It s rare to see polish, modernity, and quality together in a single collection on a London runway—and all the more exciting when it s coming out of a great British background. After three seasons, a convincing revolution really is under way in the back room at Aquascutum, where Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler are recutting the heritage of the coat-and-tailoring brand into great-looking twenty-first-century shape.
The best symbol of change is their chrome-yellow bouclé coat, slightly bubble-shaped, with bracelet-length sleeves: right proportion, right length, and right on the money in its reference to Cristobal Balenciaga. Better still, it s a piece Herz and Fidler developed from the company s archive, which contains racks of beautiful coats aimed at well-dressed ladies who appreciated Balenciaga s style in the fifties. The duo s knack: knowing how to turn an authentic reference into something young and of today.
In fact, the outstanding items in this collection were all coats: collarless ecru ottoman shapes with slightly stiff volumes; a brown high-collared cossack with a raised waist; a pale washed-silk trench. One black coat came with a belt decorated with silver flower-and-leaf embroideries commissioned from the specialists who work on British military regalia. There was plenty more going on here, too, in the way of short Empire-line dresses and complicated deconstructions of trenches and pantsuits. Herz and Fidler s creative enthusiasm can t be faulted, but they do their best work when they keep things simple. Several editors in the audience found their gaze slipping enviously toward the immaculately undeconstructed men s jackets. That could be a good way for women to go next season—but in the meanwhile it s good to see these young designers finding a voice.
