SS13: MARY KATRANTZOU GETS HER SWAROVSKI ON

Posted by Bethan Holt, Fashion Junior at Large

Cara Delevingne walks at Mary Katrantzou SS13

No matter what happens each fashion season, it's now practically a given that Mary Katrantzou will knock our proverbial socks off with a fresh  and brilliantly baffling take on creating print. I saw Mary in conversation with her good friend Alex Fury (he who edits LOVE magazine) at Port Eliot festival and she said then that she could see a time when she moved away from print. Luckily, SS13 was not that time and last week she presented a collection inspired by postage stamps, defunct currencies and the notion of modernising those historical relics to reinvigorate them relevant once more. Style.com's Tim Blanks called it "an absolute fashion tour de force". An added element to Mary's print genius is her collaboration with Swarovski.  A series of fashion-high inducing pieces were created using Swarovski crystal mesh.  Katrantzou explains “We wanted to essentially use Swarovski Elements to create a new fabric for the collection that is an amalgamation of three different techniques, adding depth to the designs and creating a couture fabric for some very special pieces.” It's yet another excellent example of Swarovski's clever sponsorship programme which sees some of the most anticipated collections (designers like Giles and Wes Gordon are also involved this season) incorporating their products. It doesn't feel stilted or too corporate because the technology can fit so seamlessly. Swarovski created this video backstage at the show on Sunday of LFW...



Meanwhile,  legendary backstage fashion photographer Jason Lloyd Evans took some great up close shots backstage at the show which demonstrate beautifully the subtle sheen which the newly created fabric creates....