"I'm not a very good picture taken on Ollie's Blackberry."
You could be forgiven for thinking you had just arrived at an American High School Prom, thrown by Madonna circa Desperately Seeking Susan, when arriving at the Meadham Kirchhoff show in London’s Old Eurostar terminal at Waterloo Station. Garlands of pastel balloons and streamer hung over our heads as we seated for possibly the most exciting show of the season.
The amalgamation of American prom and pageantry was executed with a juxtaposition of innocence and vanity. A gaggle of girls in pastel satin dresses, which indecently matched the colours of the balloon, walked into the centre of the runway blank faced as they powdering themselves and mimed applying lipstick, then broke out into the can-can which marked the entrance for the first looks.
Each look was beautifully cute and kitsch. Smiling clouds and hearts donned pastel cardigans and frilled pinafores, there were feathered bloomers, sparkling bodices and checkered teddy bear prints, all paired with giant glittering wedges trimmed with gold ruffles and topped with pom-poms. The baby-doll makeup and enormous blonde wigs all creating this wonderful spectacle of dress-up and marked the fourth act, in what the two designers have named their “Cosmology of Women.”
Cue act two: After of brief interlude of fairy winged children dancing in tutus to the music score of Edward Scissorhands, the curtain dropped at the back of the performance space to reveal models on raised pedestals like Miss World contestants. The flocked tailoring, frilled seventeenth century bathing suits and rhinestoned costumes had all the drama of the Folies Bergère while still maintaining a sense of childlike innocence.
Meadham Kirchhoff S/S 2012 was the epitome of fun, the person sat next to me even gave me a little nudge to point out, “look at Anna Wintour smiling.” The attention to detail in every aspect was outstanding, even the goody bags housed of all things bubbles! The colourful and kitschy girlyness displayed created an unnerving atmosphere of child pageants, a longing for experience and the destruction of innocence, but this is still only scratching the surface. Burberry may have had a purpose built tent in Hyde Park and a show streamed live all over the world, but the tiara this year definitely falls in the hands of the uniquely talented design duo of Ed Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff.
