Irish designer Paul Costelloe drew inspiration from the equestrian world for his latest collection at London Fashion Week on Friday, showing jodhpur-shaped culottes, tweeds and prints featuring show jumpers.
Costelloe's autumn-winter 2025 line included dressage-like fitted jackets and structured skirts and shorts, sometimes paired with caps and long boots. Models also wore feminine coats and voluminous dresses.
"The theme is ... showing my vintage, dating back to when I launched a collection called 'Dressage', so it's quite equestrian," Costelloe, 79, told Reuters. "It's got lovely tweeds ... but we've made it a little more raunchy maybe."
Costelloe chose autumnal hues for his color palette - brown, amber and red - as well as cream and black. His outfits bore check as well as floral patterns.
Turkish designer Bora Aksu said his latest collection was inspired by Austrian-Hungarian Empress Elisabeth. Models wore structured coats and jackets with delicate, embroidered chiffon and lace dresses.
The collection, mainly in white, cream, red, purple and blue, also featured long tiered skirts, blouses with bows and layered frocks. Some models wore veils over their faces and long gloves.
"She was one of those characters that I was drawn to because she was, I think, so misunderstood," Aksu said. "People could only see her as... (Empress Elisabeth) but ... she was into poetry, she was into writing. She was doing beautiful drawings."
Running February 20-24, London is the second leg of the autumn-winter 2025 catwalk calendar, which began in New York and will go to Milan and Paris.
On the program are emerging designers as well as more established brands including Burberry, Erdem and Roksanda. London is known for its fashion schools and for nurturing talent that has gone on to work at some of the world's biggest luxury labels.
In a bid to provide commercial support for designers, there will be a fashion week pop-up shop on Regent Street in central London.
"It is a particularly challenging time at the moment, in the UK ... because we are still focusing really on sort of overcoming the trade barriers of being out of the EU," Caroline Rush, outgoing CEO of the British Fashion Council, told Reuters.
"The shop is really an opportunity to showcase the brilliant designers that we have," she said.
