Classy Caroline Charles was our second show at Somerset House this season. This show always seems to feel like the calm before the storm; like going to your glamourous great aunt Hilda's for sherry and mince pies before the real chaotic present ripping, fights with siblings part of Christmas ensues. My apologies for the yule tide reference, this is afterall the spring/summer season. Shame on me - however, the analogy still stands.
The collection was very demure with nods to a time of preppy vintage. Dropped hemlines on silk dresses with pleats, airy hand drawn prints, trousers cut to swing. Precious hats added a fun touch and handworked applique detailing brought a bit of bling to the party.
Caroline kept the mood light and breezy with many of her models sashaying down the catwalk barefoot calmly, as though they were walking along a pier in the Hamptons instead of a catwalk in a hot tent in central london!
The only real concerns I had about the show were the lighting which made it nearly impossible for me to get any good shots of the garments. The front half of the catwalk (which is of course where I was sitting) was pitch black but for citrus colour spotlights under which the models posed. This would have been fine except the lights turned the garments which ever colour of orange/yellow/red that they glowed!
The other concern I had is the fact that Caroline Charles has a very obvious target customer, a poised 40 plus woman who dresses confidently in stunningly beautiful, well made clothes. A huge step for the brand would be to use models from the very demographic to which they appeal most! Caroline is an experienced pillar of of LFW and her girls could represent the experience and knowledge that comes only with age. I simply don't feel that when I see 18 years old girls on the catwalk in Caroline Charles's designs that it does any sort of justice at all to the garments.
Thank you Caroline Charles for providing us with a beautiful collection and a much needed moment of calm.
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