The women’s collection has returned to London Fashion Week after a four-year break under the direction of designer Kasha Crampton, and it was a shocker — of sorts.
Mixed in with riffs on the brand’s signature trench styles were some racier numbers, including a series of long dresses and blouses inspired by the Japanese photographer Nobuyoshi Araki, who’s known for his sexual imagery.
Models posed suggestively on plush sofas, played pool or sat astride horse saddles dressed in delicate long silk dresses — some of them transparent — with designs inspired by Araki’s bird of paradise flowers or black-and-white cloud images.
Contrasts came in the form of smart navy trenches cinched with wide leather belts, or cape-shaped ones lined in the brand’s signature check. The latter were, by far, the strongest elements of the collection.
Aquascutum is also showing the spring 2017 collection alongside the current fall one that’s in-store now, in a bid to entice — and accommodate — the modern consumer.