Kates Clothing attended the first of this years LondonEdge’s so we caught up with them, to find out what the alternative fashion scene had in store for us in 2013.
Is LondonEdge the best Alternative Fashion show?
There is certainly little else like it in the UK! There are some other really exciting alternative fashion expo’s in Europe and around the globe but for home grown talent like Necessary Evil this is the big one! However it is trade only, so if you really want to check out a fashion show you should look into Alt Fashion week in London.
The Necessary Evil Stand – Image By DV Freelance
What were you showcasing at LondonEdge?
This London Edge was really about Spring Summer 2013 for everyone who exhibited and everyone who visited. Our Necessary Evil team were there to showcase the new collection, which consisted of flirty spring dresses, cute cropped trousers and some light weight jackets. They have also taken so of the favorites from passed collections and up dated them, now you can get the stunning Belisama Shirt in White and the Belisama Jacket (formerly only available in dark denim) in Black! However I think the star item in the Aurora Bustle, designed to be worn over anything to give you out fit an instant Trad Goth or Victorian vibe… plus it is extremely flattering!
This collection has been all about making Gothic style easy to wear in nice weather. Light fabrics, and easy, comfortable design coupled with a lot of Necessary Evil’s signature design features such as corseted backs, key hole necklines and black lace detailing have made this spring summer collection one of Necessary Evils most versatile!
Necessary Evil Collection
For the Kate’s Clothing teams the London Edge is also about see what we can bring to our customers for the next season and keeping an eye on what the other big brands are up. We always hope to get a feel for what is going to be popular within alternative culture over the coming months however what we saw at this Edge was a very mixed bag… Some of our long time favorite brands like Hell Bunny and Iron Fist are having some real fun with clashing colour but in completely different ways! There was still a lot of Swing and Retro style to choose from and lots of plain street wear, however here at KC HQ we are really loving the more traditional Gothic vibe that seems to be having a revival at the moment and we are sticking to our guns on that it is going to be a very black summer!
Were there any other brands that really stood-out?
It seems we have hit a bit of a crisis point in alternative fashion as we didn’t see a lot to get excited about at this London Edge which is real shame! London Edge has long been the place where new talent surfaces. Small alt businesses and designers flocked there to launch themselves and their new collections but this years Edge told a different tale. It maybe due to the economic climate or the heavy influence of doing business online but this January’s London Edge was a lot quieter than any Edge that went before it… very little in the way of new talent and very little in the way of new business or shops! Which everyone was really sad about!
We were really hoping to find some more exciting new brands like Punk Rave and Restyle that could bring something unique to our collection at Kate’s Clothing, unfortunately there was very little like that on offer at this London Edge. Fortunately the classic brands did not disappoint and we have some exciting new items coming in from Lip Service, Banned, Kreepsville 666 and Burleska coming into stock very soon!
LondonEdge – Image by DVFreelance
What were the highlights of the show?
Aside from the Topless hand balancing man… who later did a strip from aerial straps our highlights included catching up with our friends at Kreepsville 666 who now run a shop in LA on Melrose place so we rarely get to see them these days, Goldshlarger with The Dark Store Berlin team and playing neighbors with Re-Agenz who are always lots of fun, this year they let us drive their R2D2 inflatable robot! Joy!
Also as soon as we got back from the Edge we got the news that we had been voted ‘best online alternative retailer for 2012’ in the Alt Fashion End of Year Polls! That is the second year running! So instead of crashing down after the Edge feeling worn out and under the weather, at KC HQ we were walking on sunshine!
