Steve O Smith spring/summer 2019 collection presentation for LFW

Steve O Smith’s debut LFW Collection was Marie Antoinette as a tongue-in-cheek modern age provocateur, a heady juxtaposition of the heavenly and the delightfully wicked.

With no distinctive colour palette, the designs took us through a conceptual ascension into the heavens. A houndstooth blazer dress and matching lace-up (or, in this case, ribbon-up) thigh-high boots conveyed heritage with a daring edge. Dramatic ruched sleeves formed in sumptuous duchess satins of duck egg blue and dove white.

Blazer and wrap dresses in mustard, dusty rose and persimmon were decked with satin ribbons, adding a fleeting degree of polished preppiness, but ultimately there was little that was innocent about the Steve O Smith girls. The hemlines to those dresses were flirty, skirting on suggestive.

In further contrast, trousers were skintight, evident in high-waisted red snakeskin or black sequined cigarette pants. This further shaped the Steve O Smith woman to be bold, confident and provocative.

Isobel Bridgwood
Photos: Kimberley Archer