From morbid sci-fi to court jesters, jokers and tarots: London Fashion Week FW11 has been a spectacular feast of dark and magical motives in uncanny locations. Take Vivienne Westwood Red Label show for instance, at the Royal Courts of Justice.

It might have been called the ‘campaign for wool’, but it was first of all a campaign for colour and quirkiness. Colour, however, was not only synonymous of the happy days of childhood: the eccentric make-up shown in the almost sacred Great Hall of the Law Courts was reminding of the jesters, or bouffons of the royal court during the Middle Ages.

The woman-jester was a paradoxical figure of disorder in a building that symbolises order and structure more than any other building in town. Using Fleet Street as a location was a smart move, not even because of its spectacular architectural and atmospheric features, but also to emphasize the contrast between a world of eccentricity and a world of power. Thus kings’ diadems and royal hats were mixed with jester-like outfits and patchworks of fabrics and colours: Westwood’s taste for theatrics found an even more powerful resonance in these post-Gothic surroundings.

The press release explains how the collection is “about Britishness. Lewis Carroll’s Alice through the Looking Glass’ evokes this feeling of British society and change”.With Lewis Carroll as its mentor, the collection and the garments are turned upside down, crowning kids of the street as the real royal figures. Red Queens and White Queens are taken from London’s quirkiest scenes and elevated through this play of fashion. Fashion, yes, but theatre at the same time.

Moving from the lawyers’ district to the theatre area we went to Freemasons’ Hall on Great Queen Street, the headquarters of Vauxhall Fashion Scout during Fashion Week.

Between the many shows held there, the more appropriated to the location was probably Maria-Francesca Pepe‘s presentation. Fortuna is her latest collection of accessories – or more exactly, “amulets: objects of magical meaning and of inner strength”.

Cults of any kind were conveyed in this melting pot between comics, Egyptian mythology, esoteric symbols, mermaid-figures and cyber-punk. Models with wet hair took poses borrowed from Waterhouse’s paintings, while studs and spikes stood in front of stained glasses.

Again, the space gained a pseudo-sacral aura with the use of red lighting and decorative elements such as burnt photos, sprayed pentagrams and atmospheric music. The accessories were carefully framed and showcased in this complex and quite beautiful installation: brooches spelled FEAR and LON-DON, using the mysterious history and stories of the city as a dark inspiration.

Esoteric punk and saint toy-heroes: those are the propositions of Maria-Francesca Pepe for the Winter, casting a dark spell on London with her accessories.

Anya Hindmarch‘s presentation took place on Craven Street, 36, where Benjamin Franklin spent sixteen years of his life.

Renamed the ‘house of intrigue’ for the purpose of the show, the house and its rooms were designed to look like the interior of a doll-house – but a quirky one. Everything was steep, from the stairs to the floor to the shoes, displayed next to jellies which would tremble every now and then.

Shoes and bags were used as metaphors for more common domestic objects: books, flowers, food. Entering the house of intrigue was an experience indeed, something like going back in time. You could sip tea by the window while admiring the accessories disposed all around you, savour sweets or even have your photo taken in an Escher-esque room (the room, in fact, where one could have seen Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century ‘air bathing’, a.k.a. wandering naked around his basement – where human bones were also found, but that is another story). The house of intrigue needs its detectives to find hidden spots and picturesque displays of accessories.

As if by magic, the accessories fit perfectly in this alternative universe (again, somewhat reminding of Alice in Wonderland): light pink bags and glittering shoes shone on Pinocchio-like mannequins holding canvases or mirrors.

Using London’s most charming or full of anecdotes venues was a great way to shape the viewer’s experience of fashion within the city itself, making it more personal and perhaps even more relevant than the hectic succession of catwalk-shows in the ‘usual’ locations, where sadly theatricality and intrigues are too often out of the picture.

Photos Isa Jakob