LFW: b Store AW10

A jaded aristocrat and his family explore their country estate for b Store Aw10.

Although I have been waxing lyrical about the Showroom Next Door (more to follow later) my London Fashion Week actually began on the first floor of Elms Lesters Painting Room where a Tom Finch designed wooden landscape set the scene for b Store's Weekend at Wyndham collection. Taking inspiration from the great outdoors, this collection explored the idea of a jaded aristocrat exploring his country estate. The narrative of the collection follows him and his family dressing up for every daily event, from rambling attire to full on evening dandy with a two piece plaid suit. Over a cup of whiskey and ginger beer Matthew Murphy revealed "we've always had something quite traditional in what we do, be it in fabrics or inspirations of cuts and there is nothing more traditional than a country estate. Our main inspiration was the idea of a jaded aristocrat who would change for lunch and dinner." The collection reminded me of that famous Edward VIII remark "be always well and suitably dressed for every conceivable occassion."

Two backstage shots by Alex Sainsbury for Dazed Digital

The b store boys are known for their boxy shrunken silhouette but here, together with Natascha Stolle who designed the labels first womenswear collection, the looks demonstrated a play with volumes as everything had a more relaxed and comfortable fit. Murphy revealed "our collections tend to be more trend led than any other that we have in store but we always want to keep one step ahead. The way to do this is change the silhouettes and shapes. We have begun to introduce that for this collection and we wanted to make everything more comfortable."

Left, a backstage shot by Alex Sainsbury for Dazed Digital. Right, a candid presentation shot taken by me.

The b Store brand is one that always strives to offer a modern and accessible concept, cohesive throughout the store and in its eponymous clothing and shoe collections. This concept was extended to and excelled within the creative freedom of the presentation space. It was obvious to me that the presentation format is one which suits the b store chaps much more than the standard show format. Murphy confessed that "it can be difficult to fully tell the narrative in the looks and soundtrack alone (in a catwalk show). We worked with some amazing people for example Tom Finch who built the set, Ricardo who made the films and realistically we were inspired by their work and thought it would be great to incorporate some of their work in to what we do." The creative freedom of the presentation certainly echoes the ideas contained within the store. The Tom Finch wooden landscape combined beautifully with the jaded aristocrats wardrobe and made this city loving boy want to dress up and explore the great outdoors...

Two backstage shots by Alex Sainsbury for Dazed Digital