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Orla Kiely Her 1960s’ secretaries showed her autumn–winter 2013–14 collection in a unique fashion

London diary

While Doug Rimington photographed the main event, Elina Lukas visited a few other shows during London Fashion Week, including the weekend festivities where she spoke to Verity & Violet
photographed by the author

Top and centre Bolzoni & Walsh. Above Orla Kiely’s models behind their typewriters.

Leather and typewriters
February equals fashion. On day two of London Fashion Week the excitment was spreading rapidly, polluting the air and getting tangled in your hair. With lots of shows lined up, my agenda consisted of contemporary minimalism and playful femininity.

As we queued outside the Elms Painting Rooms, the suspense was building up and all the impatient bloggers started pulling out their cameras and turning their heads topped with extravagant hats from left to right to see if anyone has gotten in yet. Fashion people seem to be extremely fond of queues.

Having finally entered, we were greeted by cans of JD, old-school Coke bottles and girls on motorbikes clad in leather. Bolzoni & Walsh are a fresh designer couple using simple yet stylish cuts that create versatile looks that, instead of taking you over, give you a platform for self-expression. Throwing in some denim and velvet helped their AW13 collection acheive a unique “cool” character that seemed to have appealed to every person in the room.

Shortly after we found ourselves in a completely different world—it’s incredible what a brief walk up the stairs can do! Orla Kiely’s throwback set-up, with its vintage typewriters, brought to life the romance of post-war films. The girls, although in their tender age, put on a great performance and played their roles well while showcasing the designs at their best. (See video from the show here.)

Before we knew it, three hours were gone and the fashionistas started spreading out evenly across central London. This called for a coffee.

Verity and Violet


After the buzz of of Fashion Week has passed, the London crowd still wanted more. And with that came London Fashion Weekend, the ultimate shopping experience. We arrived at Somerset House in the early hours of the morning. The cold was biting and the girls in sky-high heels couldn’t wait to get in.

Half a day later, well shopped and pampered, it was time for the grand opening. The sure highlight of the evening was the arrival of a vintage-inspired singing duo, Verity & Violet. Sparkling and ready to entertain, the girls dashed off to the cocktail lounge to lighten up the mood of tired fashionistas.

V&V’s style is truly unique—if you heard it once, you won’t forget it (take a listen here). Jess & Loui mix the old, well loved songs with the new beats. Their repertoire stretches from timeless classics to modern day ballads. From the way Jess and Loui perform you can tell the girls have a place in their hearts for every single song they sing. Amongst their personal favourites (and ours!) are ‘True Blue’, ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Don’t Speak’.

‘We have done something unique with them by taking a song we all know and giving it a vintage feel,’ say V&V.

Jess and Loui are best friends and both come from an artistic background. Less than a year ago the girls decided they wanted something they could call their own, something they could truly stand for. And so Verity & Violet was born. Since then they have been taking London by storm.

Moving at such a rapid pace, what does V&V’s future look like? They respond: ‘We would love to record an album! Beautiful, vintage classics with a V&V twist.’

We wish the girls good luck in all their ventures and hope their contagious positive aura will not fade away.

‘The only thing that can be hard at times is that this world is unpredictable. But we love it so much that we just embrace the industry with all its flaws. It’s amazing what you can achieve if you stay focused and upbeat.’ •



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Elina Lukas is a corresponent and photographer for Lucire.