Designers You Might Have Missed During London Fashion Week

by · WWD
Pieces from Dreaming Eli, Charlie Constantinou, Joyce Bao, Yaku and Leo Prothmann's spring 2027 collectionsCourtesy

Dreaming Eli

Elisa Trombatore’s spring collection explores the shift from childhood fantasy to adult reality through distressed and stained laces, ripped silks and her newest technique: screen-printed tattoo designs.

The Sicilian designer covered a skin-tight, sheer cotton bodysuit with intricately woven Gothic designs inspired by Sicilian churches, combining influences from her hometown with her move to London’s darker techno scene. Baggy jackets and long, funnel-cuffed jeans were covered in vinyl that slowly melted into lace, mirroring how childhood memories slowly fade.

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Charlie Constantinou

For spring, Charlie Constantinou drew on his Cypriot heritage, or more to the point, on the way the country’s traditional dress evolved under the influence of colonial powers, alighting on the 19th-century transition from Ottoman rule to British governance.

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While there were nods to pleated vrakas breeches, layered antari robe-coats and zostra sashes, coupled with tailoring classics like blazers and his knack for utilitarian modular designs, what emerged strongest from his lineup was a sense of on-the-go protection that spoke of being adaptable whatever came your way.

Cementing a youthful and attractively on-the-now impression was the lively injection of ombré fading and bright touches in a base of graphite, indigo and olive — plus the Nike Re-Create shoes sported by his cast.

Joyce Bao

Central Saint Martins graduate Joyce Bao delivered a quietly confident London debut that fused graphic minimalism with a soft, sculptural sensibility, following earlier showcases during Shanghai Fashion Week.

Informed by Joan Miró’s “On the Dot” and lace curtains her mother thrifted in Florida, the American Chinese designer’s custom prints sat in careful tension with expanses of white space. The standout was a dress that twists and gathers around the body with porcelain-like delicacy.

Yaku

Yaku Stapleton’s runway barbecue cooked up campfire stories from family history where the farther back they went, the more truth blurred into fantasy.

Once again collaborating with Nike, Stapleton combined playful patterns of reptile scales, zebra prints and sequins to reimagine who his family members were before he knew them. Grandad goes to school in a camo tracksuit, a matching brown fur hat and a furry backpack, while Grandma becomes a hostess in layers of colorful patterned scarves, stacked baseball caps and baggy, ballooning capri pants.

Leo Prothmann

Back at The Mandrake hotel, Leo Prothmann staged a techno dungeon in response to his feelings about London’s dying nightlife. Models danced in his fully repurposed collection, including oversize jackets, tight corsets and cropped minidresses made from unusable leather car seat hides donated by Aston Martin.

Rick Owens donated 35 pairs of shoes, which Prothmann reworked and painted with animalistic designs inspired by the painting that first made him want to become a designer, “Street Berlin” by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.