Suzy Menkes at London Fashion Week: Day Two 

 

The military-map prints that Christopher Raeburn has made his signature are taking fashion to an interesting new place at London’s Summer 2015 collections.

A silky sportiness is a fresh new message: dynamic or casual clothes in fabrics that used to be considered fancy.

“I’m bringing in a lot more femininity, and new fabric developments like organza and parachute silk,” said Raeburn, who in just five years has made an impact with his re-fashioned products from army and air-force suppliers.

The most striking pieces were in an iridescent fuchsia fabric created when parachute silk morphed into nylon in the 1960s. While Italian organza gave an airy lightness to a crisp shirt-dress.

Colours, like patches of dawn pink and pale blue, were inspired by the view from a flight over what Raeburn called “the epic fields of decommissioned aircraft that pepper the Arizona desert”.

No wonder the designer needs an aerial map – and he is smart enough to print it on an easy silk T-shirt.