There were sheer organza face masks at Bora Aksu, one of the few live catwalk shows that went ahead – but the fashion world was trying to stay positive in very challenging times
London’s first catwalk show since lockdown opened with traditional nurse’s whites, complete with starched collars and nostalgic ruffle-edged aprons – although this was fashion week, so face masks were sheer organza and worn with pillar box red lipstick beneath.
The designer, Bora Aksu, had been thinking about the nurses of 1918, who faced dealing with the flu pandemic immediately after a war. Aksu followed the starched whites with a flurry of party dresses in the frosted pastels of 1920s flapper dresses, because, he says, “we need to remember that things will get better after this, as they did then”.
In a sunny Covent Garden churchyard, Aksu’s 20-strong audience is socially distanced via the allocation of a wooden bench each. A few show-goers accessorise their face masks by layering coordinated veils in fishnet or lace over the top, in the style of Marlene Dietrich’s veiled hats. Aksu, who has shown at London fashion week for 14 years, is one of only three designers following through with a live fashion show to an audience this season. Those designers who had planned indoor shows, even on a tiny scale, have in the past few days mostly switched to individual appointments due to anxiety about rising infection rates.