My favest ever show at the AW13 London Fashion Week was PASKAL and here is the review that I did for HardZine - check it out guys, was suuuch a good show!
One of the most exciting events at London Fashion Week is the Kiev Fashion Days show, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, designed to showcase the huge talents of some of the many up and coming Ukrainian designers.
For me, the standout line was Iuliia Paskal, who has come extremely far in a short space of time - despite only founding her brand in 2010, this is already her sixth catwalk collection. Paskal has captured the fashion critic's hearts and attention as a hugely promising designer with an enormously bright future in her midst.
Paskal admits that her pedigree as an architecture graduate feeds somewhat into her modern and sculptural designs, however, she says that her main aesthetic is suited to the creative and clear-minded woman, such as herself. This was certainly evident in her AW13 show throughout the minimalistic and clean-cut collection. However this season, there was a large emphasis on a more futuristic style with flashes of metallic and laser-cut print, which is a slight step in a new direction for the designer, as it features not only her niche of minimalistic monochrome, but also a wider colour palette of silvers, golds, and bright blues. This in turn created a wonderful balance of both her classic, almost retro style, and something much more cutting-edge.
In my eyes, the opening look of the show, completely embodies the whole spirit of the collection. It features a striking laser-cut metallic blue tunic-style dress, paired with black trousers and bright blue ankle cuffs. The flashes of the cameras only emphasised the beauty of the look, and gave the dress the appearance that it was made entirely from intricately-cut shards of glass.
Another impeccable look was the last of the show - a simple black tailored jacket, paired with a metallic laser cut pencil skirt. The focal point of the look was the subtle yet pronounced panel of bright silver in the back opening fold of the jacket, complementing the sophisticated and refined use of what could easily have the potential to be part of a somewhat overbearing colour scheme.
Completing each of the model's outfits were the sculptured crown-like headwear, which seemed to be a surrealistic cross-section of a motorcycle helmet-like creation. These in turn added to the futuristic, sleek yet minimalistic feel which itself injected some ornamentation into the collection.
The show's review would not be complete without mentioning the music. The soundtrack was indie rock band's Divine Fits' 'Would That Not Be Nice'. It's eerie, cascading tone which blended with the strong and serious pulse, echoed the feel of the collection in general and convinced me that it's only a matter of time before Iuliia Paskal metamorphoses from an independent designer recognised and acknowledged only by the smaller European fashion industry into an global success story, influencing international consumers and designers alike, in the very near future.
Photo Creds to The Fashion Scout
