A Greek odyssey
London fashion week has proved that it still plays host to some truly international-league talent.
With Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney showing in Paris and Matthew Williamson and Roland Mouret now choosing New York, some peg London as a B-rate city with no great names to call its own. They have not been to a Sophia Kokosalaki show.
Greek-born Kokosalaki has been hugely influential both on the catwalk and the high street, where her delicate embroidery and trademark Grecian draping have popped up on £29.99 rip-offs all over the capital.
She needed to move on from these overexposed ideas and prove that she could reinvent herself now that others had caught her up. And she did. The guitarstring embroidery may have ebbed away, but the colours were still unmistakably Sophia.
Beachy hues - coral, sand and aquamarine - looked refreshingly spring-like. Like mermaids rising from the sea, the models had slicked-back hair in tendrils, their bodies sprayed with water until they were as slick as seals.
Shorts were a key look, worn rolled-up with lightweight khaki windcheaters. For evening, they were paired with loose vests embroidered with Swarovski crystals. In the off-shoulder draping of a bell-shaped dress or the ruching on a wraparound top, the influence was still obviously Grecian.
But the Japanese plissé effect was much in evidence, along with complicated fabric-twisting and layering reminiscent of Issey Miyake. A Greek/Japanese/London fusion could be just the thing for next season. How international can you get?
Even the most talented designers rely on sponsorship and Kokosalaki's show was made possible by Top Shop. In return, Kokosalaki delivers a capsule collection for the high street superstore twice a year.
Which is excellent news for those who cannot stretch to a £600 Kokosalaki dress - less expensive versions will be available from Top Shop for around £50 next year. But get there quick: Sophia is every fashion insider's favourite. Why else would Alexander McQueen have been in the audience last night?
