Of all the 2013 spring/summer women’s collections to bless catwalks around the world, nothing stands out more than Jonathan Saunders’ manifestations. Sometimes the produce of fashion can seem an attempt to instil one’s visions unto the masses and pioneer a change in both style and thought – for the two are essentially interlinked. Saunders’ spring and summer collection was just that; a delightful attempt to redesign women’s trends.
Delicate Innovations
While writing this fashion blog and deliberating upon Saunders’ collection, two phrases sprung to mind. The first was ‘delicately innovative’, which finely captured the success in being progressive, without losing touch with the present reality of fashion.
The second ‘ahead of one’s time’ also captured this triumph. Being ahead of one’s time entails impacting on the trends of the future. It is impossible to be ahead of one’s time without bearing some imprint on the future and I’ll be wide-eyed, knee-deep in surprise, if we are not witnessing the birth of a trend here.
There’s a great song by New York rapper Nas that proclaims: “Nothing’s ever original / there’s nothing new under the sun / it’s never what you do but how it’s done.”
And on that note it’ll be wise to pinpoint the seventies emphasis prevalent throughout the collection and stress that the innovative touches within the Scottish designer’s pieces stem from this influence. It has indeed been done many a time before. However with impressionable colour coalesced with vibrant separates, none have done it quite like with this.
Saunders’ called the collection “optimistic”, as if rather humbly acknowledging the influential potential behind this recent work. His optimism is justifiable. Let us now await the fulfilment of its potential.
The author of this article is Tahar Rajab, a young British writer. He was educated at Queen Mary College, University of London where he obtained an Honours Bachelors Degree in History in 2011. He has since gone on to write for a variety of fashion blogs.
Author Tahar Rajab
