Who: Maria Grachvogel
What: Described by the designer herself as “deco glamour” with a “rich and jewel-like feeling” which is exactly the impression we got! A luxurious, exuberant, colourful and wearable collection comprised of gold, forest prints and watercolours with an abundance of gorgeous feminine flowing draped dresses for us to drool over.
No tricks or distractions here as far as hair and make-up are concerned either: hair was kept in a simple vintage bob with make-up kept to a minimum, with just some scarlet lippie for that injection of wow factor.
The music was 1920s Charleston meets modern day drum and bass at times, which only highlighted the intensity and diversity of what we saw before us.
Highlights: We don’t know whether it’s the shiny accolades of awards season, but we’re obsessed with metallics at the moment, and the beginning of this collection was a sea of gold – plus, it complemented the décor of the ballroom perfectly!
Lowlights: We wanted more Charleston music! Although we wouldn’t have been able to stay in our seats if there had been much more… Also not so sure about the tall wellie-esque boots… maybe Maria wanted to encourage women to wear her looks (the forest printed ones especially) to festivals?
Overall: As we were queuing around the corner of London’s swanky Savoy Hotel, a passing builder (we think?) got into his van, head shaking in disbelief and said, “that must be one hell of a good show if you’ve all been standing in the cold for this long!” Those words stuck with us for a while, and you know what? He was right – it was a fantastic show and totally worth the wait! Maria is never a disappointment!
