By Marie-Louise Gumuchian
LONDON (Reuters) – Irish designer Paul Costelloe took fashionistas to Paris for his spring collection at London Fashion Week on Friday, as the British capital picked up the catwalk season baton.
Costelloe, 79, mainly stuck to four pastel colours – blue, pink, yellow and green – for the line, called “Le ciel est bleu” (the sky is blue), which also introduced his new bridal collection.
Against a painted backdrop of a Parisian boulevard and to the soundtrack of French songs, the designer opened the show with all-blue looks.
Models wore linen or check ensembles, tweed dresses and jackets and playful jacquard frocks. Floral prints and ruffles adorned some of the designs.
Costelloe described the line as “very young, it’s very happy, it’s very positive”.
“While London… in the late sixties, early seventies was the kind of fashion trendy capital, Paris was the couture and that was where I grew up in that couture environment and this all remained with me,” he told Reuters.
“This collection kind of reflects that period.”
London, long known as a creative hub for emerging talent, is the second leg of the month-long Spring-Summer 2025 catwalk calendar that began in New York and will also include fashion capitals Milan and Paris.
London Fashion Week, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year, officially began on Thursday evening with shows and a party featuring singer Charli XCX to launch a new collection by high street retailer H&M.
It runs until Sept. 17 with scheduled catwalk shows by the likes of Burberry, Erdem and Simone Rocha.
The British Fashion Council (BFC), founded in 1983, launched its first London Fashion Week in 1984.
Over the decades, famous names such as the late Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood have wowed fashionistas with their creative visions at the London event.
“It’s known for its entrepreneurship, it’s known for its creativity, it’s freedom of expression,” BFC Chief Executive Caroline Rush told Reuters on Thursday.
“Those are the hallmarks of British fashion and that’s what you’re going to be seeing over the next five days at London Fashion Week.”
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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