Mini dresses and the 'great British prom': LFW revisits the classics

From leather tutus to unstructured knitwear, the mini dress is the centrepiece of the spring-summer 2025 collection by JW Anderson, Jonathan Anderson's label, presented Sunday at London Fashion Week.

Under the glass ceiling of Old Billingsgate, a former fish market in London, the Northern Irish designer experimented with the form, fabric, and colour of the humble mini dress, playing with the possibilities of a garment often relegated to the wardrobe staple "little black dress".

Also artistic director of the LVMH group's up-and-coming Spanish label Loewe, Anderson revisited the classics in his latest collection, adding sweater sleeves or giant knitwear onto simple white or navy dresses.

A few models donned summer dresses in sky blue satins and pink sequins, but more looked prepared for a chilly British summer, borrowing thick knitwear and leather from the winter wardrobe.

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Dance-ready models strutted down the runway in sumptuous tutus and leotards in black, brown, and khaki leather, with others wearing mini and maxi versions of the "balloon" skirt, which has been making a comeback since spring.

Dripping in 90s and early 2000s nostalgia, Londoner Sinead Gorey's latest collection was a look back at the "great British prom", with the runway in a basketball court decked in tinsel garlands and completed with a disco ball.

In her latest collection, Gorey successfully evokes British culture without relying on obvious emblems like she has in the past with the Union Jack.

Characteristically subversive, Gorey's prom queen was usurped by the "prom anti-heroine" in the show, flaunting dress code-breaking corsets and miniskirts with tie details and tartan prints.

"She's the outcast of the prom, ditching the archetypal prom dress. In fact, she's probably not even going to the prom -- just the afterparty," Gorey said of the collection.

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Returning the word of the summer "brat" to its original meaning, models had punk-inspired hairdos, accessories bejewelled in diamantes, and tangled earbuds with phones part of Gorey's "phonecore" aesthetic fusing tech and fashion.

As y2k trends enjoy a resurgence, the collection's mini T-shirt dresses, three-quarter leggings, and bubble gum pink, knee-high Converse shoes felt familiar, helped by Gorey's takes on the balloon skirt and coquette-style ribbons.

However, with fast-changing trends on social media and digital saturation, the collection also felt wistful, as the notes on the show declared "house parties, Facebook albums and an altogether more tethered relationship with social media" as part of a "bygone era".

Source: AFP