Hall Ohara fuk@lfw s/s 06

Hall Ohara, the brainchild of ex-St Martin's students Steven Hall and Yuriko Ohara, have some interesting ideas. Sharing a love of absurdity this design duo explores notions of proportion, adds a touch of surrealism and pushes the result to their own idiosyncratic limits.

While there is of course room in fashion for the bizarre and/or challenging, if this approach is to be successful on a commercial level a little more thought towards wearability and manufacture should be considered. On the first count, Hall Ohara have a market and are doing strong business in Japan where such quirkiness is always popular. Whether they will have such appeal in the UK right now is less certain. On the catwalk these garments were certainly eyecatching, but the exaggerated volume of many of the pieces may restrict them to a niche of fashion followers. On the second point, although certain design details such as exposed overlocking were intentionally left on show, if these are to work, they need to be superbly finished, otherwise it becomes difficult to distingush between considered embellishment and a slightly rushed collection.

This said, the collection raised smiles among the audience particularly when a series of printed and graduated T-shirts came down the ramp. With a nod to the Dada and Surrealist schools of art, prints include a horse-drawn carriage and Duchamps' urinal, Hall Ohara demonstrated their playful side. It's something that should become their trademark and with a little more polish, these two could really be on to a winner.

Words: Maia Adams. Photos: David Jones.