Luella Bartley, with her self-named brand Luella, can be counted on for a fun show.
Witch hats and orange tights Fall 2008, dresses and jumpers inspired by wet-suits and biking gear for Spring 2003, and early 70s English street style with pin stripes, blazers and Doc Martens for Fall 2001.??
Her Spring 2010 collection was tamer than usual, but it was still quirky and joyous, as it continued on with the girly aesthetic for which she has become known in the past few seasons.?
It started with the Spring 2008 collection. Inspired by Thora Birch's character Enid in the 2001 film Ghost World, it was part punk, part prep and part girly.? The punk undertones had always existed for Bartley, but lately, she has taken the girliness factor and amped it up.?
The girliness reached a peak, along with critical and popular kudos, in the Spring 2009 collection. The dresses were ruffled, ruched, bowed and tulled, accessorized with hearts, pearl and pins. Colorful and sweet, it was one of the most delightful collections of the season.
While Spring 2010 doesn't pack the same punch, it still has the same winking sugary touch from Spring 09 - heart cutouts and flower prints, and every model wearing a big shiny bow in her hair. In this collection, Bartley plays more with volume than detailing.
I love girly fashion, which is why I love Luella. Bows, pearls, ruffles, lace - I love it all.?
While Bartley, a former writer for British Vogue, has shown in various cities - London to Milan to New York and back in London again - she has remained throughout a quintessentially British designer.?
And while looking at Luella's most recent outing, a thought occurred to me: Does girliness match up especially well with the British sensibility?
It's not that more people are walking around wearing pearl necklaces and pleated skirts in the UK than in the States.
Like I said, there's not that much of a difference in street style anymore, and there's probably an equal number of girls wearing pretty floral dresses here in Edinburgh as in New York City.?
But while I live among the Brits for several months, I'm trying to learn their quirks.Girly dressing is not so much what little girls wear, but what happens when older girls and women wear young girls' clothing.
There is something very tongue-in-cheek about it, which puts the Brits in a good position to harness the trend.
The Brits have long been known for straight-faced, absurdist humor. There's Monty Python, Blackadder or more recent British comedians like Steve Coogan and Ricky Gervais (during The Office and Extras).?
And think of Mercutio's sly sexual innuendo in Romeo and Juliet as the forefather to these comedians.?
There was something ridiculous about Luella's Spring 2010 collection with the overflow of sweet and sugary; Bartley's winking at us, "Don't you all like pretty things so much?"
When the idea of British fashion comes up, more people probably think of punk before they think of pink.?
As I've already mentioned, Bartley's looks have always had a touch of the punk to them - her earlier looks even more so.
However, with her latest collection, she seems to have shed that influence, at least for the time being.
Another British designer who's set my heart aflutter with girly heart designs is Vivienne Westwood, the Queen of Punk.?
I'm thinking especially of her shoe collaboration with the company Melissa, which gave the world the Lady Dragon, a high heeled shoe in either baby blue, yellow, white or pink, topped at the toes with a big heart.
The theme for the Fall 2000 season was "Daddy Who Are The Clash?"
After the show, Paul Simonon (a member of seminal 70s punk band The Clash) was quoted as saying, "Pink is the only true rock and roll color."
Perhaps, I start to think, as I bundle myself in a scarf and jacket every morning, the British just want to dress pretty and happy, because the weather never is.? ?
