Above image: Tori Amos – Boys for Pele album artwork

Since exploding onto our schedules all those years ago via a performative presentation back in FW17, Art School have given London a new vitality that it now can’t do without. We’ll admit it, we’re hooked. And with the experience of those three fruitful years to add ballast to their burgeoning enterprise, this season will show us just how far the Art School designers have come now that they’ve graduated from Lulu Kennedy’s nest and are ready to take on the world.

So what can we expect? This season will follow on from previous themes of narration – less a catwalk than a full-blown performance – that will serve as the second act to the duo’s SS19 show. Beyond that, the pair fill us in below on the cinematic themes that have informed the show’s aesthetic, including some important further reading in the shape of a Tori Amos album and a Galliano classic.

It’s your first solo presentation away from Fashion East, how has the prep differed?
Having graduated from Fashion East, this time it’s all in our hands! We are really grateful to the BFC who have been an amazing support to us in our first standalone season. Aside from the extra organisation however, the process of the collection is similar to before.

What’s the idea behind this first solo show?
The idea is to continue the style of storytelling on the catwalk that we felt we started with our SS19 show. Our Volume One womenswear collection with Pippa Brooks was the first half of the story, whereas this collection, Volume Two, really delves into discovering the drama and elegance of our Art School characters. 

What’s been on your mind this season?
High drama, with some female horror, almost revisiting themes of our debut presentation which included the soundtrack of Let’s Scare Jessica to Death. Starting to think about this season, we both pictured a woman running from the Opera in the rain in our collective imagination, her up-do becoming loose, and coat pulled tight around her. We wanted to explore the feeling of that moment. Who was she? Taking that almost hammy-cinematic moment but then taking it apart and giving it a rawness. 

Any key sources of inspiration?
The New York style icon Sophia Lamar, Tori Amos’ Boys for Pele album, Galliano’s iconic 1994 show at Sao Schlumberger’s mansion. 

Art School show their FW19 collection on Saturday 5th January at 9:00am.
Stay tuned for full LFWM coverage.