Skip to contentSkip to site index
A person walking in a street past other people and a green-and-black car. The person is wearing a bedazzled white top and a tulle skirt, long white gloves, white stockings and white heels.
Enchanting attire that conjured the wardrobe of Cinderella. 

Style Outside

The Art of Dressing Gracefully

This season at London Fashion Week, outfits on and off the runway felt a bit more mature.

Photographs and Text by Simbarashe Cha

Simbarashe Cha wrote the text and took these photographs for Style Outside, a visual column that explores street style around the world.

London Fashion Week can often feel like a collision of two aesthetic worlds: a sophistication on the runways and a youthfulness in the streets. Seeing the rapport between them is among the highlights of attending the shows. This season, something about the outfits on and off the catwalk felt a bit more mature — maybe because London Fashion Week is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

Structural skirts brought a sense of refinement to the collections of brands like Erdem, Simone Rocha and Chopova Lowena. Refined could also describe the clothes at Edeline Lee’s debut show, which included a parade of dresses that evoked styles seen in travel ads and magazines from the 1950s. Even Jonathan Anderson, a designer known for his frog clogs and pigeon bags, seemed to dial up the seriousness of his playful approach: His new JW Anderson collection included frocks with sleek, flying-saucer-like silhouettes.

Quiet plaids and fancy-looking knits were some of the sartorial signs of maturity in the streets. Many of the best looks in the crowds felt elevated and had less of the D.I.Y. charm that the city’s fashion fans have been known to embrace. This was neither bad nor good; if anything, just a sign of how personalities can change with age.

Image
These two appeared to take style cues from Jimi Hendrix and “Alice in Wonderland.”
Image
An ensemble on the Simone Rocha runway with the color and the fluffiness of frosting.
Image
A sumptuous palette of pastels and silvery shoes at the Erdem show.
Image
The rapper Jack Harlow, in layers of black, resembled Zorro without the mask.
ImageA model walking an outdoor runway in a black dress with a sheer bodice and a full skirt.
Pockets added a practical touch to this dramatic Erdem confection.
Image
This plaid jacket? Classic.
Image
This red-and-white-check piece? Kaleidoscopic.
Image
Each outfit possessed the type of casual cool that comes with achieving a certain comfort with your personal style.
Image
Breathtaking beaded hair completed this look on the Ahluwalia runway.
Image
Floral met animal in the print of this coat shown at Burberry.
Image
Catching this sewing machine in transit after the Edeline Lee show was a reminder of the labor required to pull off Fashion Week.
Image
Both the attire and the attitude were unbuttoned.
Image
Stone columns brought out the softness of the sweater and the curls.
Image
Talk to the hand? More like talk to the heel.
Image
A heroic effort at mixing fuzzy, furry and splattered textures.
Image
Big hair played well with the bold stripes and the billowy pants.
Image
A corgi, a breed beloved by Queen Elizabeth II, made for a fitting canine guest.
Image
The flow of the bob echoed the shapes of the rosettes on the dress.
Image
This look on the JW Anderson runway was one that recalled flying saucers.
Image
From left, the singer Normani, the stylist Law Roach and the actress Gabrielle Union brought star power to the audience at Burberry. 
Image
Outerwear in the Burberry collection included coats in graphic and subtle plaids …
Image
… and this cropped jacket with short bell sleeves.
Image
A procession of smart shirtdresses on the runway at Edeline Lee.
Image
The dress’s intricate construction rivaled that of the carpet beneath it.
Image
A fresh look rooted in botanical heels.
Image
When the eyes of Fashion Week’s attendees are not glued to the runway, they are often surveying outfits in the crowd.

Simbarashe Cha is a Times photographer and visual columnist documenting style and fashion around the world. More about Simbarashe Cha

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section ST, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: A New Season For Seriousness. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT