London Fashion Week Day Three

The count of Scottish designers at London fashion week is surprisingly high, including Jonathan Saunders, Christopher Kane and Holly Fulton.

But will the dis-United Kingdom still spawn fashion talent if Scotland’s referendum for independence is voted through on Thursday?

Backstage, Jonathan Saunders discussed passionately why he, if he still lived in his native Glasgow, the major Scottish city, would vote NO to Scotland breaking away. And he proved the point elegantly on the runway.

His show was international. The music was from Under the Skin, a film set in Glasgow starring actress Scarlett Johansson, of Danish origins.  Although the name was not seen in the programme notes, the clothes appeared to show the influence of French artist Henri Matisse, whose exhibition of cut-outs, recently shown in London, is a recurring theme this season.

Modern fashion has to be seen as global, not local, and with this poetic but sharp collection, Jonathan Saunders proved that he is in the international league.

The designer has always had a great sense of colour. In my memory there were the full skirts with pastel shades from a Miami Beach-inspired collection and colour blocks of vivid shades for his menswear.

But this summer 2015 show was exceptional: the intensity of the blue; the richness of russet; the contrast of leaf green.

Then there were the applications that started as little scissored-out leaves on the front of a double-breasted coat and then grew into bold leaf appliqués.

The main decoration was of bows – loose and soft – at the waist.

Although there were many other forms of intense embellishment, the giant bows had an architectural elegance as the models walked a circular route around the British Museum.

Scottish Jonathan Saunders flies a fine flag for the United Kingdom and British fashion.