London Fashion Week: Antonio Berardi forecasts a relaxed new dawn with easy-to-wear evening wear wardrobe

Of course this being Berardi, there was nothing that resembled minimalism on offer here
Karen Dacre21 September 2015

He's the designer best known for his little black dresses but at London Fashion Week this morning Antonio Berardi forecast a relaxed new dawn.

Reinventing Nineties grunge for the 21st century woman, Milanese Berardi offered louche loungewear with low-slung trousers and billowing kimono robes.

Keen to create a sense of decaying beauty, he called upon cobwebbed mohair and laddered lace. But his heroine was no modern day Miss Haversham. Instead, she is a party girl who demands an evening wear wardrobe that is interchangeable as well as easy to wear.

Antonio Berardi at London Fashion Week

1/15

To this end, the most the memorable outfits on offer today were 3 dimensional. Oversized silk kimonos, worn slung over the arms, served as trains on billowing gowns but could also be worn separately while tabard tops, detailed with insets of monochrome prints, were equally versatile. A pair of tailored monochrome pants were among the collection's most beautiful inclusions.

For Berardi, the idea that his clothes could be viewed differently from a host of angles served as starting point. But it was a determination to make his eveningwear a less restrictive breed that served as his motivation.

"I like to think that this is a collection you might roll up and put in a suitcase" said Berardi, speaking backstage ahead of his show today, "I don't think that's always the case with my clothes".

Of course this being Berardi, a man with Italian glamour in his blood, there was nothing that resembled minimalism on offer here.

Silk gowns in chartreuse and ruby red came trimmed with glistening embellishment and served to inject the collection with a hit of extreme glamour while asymmetric lampshade mini skirts in jewel shades also stood out.

Berardi, who topped the bill at fashion week today, lead the busiest day of the five day schedule. Among the hottest tickets today is Christopher Kane who will unveil his Spring/Summer collection to an audience that includes Anna Wintour and Salma Hayek. British super brand Burberry is also certain to pull a star studded crowd.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in