Bring Me Sunshine: Holly Fulton SS12

After having arrived at London's Euston Station this September for Fashion Week I made a quick stop at my hotel but soon found myself whisked off into my first Fashion Week experience: the Holly Fulton show. I was so excited when my invite came and the show certainly didn't disappoint.
As well as being quite an experience in the glitz of Somerset House in full Fashion Week swing, it was also a learning curve in fashion show photography! At Fashion Week you have to be able to adapt to different lighting and find how to work as best you can from your position. I went armed with copious equipment but in this show found that the flash in my camera worked better for the shots than the external one I'd borrowed from college. The photos were much better by the time the last look stepped out but I have still been disappointed by the outcomes.
I've admired Holly Fulton's work for a long time now since she hit the scene with her fabulous AW09 collection. She has such an eye for colour and detail. Therefore I was an incredibly happy bunny to be kindly invited to Talk PR's press week where I could see the collection up close and take lots more photos!
The collection has a base colour palette of sophisticated monochrome but the quirk is in the vibrant colours, checkerboard squares and intricate yet bold patterns that Fulton is known for. This collection is for the girl dressed for Vegas but holidaying in Margate, and I think would gorgeous on any beach or breezing around the city in silks. The collection is inspired by the cool glamour of the 60s and 70s and takes influence from Pucci prints and early Versace, inspired by the neon lights of the arcades.
The Art Deco movement is also at work in Fulton's attention to detail and, often heavy, embellishment. Lots of the garments have plasticy elements to them and the perspex adds an interesting layer of weight and movement. Seed beads, shells and sequins work to emphasise patterns or create them from scratch and glitter as the light hits them. The heavily embroidered skirt in a vivid coral design gives a tough feeling to something that in nature is so fragile.
The jewellery is also anything but insipid in hard, chunky materials. The bags are in cheerful colours with satisfyingly big ones you could fit everything in Mary Poppins style and hard little structured clutches with insets of shell laminate and Perspex blend which shimmer like the sea. I really like the feel of an exotic ocean throughout the collection with sea weeds enticingly curving within the prints. The collection was a ray of sunshine on a September day and now I'm craving the summer's warmth more than ever. Bring on the summer colour palette.