp and PJ Harvey (which suited better than you might imagine) the models came down the catwalk in terrycloth playsuits, crisp white cotton and the DAKS signature check which, in the context, rather resembled picnic blankets (in a good way). Suddenly, the idea of the English Riviera seemed glamorous rather than ridiculous and it felt like after months of rain and misery, a very British summer had finally arrived.

The clothes were simple and easy to move in, yet fun and elegant – which really accentuated the feeling of post-war optimism that the show was channeling. These were outfits to have fun and look good in; the DAKS woman wears the clothes after all, the clothes don’t wear her.

Amidst the cacophony of shows that compete with each other in the luxury, celebrity and outrage stakes, it was refreshing to see a range so completely designed for the consumer. Not for other designers, not for the baying press, but for the women buying the clothes, who need fashion to fit into their lives, not to fit their lives around fashion.

The collection is nostalgic but not overly retro or sentimental – the silhouette of a nipped in waist and a flared skirt continuous to be relevant to the modern woman for its flattering elegance and element of practicality. DAKS may not be one of the most buzz-worthy of LFW shows, but their established house style moves beyond the hype, resulting in the kind of polished collection that one would expect from such a brand.

Sure enough, as the burst of sunshine that was the show came to an end, and we trooped out clutching our bags of sweets, DAKS had brought the real sun out, and we emerged, blinking, to a courtyard flooded with warmth and light.