London Fashion Week 2011: EMESHA

Emesha Nagy is one of Frost’s favorite designers, her clothes are beautiful and eco-friendly. She has worked with Vivienne Westwood and Jasper Conran, and now is on the fourth of her own collection.

EMESHA’s mission is to source new eco-friendly fabrics and to produce quality garments that are sustainable in both manufacture and design, without sacrificing style.

EMESHA is fully committed to environmental and social responsibilities. The label was created using only natural, therefore biodegradable and recycled fabrics, which are free of harmful AZO dyes. The fabrics used are mainly sourced in the UK or come from end-of-line “upcycled” industry waste and so some of garments are available in a limited edition.

The EMESHA label is concerned with paying fair wages to the skilled workers who work hard to create the garments. “Having Hungarian roots, I have been devastated to see the decline of the apparel industry in Hungary over the past few years. When new countries joined the EU in 2007, many of the prominent fashion houses moved their production lines further east where costs were lower. This had a devastating effect on the local economy leaving many skilled workers
unemployed forcing those who remained in the industry to work long hours and lower their salary expectations to keep their jobs. Appreciating the skill and talent of these workers, I chose my homeland for the production of my collections. I am building my company to follow sustainable and ethical principles I am committed to fair wage production to reverse the downward economic spiral, and to draw attention to a huge issue within the European Union. This does not only happen in the fashion industry, and is visible in many other European countries. However fashion is what I know and this is where I can make a change.”

A vegetarian since her early teens, Emesha doesn’t use leather or fur in her designs.

London Fashion Week 2011| Bolshie | Esprit | Paul Costello | Leutton Postle

London Fashion Week 2011| Bolshie |Esprit |Paul Costello | Leutton Postle

I love London Fashion Week, so when my postman handed me a parcel which had lots of invites in an Outnet bag I got very excited. I headed to Somerset house wearing black (standard), flats (controversial) and my camera (which breaks!). Here is my run down so far.

Bolshie

 

Rhiannon Jones presents her first LFW show and gets Bolshie. The 19-year-old couldn’t be cooler, her show was on the top floor of a Shoreditch car park.

 

Rhiannon is self-taught and her ‘Romantic Poverty’, show featured brash prints and had MIC Righteous rapping ‘It’s going get Nasty!’. She also had good goody bags, not that journalists care about that type of thing…ahem.

Paul Costello

 

Paul officially opened Fashion Week again this year, his collection was feminine, flirty. Had lots of ruffles, puff sleeves, voluminous dresses and flowing fabrics. Great colours of coral, pink and green. The collection was inspired by the 1962 Hollywood Classic ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane’

Leutton Postle

I arrived early to the Freemasons’ Hall (Vauxhall Fashion Scout’s) and was informed that they were running an hour late. However, the show was worth it. The Vauxhall Fashion Scout merit award is an internationally recognised launch pad for the most innovative designers, and Leutton Postle received, and deserved it. They graduated from Central Saint Martins, design duo Sam Leutton and Jenny Postle then showcased their debut collection as part of the VFS merit award. They have a beautiful couture knitwear collection.

The collection is a colourful array of patterns, with patchwork, fringing, mesh skirts, and multicoloured knitwear. Garments hung loosely over shoulders. Very original.

RCA & Esprit

 

I was overjoyed when I got my bright pink Esprit invite, and even more overjoyed when I arrived, it was the best London Fashion event so far this week. I had a spinach and beetroot cocktail (surprisingly nice), a Russian Standard (very strong!), design my own T-shirt and got the designer Kevin Lyons to sign it. The bonus is, Lyon’s likes my T-shirt. I also coloured it in, have a boogie, eat amazing canapés and check out their collection. Everyone is nice and having fun. Tops stars. They are big on wool and their collection is fun, fashionable and original. Frost loves.

 

I also went to the Esthetica Fashion Champagne Brunch, BFC Chairman Harold Tillman CBE and Gregory Barker, Minister of State Department for Energy and Climate Change were there. It was a wonderful event.

Keep coming to Frost for more London Fashion Week news and reviews, and follow us on Twitter at @Frostmag or me at @Balavage