It’s been five years since Georgia Hardinge first emerged as ‘one to watch’. By now the London-born, bred and based designer has firmly established herself as a fixture on the London Fashion Week radar, celebrated for her combination of intricate craftsmanship and ultra wearability.
Fabric manipulation, particularly an evolutionary interest in the art of pleating, has been at the forefront of her self-defined ‘sculptural’ approach ever since she started out. A quick look through her archive of past collections, Autumn / Winter 2015 ‘Fragment’ being a clear stand-out, demonstrates that Georgia couldn’t care any less for bulking up collections with fillers – each and every piece tells the story of its creation and entices the wearer to tap into the depths of the designer’s conceptual mind.
For Autumn / Winter 2016, she took inspiration from lenticular techniques, by which an image is unveiled fully only when seen from a certain angle. This idea of conceal-and-reveal contributed to the fact that when I first saw the collection presented at LFW, I feared Georgia this season had forgone her elaborate methods in favour of stream- and clean-lining. It would have been understandable, considering many a designer in the past abandoned their personal ethos to reach a wider client base. However, a closer look unearthed stunning star motifs peeping out from within gorgeously pleated skirts and dresses, revealing themselves only in the moment of movement. A reduction of outerwear (I could only really spot a couple of coats and jackets) meant the focus was shifted on day-to-eveningwear, with a number of breathtaking gowns ready for any red carpet. The whole collection shone in various shades of purple and blue – monochrome black and white stepped up the elegance game. With celebrity fans already including the likes of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Florence & The Machine, A/W16 showed plenty of promise to assume that this fan base is about to grow even stronger.
DASH
