WORD.

LONDON FASHION WEEK A/W2010-11 – COOPERATIVE DESIGNS

After a short sharp stroll to John Adams’ street, we were greeted at Cooperative Designs’ presentation by a wealth of baked goods and walls plastered in an array of graphic prints. Stripes, checkerboard and window pane grid, all in a starkly monochrome palette flooded the space in a TV static. A foreshadowing of the collection itself, Cooperative Designs’ trademark dalliance with knits and stripes both horizontal and vertical expressed itself in a slightly more refined manner whilst along the way losing little of its inherent humour.

In a variety of weights and gauges, knitted hooded cardigans in a large scale window pane grid weave – the collar inverted colour wise – and paired with matching leggings, the monochrome palette broken by the occasional dart of red and blue, communicated a playful insouciance. A floor length skirt hitting high on the waist and slit to the thigh, rendered in greyscale stripes and paired with a layered crop-top hinted at a more sleek elegance.

Much like the commissioned portraits interrupting the stark stripes of the walls, Off-the-shoulder and V-neck jumpers, paired with cable knit cowls, fingerless gloves and Pollock inspired millinery by Noel Coward – all flailing thread falling from cubist masterpieces – balanced stripes often considered stark with ever-accommodating warmth.

Posted by Luke Raymond