About six stories above the fray of London Fashion Week, in a suite at the Savoy overlooking the Thames, is where you’ll find designer Duro Olowu and his new fall collection. With an audience of no more than a few editors at one time, it’s a very serene and civilized way to enjoy new clothes. (There are frothy cappuccinos and delicious shortbread cookies involved.) After all, the designer’s mastery for mixing print and pattern demands your full attention. “Fabric is the one thing that we all have in common, it’s a universal language,” he says. “You will find denim in Lagos and Tennessee.”
It’s why there’s silk from storied Swiss fabric house Abraham, and hand-woven textiles from Burkina Faso—all in the space of one look. Olowu traveled to Ouagadougou last year and commissioned local artisans to produce the ikat-like motif that appears on voluminous capes and skirts. There’s no lack of other interesting combinations in the mix, including fantastic forties dresses that come with a fluttering organza trim. “I make each combination in limited quantities,” he says. “So a lot of women come back and buy the same dress with a different collage of patterns.”
Olowu’s inspiration this season started with the lacquered Afro-surrealist works of art decor designer Elizabeth Eyre de Lanux, and one colorful deco-print coat with trompe-l’oeil Mongolian fur pockets is the kind of thing to catch the eye of one of his biggest fans, a certain Mrs. O. “She’ll see my wife Thelma wearing a dress and jokingly say, ‘Why don’t I have this yet?’ ” says the designer of First Lady Michelle Obama. “It’s nice to know that she feels good in my clothes.”
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