Nothing attracts a stampeding fashion crowd more effectively than the prospect of a pre-order evening with Mr Jonathan Saunders – especially with the charming designer himself in attendence to oversee proceedings. So to last night at Matches No. 23, where a press preview of the new resort S/S 13 collection was hosted along with the chance to order some early goodies (yes, this is exactly how Fashion Editors get their hands on things first!).
This charming man: Jonathan Saunders
The collection itself was everything we would hope and expect from the Scot who repeatedly fails to disappoint; acid colours plucked from 70′s psychedelia but captured in a way that made them totally approachable, three fab new prints and an evening wear capsule collection for those planning on hitting the red carpet sometime soon.
We grabbed a cocktail and a comfy chair with Jonathan during a quiet moment and let him tell us all about it.
Tell us how you started the collection?
‘My two core things are always strong colour combinations and prints. I wanted to concentrate on something more graphic as the last few season I have been playing with traditional textures. I wanted go back to art textile designs and it’s quite 70s psychedelic – I looked at an artist I looked at for my first collection, Victor Vasarely. He works with strange combinations of colour and I also looked at old Pink Floyd videos have weird acidy colours with the pink and it’s really punchy.’
Engineered dot prints and psychedelic colours
What about that rail of red carpet worthy numbers?
‘They’re the more bespoke part of the collection. We always really focus on what runway will look like so we’ve never really have time to focus on this till now. This season and last pre collection we’ve had an eveningwear capsule collection as people are really willing to invest in super special pieces.’
Does Resort give any clues to the SS13 main collection?
‘Resort is always a knee jerk reaction to fall and allows you to start something new and get it out of your system. Very often though your automatic reaction is to move on and change direction again but there’s always going to be a cross over.’
The finest way to shop at No 23
And how’s SS13 coming along?
‘I’ve not started it yet. I’ve talked about it a lot and picked out some fabrics but other than that I haven’t really started it. I find starting it really hard to do, I think maybe it’s because I’m a boy.’
Favourite piece or print from Resort?
‘I don’t really have a favourite. I never have a favourite piece or print, I tend to look at the collections in their entirety. I do like the sick over-sized florals,I love how ugly that is but how good it is. I love the dot ombre print and how the colours mix together – it’s an engineered print that I hadn’t really worked with before so was quite fresh to me. I like the wallpaper floral too but mostly how those three prints work together as a whole story.’