A fashion miracle at Aaron Esh : the East End designer, famous for his moody palette, has finally embraced colour. “Spring Summer 27 feels electric,” wrote Esh in this season’s show notes, a reference to Camden’s Electric Ballroom, where the catwalk took place. “The colours are bright, almost aggressively so. They collide rather than coordinate: unexpected shades sitting beside one another, things that shouldn’t belong together somehow making perfect sense”.
If one were finally embracing colour, no hue announces your arrival quite like shocking pink, which evokes images of Elsa Schiaparelli, a fierce kind of femininity, and Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes . Esh began with a model in that famous hue, but filtered it through his own lens of East London cool.
Her delicate, bias-cut gown swished as she stomped the runway to the ear-splittingly loud electro blaring from the venue’s PA. Though the collection was built on a base of blues, blacks and greys, hot pink proliferated throughout, as did crimsons, purples and teals.
Alongside colour, Esh was experimenting with unlikely styling combinations this season. “I have always been interested in the point where taste becomes personal.
When something is technically wrong but instinctively right,” said the designer. “When you see someone wearing a combination you would never have imagined and immediately want to wear it.” On the runway, this ethos came through in unexpected combinations: a fluffy, feathered skirt – once again, in that shocking pink shade – had its party girl potential offset by a grey zip-up blazer and leather hood; black tights with a craquelé leather effect were paired with heels and a hoodie, while striped skirts and clashing colours recalled the harsh colour-blocking of the late 00s.
“It is no longer about following the rules,” concluded Esh. “It is about instinct.”
Scroll through the gallery above for images from the SS27 show
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The talent incubator introduced newcomer Mé Mé, while Jacek Gleba and GOYAGOMA returned for SS27