Aganovich fuk@lfw s/s 07

Last season, Aganovich showed with former partner Yung, but the pair have now spilt and Nana truly impressed us with a solo show dripping with eerie elegance.

The title - The Dream of Beef - is a reference to London biographer Peter Ackroyd's recorded superstition that if you dream of beef someone you know will die. The press release accompanying this collection tells us it's "a story about a young girl's violently elaborate physical and psychological response to her developing sexuality." Cor blimey you may well think, how can this result in feminine womenswear fit for a modern-day Betty Davis? I don't know how, just that it does.

Aganovich has divided the collection into neurotic, psychotic and super-psychotic garments. The pared-down pieces - pencil skirts with exaggerated rears teamed with tailored blouses, to-the-knee black shorts with a mini cape jackets - form the basis. From this, Nana adds details and experiments with collars (constraint is another theme), pleats and tucks. Spring/summer for Aganovich isn't all about lying around on beaches - this lady is a siren of sexiness in raw silk and satin, dresses that skim her hips, jackets with hidden folds and tucks, fitted trousers with an extra hem and double-fronted blouses.

Her models had white Edwardian-style wigs and porcelain doll make-up and held their distant stares. The audience was appreciative and while the photographers had a major disappointment with the lights, the clothes were a big hit and there were a few stunned comments as people left.

words: Marian Buckley
Photos: David Jones