Future Classics fuk@lfw s/s 06

By taking traditional female garment forms and re-working them with unexpected, often quirky twists, Future Classics does exactly what it says on the label.

This season, designer Julie Wilkins took classic staples and mixed them up to create thoroughly contemporary pieces with an idiosyncratic bent. Commonplace details were abstracted, enlarged, taken out of context and doubled within individual pieces.

To live music, courtesy of stylish lady DJ's The Record Players, cutsey spaghetti strap sun dresses came out in traditional Liberty print fabrics which had been over-dyed and styled with chunky knitted leggings or saucy hold-up stockings.

Distressed and petticoats are de- and re-constructed into pretty skirts and fine jerseys and knits worked into double-fronted T-shirts, tiny cardis and vests in a palette reminiscent of "the murky shades of pond and earth" - moss green, watery blue, dark ink and petrol.

The only splashes of colour come from the vertiginously heeled red patent shoes and dishevelled platinum bouffants which, together with the intentionally dazed meanderings of the models, gave the impression that a toy box full of overgrown dollies had come to life.

Words: Maia Adams. Photos: David Jones.