LFW diary: Fantastic Mr. Fox inspires at Mulberry
It was a six-minute ride from the Mayfair Hotel to the Mulberry show this morning, and yet when I arrived, I found myself in some enchanted woods. Flowering vines caught in my hair, which perhaps I should’ve brushed. The red and white speckled mushrooms indigenous to all Disney movies—you know the ones—popped up under my feet. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed waiters offered cupcakes decorated to match.
Fall’s inspiration was the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Designer Emma Hill told British Vogue the other day that she’d watched the Wes Anderson film with her son, but this morning’s show opened with a line read from the original book. Funnily enough, the Roald Dahl classic was also The Row‘s major reference point. At Mulberry, though, it was a warm-and-fuzzy fox, not the stone cold kind: think the English countryside, or the Welsh moors of the Secret Garden. There were thick corduroy or quilted leather toggle jackets, plush structured coats and tweedy bombers with pleated skirts, all in the colours of mice and moles. For indoors, a bird print or two; silky, prim party dresses in wine, plum, violet and a welcome jolt of jade. And for a party in the old ballroom, a gold lamé pleated maxi. Before the show, I saw Lula Mag’s Leith Clark, who may be from Oakville but was born to be English. “I love a little fantastical and a little humour in fashion and that was definitely present in the show today. It inspires me for sure.” As for the children’s book she would most like to see on the runway: “The Princess Who Always Ran Away,” by Maryke Reesink.
Besides Leith, lots of princesses in the front row: Gemma Arterton, Kirsten Dunst, Olivia Palermo and Harley Viera-Newton.
The Acne venue was conveniently located right next to a souvenir shop, and I wasn’t the only one who noticed: Lynn Yaeger bobbled into Starbucks before the show and showed her Vogue pals the mug she’d bought, emblazoned with “William and Catherine” in a heart. Is nobody too cool for royal wedding fever?
Next: more Swedeness at Ann-Sofie Back‘s presentation in the Portico Rooms. Her good clean minimalism, restricted sensuality and fluid sculpture—her trick of making peplums fall softly into a long skirt, paired with a near-sheer turtleneck—could not be less London, and that’s why I like seeing it here so much. She’s continuing her gold metal adornments—curved rods attached in place of belts or necklaces—from last season, and they’re very interesting, mostly because you can’t imagine them ever being “it.”
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://fashionmagazine.com/style/lfw-diary-fantastic-mr-fox-inspires-at-mulberry/&title=LFW diary: Fantastic Mr. Fox inspires at Mulberry&picture=https://fashionmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/feb11-lfw-mulberry.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_34319" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Mulberry shot by Dave M. Benett/Getty Images"][/caption]
It was a six-minute ride from the Mayfair Hotel to the Mulberry show this morning, and yet when I arrived, I found myself in some enchanted woods. Flowering vines caught in my hair, which perhaps I should've brushed. The red and white speckled mushrooms indigenous to all Disney movies—you know the ones—popped up under my feet. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed waiters offered cupcakes decorated to match.
Fall's inspiration was the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Designer Emma Hill told British Vogue the other day that she'd watched the Wes Anderson film with her son, but this morning's show opened with a line read from the original book. Funnily enough, the Roald Dahl classic was also The Row's major reference point. At Mulberry, though, it was a warm-and-fuzzy fox, not the stone cold kind: think the English countryside, or the Welsh moors of the Secret Garden. There were thick corduroy or quilted leather toggle jackets, plush structured coats and tweedy bombers with pleated skirts, all in the colours of mice and moles. For indoors, a bird print or two; silky, prim party dresses in wine, plum, violet and a welcome jolt of jade. And for a party in the old ballroom, a gold lamé pleated maxi. Before the show, I saw Lula Mag's Leith Clark, who may be from Oakville but was born to be English. "I love a little fantastical and a little humour in fashion and that was definitely present in the show today. It inspires me for sure." As for the children's book she would most like to see on the runway: "The Princess Who Always Ran Away," by Maryke Reesink.
Besides Leith, lots of princesses in the front row: Gemma Arterton, Kirsten Dunst, Olivia Palermo and Harley Viera-Newton.
The Acne venue was conveniently located right next to a souvenir shop, and I wasn't the only one who noticed: Lynn Yaeger bobbled into Starbucks before the show and showed her Vogue pals the mug she'd bought, emblazoned with "William and Catherine" in a heart. Is nobody too cool for royal wedding fever?
Next: more Swedeness at Ann-Sofie Back's presentation in the Portico Rooms. Her good clean minimalism, restricted sensuality and fluid sculpture—her trick of making peplums fall softly into a long skirt, paired with a near-sheer turtleneck—could not be less London, and that's why I like seeing it here so much. She's continuing her gold metal adornments—curved rods attached in place of belts or necklaces—from last season, and they're very interesting, mostly because you can't imagine them ever being "it."){kind=link}