Christopher Kane and Mulberry made a swaggering joint comeback at London Fashion Week, presenting spicy leather mini dresses and shoes with miniature axes for heels. The show, named “Town, city, country” by Kane, drew on colours inspired by “bleak, post-industrial Scotland”.
A Reunion of British Fashion Icons
Fifteen years ago, Christopher Kane and Mulberry were two of the biggest shows on the line-up. Kane was the brilliant young designer known for finding fashion in unlikely places: rubberised lace minis inspired by “Princess Margaret on acid”, and slip dresses featuring illustrations from the 1972 classic The Joy of Sex. Mulberry was London’s home-grown It-bag brand, with everyone from celebrities to fashion editors carrying a Bayswater or an Alexa.
The pandemic hit independent designers hard, and Kane placed his brand in administration in 2023. Mulberry also faced challenges after price hikes misfired, fighting off a takeover bid as profits plunged. However, with a new chief executive and a renewed focus on Britishness and craft, Mulberry is seeing a revival, with sales up 23% in the first quarter of this year.
An Unlikely but Promising Partnership
On paper, the collaboration seems an unlikely match. Mulberry is rooted in its Somerset factories, making understated practical bags, while Kane has a flair for bad-girl party dresses learned on the streets of Glasgow where he grew up. Yet, they meet in leather. The collection featured leather sheath dresses and elegantly spare leather car coats, as well as heeled loafers with Mulberry’s signature postman’s lock.
Kane builds each collection around one visual motif—such as Frankenstein, gorillas, or the reproductive organs of plants. For this collection, he took the castellated leather flaps of Mulberry’s Bayswater bags and turned them into notched hems and necklines. The result was punchy, full-throttle fashion, accessorised with money-making bags and shoes.
Britishness Beyond London
“I want Mulberry to be about a Britishness that’s not London-centric,” Kane said backstage. The show’s colours were inspired by “the bleak, post-industrial Scotland where I grew up – grey concrete, and coalminer orange”. Soft plaid checks added a rustic touch to the collection.
This London Fashion Week has renewed confidence and a packed schedule of shows. Simone Rocha, inspired by a story about an unknown Caravaggio discovered in a Dublin drawing room, designed knockout dresses with intricate silk roses trailing from hems or half-hidden under tulle. Erdem found a muse in Barbette, an avant-garde trapeze artist in 1920s Paris, leading to leotard-tight dresses veiled in spiders’ webs of crystals, worn with high-collared circus master coats.
A Week of Creative Diversity
Edeline Lee dressed artists from the Royal Ballet in her dance-inspired pieces, featuring neatly waisted, full-skirted dresses and practice-studio slouchy knits, for a catwalk in a north London school sports hall. Emilia Wickstead, who describes herself as “an old-school girl” loving classic shapes and vintage references, filmed her show this season due to outgrowing her boutique space. Her set design featured interwoven pastel rooms that “we couldn’t have done here physically, and don’t have the budget for”. American artist Lee Krasner inspired silk dresses painted with daisies, overlaid with tweed aprons sprouting colourful threads, and striped artists’ shirts.
