Ashley Williams

Ashley Williams first solo present epitomized what London trend week is all about: younger abilities doing their very own factor and doing it nicely. Williams is a graduate of Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East, which has helped kick off the careers of such designers as Jonathan Saunders, Craig Green, and Simone Rocha. It was throughout Williams tenure with that initiative that she debuted a variety of plush shark purses, which obtained the London trend set speaking.

For an rising designer, Williams entrance row was fairly spectacular—everybody from Sarah Andelman (who shares the 26-yr-previous’s fashions at Colette) to high editors to It Brits Alexa Chung and Pixie Geldof (each of whom are mates of Williams) turned out to assist her. What was extra spectacular, although, have been Williams’ garments. The designer mentioned she was impressed by Vietnamese prostitutes within the ’60s who had been influenced by American tradition. “They’d make imitations of standard American garments and get it barely flawed,” she mentioned. This translated into kitschy spaghetti-strap clothes, tops embellished with crystal bras (Williams was inducted into the Swarovski Collective this season), and coloration-blocked, ’60s-type day frocks with geisha particulars. A few items have been painstakingly hand-beaded (like a maxi gown with a cool Coca-Cola motif—Williams has cast a partnership with the model), and most of the clothes screamed humorous phrases. A black and grey sweater had “Hassle” in a circle with a line by way of it printed on every breast, and a beaded white skirt featured a cartoon depicting a shoe heading for a woman’s rear. It learn “Kick Ass.”

The assortment was balanced—it provided girls the whole lot from knitwear and trousers to slinky clothes and printed blouses. There have been numerous female parts right here (pink, sparkle, and ladylike little sneakers, a collaboration with Red or Dead), however the garments additionally emitted a toughness, which Williams magnified by way of a collection of lengthy-sleeved T-shirts. These have been worn beneath nearly all of Williams’ sleeveless numbers, and, down their arms, graffiti letters spelled out “Zuburbz” (like suburbs, however with Zs), or Coca-Cola in Chinese. “I assume they harden the clothes up a bit,” supplied Williams of the T-shirts’ function. “It’s additionally simply how I would costume. I like to decorate issues down.” She was sporting one in every of mentioned tops with a pair of grey pants backstage.

Thanks to Williams’ well-known associates, in addition to a heavy-hitting listing of outlets (along with Colette, VFiles, Selfridges, Joseph, and Joyce Hong Kong inventory her assortment), it is secure to say this up-and-comer has some severe potential. But what actually makes Williams’ star shine is that she does regardless of the hell she needs, and she or he does it effectively.

Ashley Williams Spring Summer 2015

Ashley Williams