Basso & Brooke fuk@lfw s/s 08

Chris Brooke and Bruno Brasso love to drag the fashion crowd to unfamiliar places and the Louise T Blouin Institute was bang on. This building, tucked away in a small street just a stone's throw from where the Notting Hill Race Riots kicked off in the 60s, was originally a coachworks for Rolls Royce, Bentley and Daimler. It's now a modern space dedicated to promoting cultural exchange and art. To quote the website: "The philosophy of the Institute is experimentation, questioning, debate, and learning", a perfect backdrop for BB ss08.

It was mayhem outside the venue and you have to respect the Blow team for their crowd control techniques. There was no catwalk, just chairs arranged around a room so that people could see the clothes up close and personal. Entitled 'Brave New World' the collection is inspired in part by two very different authors: Shakespeare's The Tempest is quoted on the show notes, the Soma tablets from Huxley's Brave New World lend their name to a series of prints. Artists Peter Halley, Franz Ackermann, Bruno Munari, Ettore Sottass and the whole Memphis movement are also down as major influences. As Chris told us afterwards, this really is a collaborative label by two very strong personalities.

There is a fun, festival, almost Spanish feel to this collection. Colour is core. Bruno mentioned to us that in part they wanted to celebrate overlooked colours like lilac. The artist's palette is a major reference, both in dip dye outfits and Stephen Jones' magnificent palette hats. B&B have played with dress forms this season and the collection includes a huge variety from sleeveless column dresses, floor-sweeping gowns to wavy layered dresses that mimic tulips and made the models look like they were dancing.

Bolero jackets get a B&B makeover with frilled edges and glitter details. Of course there's a feast of prints here: graduated dip dyes, a black flower print that almost looked like camouflage. Against a piano soundtrack, it was a subdued atmosphere and a great setting because the audience could really see the clothes. At times it felt like you were floating into a painting, Kandinsky and Miro in silk and chiffon. Some of Charlotte Vasberg's dramatic handbags looked like women's waists and as well as the handpainted artist palette hats, Stephen Jones has created abstract art style cut-out hats using formica!

Hats are also reflected in prints and one stunning dress features a print of a woman wearing a hat which of course echoed the hat the model wore. There's also a beautiful crochet dress which looks like a sparkly web, Ra Ra dresses which glided across the floor and hooded tops. B&B seem to weave their magic effortlessly into fabrics ranging from stretch raffia (first used this season), jersey and cotton and the joy they experience creating clothes is evident everywhere. I haven't got a clue what The Memphis Movement is, but these guys have got me curious now so I'll have to make the effort to find out.

www.bassoandbrooke.com

Words: Marian Buckley
Photos: Ian Gillett