Accessories take centre stage at London Fashion Week

London – When you think fashion week, do you think accessories or the clothes? Well, for autumn/winter 2016 at London Fashion Week it seems that luxury accessories labels including Anya Hindmarch, Mulberry, Hill and Friends, Aspinal of London and Charlotte Olympia, who made her fashion week debut, are putting accessories and handbags in the spotlight.

It’s hardly surprising as the UK accessories market is worth 2.7 billion pounds, according to Mintel, and it’s growing, and that’s because 51 percent of all British women bought a handbag in the past 12 months, so it’s become big business for fashion brands to target these consumers.

This London Fashion Week we had all kinds of accessories taking centre stage, from the quirky, luxury-with-a-sense-of-humour pieces from Anya Hindmarch, this season is all about Pac-Man, while former Mulberry creative director Emma Hill served up a line of classic bags featuring neon, leopard print and smile-face hardware via a short feature for her Hill & Friends label, and Charlotte Olympia debut on the catwalk with a galactic masterpiece. Then we had the return of Mulberry with the new ‘it’ bag, the sophisticated ‘Clifton’, Marcus Lupfer showcases an array of heavily embellished pieces, and this season even saw Roksanda unveil her first foray into bags.

Charlotte Olympia makes her London Fashion Week debut

One of the most talked about collections had to be from Charlotte Olympia, who made her long-awaited appearance at London Fashion Week. The accessories label, known for its trademark kitty flats and quirky themes, debut her ‘The Girl Who Feel To Earth’ collection inspired by science fiction films from the 1940s at the Roundhouse, a venue better known for its rock’n’roll heritage.

#charlotteolympia #fall16 UFO backpack with alien insert rg @garage_magazine

A photo posted by Charlotte Olympia OFFICIAL (@charlotte_olympia) on Feb 21, 2016 at 9:58am PST

The show saw models dressed in chic all-black ensemble, with hats by Piers Atkinson, strut around the circular catwalk in gravity-defying heels that had intergalactic details, including shoes that featured Saturn and its orbital rings as the heel. For the handbags, there were spaceship backpacks and alien-shaped bags, as well as retro movie poster motifs printed onto clutches, and the label’s perspex box clutches were emblazoned with ‘Galactic’.

While Charlotte Olympia was going to space, Anya Hindmarch it seemed was inspired by early-era gaming for her ‘Talk Nerdy to Me’ collection using Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Tetris to create a graphic and playful line of accessories. The Anya Hindmarch brand has a way of grabbing our attention each season, we’ve had roadworks and classic chocolate brands, and for autumn/winter 2016 people are going to carrying handbags featuring Pac-Man ghosts, Space Invaders, a lot of pixels, Rubik cube charms, and even fried eggs.

A big softie. The Pac-Man shearling backpack. #DetailsofLFW #ANYAAW16 #LFW #AnyaHindmarch

A photo posted by Anya Hindmarch (@anyahindmarch) on Feb 21, 2016 at 3:15am PST

This season, Hill and Friends launched its second collection with a perky short film, ‘The Happy Factory’ to introduce its new ‘Happy Zippy Bag’, an oversized shoulder bag that comes in four colours natural leopard, oxblood, liquorice black and the brand’s signature happy pink, which is available to preorder via its e-commerce site.

Continuing the quirky and theatrical was with her homage to Beetlejuice character Lydia Deetz. The footwear designer presented her ‘I Myself, Am Strange and Unusual’ collection in the chapel of Soho’s House of St Barnabas, with an installation of dried flowers and butterflies by artist Rebecca L. Law, headpieces by milliner Jo Miller and ethereal tulle and satin fashion designed by Edward Meadham.

The gothic romance collection explores a darker side and features a rich colour palette, decadent textures and embellishments, as well as luxurious gem-like tones and metallic finishes. Standout pieces included embossed leather boots with crystal and stone, laced-up butterfly knee-high boots, as well as the designer’s delicately beaded speech bubble bags featuring slogans such as ‘To Die For’ and ‘Drop Dead Gorgeous’.

Introducing our AW16 collection, debuted in our film #TheHappyFactory yesterday at #LFW. Pre-order the #HappyZippyBag straight off the runway, exclusively at hillandfriends.com

A video posted by Hill & Friends (@hillandfriends) on Feb 22, 2016 at 2:59am PST

For more sophisticated styles, returned to the catwalk to showcase what editors are calling the new ‘it’ bag, a classic over-the-shoulder handbag with chain strap that comes in a number of colourways including green, black, red, and tan.

The new direction by Johnny Coca seems to have everyone’s attention, with most saying that Mulberry is back, which is hardly a surprise as he did produce some gorgeous handbags while in charge at Céline. One of the biggest changes to the British label has to be the reintroduction of the old Mulberry logo from the 1970s, the iconic tree logo has been rebranded into a sophistication gold font.

Aspinal of London collaborates with Emma Shipley

Another heritage label, Aspinal of London also presented its autumn/winter 2016 collection, taking over the ballroom at Claridge’s to showcase its new styles, which included a collaboration with award-winning graphic artist Emma Shipley on a collection of bags and scarves. The ‘Pegasus’ capsule collection saw Shipley being inspired by Aspinal’s iconic feather symbol to create a mythical Pegasus figure, along with hand-drawn pearly constellations, planets, and shooting stars that have been digitally printed onto some of the brand’s key bag silhouettes.

Other highlights included the Editor’s tote, which drew inspiration from then 1940s and women working in fashion from Diane Vreeland through to Alexandra Shulman. The feminine tote design features sleek simple lines and is tech-enable featuring Aspinal’s in-built mobile phone charging function and the new Aspinal Tracking Tile, while allows you to track your bag via your mobile, ensuring you will never lose your bag.

It wasn’t just the heritage and quirky that caught attention, Marcus Lupfer presented an impressive follow-up of handbags to his pre-autumn/winter 2016 debut collection. Taking centre stage is the ‘Riley’ tote rendered in Italian-sourced leather, which was presented alongside a line of studded and jewel-embellished cross-body ‘Casey’ bags. The designer, who was known for his sequinned knitwear, has also upped his game when it comes to footwear with the star-speckled and floral embroidered square-toed boots set to be a season must-buy.

Roksanda debuts handbags at London Fashion Week

There was also a new entry into the handbag arena from Roksanda, who has gradually been introducing new categories to the brand, which now offers ready-to-wear, belts, shoes, jewellery and now bags, and the designer says her bags are designed for women who want something that can work for the day as well as the evening that are “unique and timeless”.

The London-based label is launching with nine day and evening bags, including a boxy shopper and a number of coin purses made from leather, crocodile and lined with velvet, that feature tubular jewellery inspired hardware. Prices will start at 225 pounds for a small bag to 1,595 pounds for the most expensive leather evening bag. The most expensive in the range is the crocodile one costing 6,900 pounds. Colours for the collection ranges from aubergine to lilac and baby blue. The line is expected to launch in late summer.

A glimpse of the #Roksanda first handbag collection. Launching at our 9 #MountStreet store this summer. #AW16 #LFW

A photo posted by Roksanda (@roksandailincic) on Feb 22, 2016 at 1:28pm PST

Images: Danielle Wightman-Stone – Aspinal of London and Sophia Webster