Watching London street fashion is fascinating

I FELT a slight nip in the autumn air.

England’s extended Indian summer had not stopped fashion-craving souls from thronging London’s Oxford Street. In spite of the many tourists in trainers, the office workers, native Brits and gaggles of on-the-go teen fashionistas turned the throng into a heady fashion mob.

The woman attracting attention as she made her way across the capital’s renowned shopping strip was a gleaming blonde, bosomy, with a behind to behold. Clad in an extremely tight, shiny silver skirt that barely held together, nothing dampened her resolve. Her top, a skimpy bra-let in a slightly muted silver shade, offered barely contained ampleness.

Taking tiny steps on sky-high, lustrous silver platforms, the young woman allowed nothing to stand between her and the fashion she obviously loved. Neither the increasingly incredulous glances and uneven pavements, nor the obvious fact that she was in a hurry.

Epitomising London’s quirky fashion aesthetic, she eventually broke into a trot. That was all she could do, without ripping her A-line skirt in the middle of a crowded street. Without a backward glance, she hurried into the milling crowd.

For those interested in fashion, often derided as a frivolous fetish, a London visit is never complete without a trek through its retail-stacked streets that tease, taunt and tempt.

At one end of Oxford Street, you know Primark is just down the road when everyone passing you holds a brown paper bag spilling over with just-purchased items. The younger the bag holder, the larger the bag. This insatiable hunger for the latest fast fashion, questionable ethics notwithstanding, reels in the curious one after another, then lets them go on the street with a bagful of clothes costing less than a pub lunch.

Of course, you’re free to view store windows. Take Selfridges. Over 100 years, its spectacularly dazzling, bold and visionary windows have become synonymous with the store, articulating fashion’s ever-evolving zeitgeist. Six to eight times yearly, this iconic department store’s displays engage and entice passers-by. This time it was “The Masters” campaign held in conjunction with London Fashion Week 2014.

To represent this campaign, 12 designers were chosen as the originators, pioneers and provocateurs who shape fashion’s landscape. Each was showcased with a cleverly curated window celebrating their craft, held together with a cinematic thread inspired by a film narrative or genre, from sci-fi to film noir.

The more notable were Azzedine Alaïa, dubbed “The Master of Architecture”; Yohji Yamamoto, “The Master of Defiance”; Jean-Paul Gaultier, “The Master of Expression”, and Marc Jacobs, “The Master of Mood”.

The “Master of the Elements”, Rick Owens, on his brand’s 20th anniversary, was honoured with an additional, specially commissioned 25-foot (7.6m) statue sitting above the easily recognisable Selfridges London canopy.

Every high street store casts its own spell. Swedish brand COS (Collection Of Style) stores are filled with the utilitarian, the contemporary and, as their website says, “considered design”.

Their timeless pieces do look insipid sometimes, hanging on the rails. But once you put them on, the clothes transform you.

The same goes for & other stories, another brand owned by the same company. Meanwhile, gorgeous London-inspired Lola cupcakes entice further at Topshop, hundreds of old Singer sewing machines take you back in time in AllSaints, and H&M shoppers hastily pack their just-paid-for suitcases with just-purchased items.

Similarly, no two people on London’s iconic fashion streets think alike or dress alike. What stands out most in arguably the world’s most trend-setting city is the lack of uniformity, in sense of style or chosen aesthetic.

However, it was beginning to get a little embarrassing. I didn't have many days in the city, yet whenever someone asked me what I had been up to, I had to hesitate. To cultural snobs, not venturing beyond Oxford Street was akin to blasphemy.

In my defence, fashion-street watching takes energy and effort. Examining the layers of clothes is a study of culture, too, I convinced myself. Be it deliberate or by chance, clothes reflect a person’s identity, eye and beliefs. And it’s on the streets that real fashion comes alive. Not on the runways or around the champagne bar at society events.

Less than a week later I read that the Paris Chanel show had also taken to the streets. The legendary Lagerfeld, the iconic brand’s designer, renowned for presenting each collection in the most unexpected way, added another feather to his already illustrious cap. His Spring Summer 2015 collection finale was presented on a street that he created – Boulevard Chanel No. 5 – with a mock feminist street protest led by an army of models holding placards and quilted megaphones. Just as the streets of Hong Kong were gridlocked with similarly well-behaved protesters.

Who says fashion is not forward, fascinating and fun? And a study in culture?

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