One of the great things about the Fashion Fringe competition is that nearly everyone gets to sit front row and take home a decent goodie bag. But the main reason to love it is the chance it
gives to young and undiscovered talent from the UK. This year it almost seemed that the four candidates had the
same theme in mind: full-frontal glamour. Lidija e Dejan were clearly inspired by Grecian style, but gave it a space-age kick with gold and silver chains and odd tubular straps. Yelena Smirnova combined
soft pastel shades with Yves Klein blue and Elsa Schiaparelli pink, but sadly her silhouettes weren’t very adventurous. The
same can’t be said of Elliot Atkinson. One of his dresses combined pale pink with black cutouts, creating the illusion of two nipple
piercings. But it was the winning duo of Jena.Theo who stood out the most with
their dark elegance. Their intimidating
creations, full of complicated draping and gathering, punctuated by leather
details and cape-like volumes, reminded us of all the vampire tales in
pop culture right now, with one top seemingly made out of bat wings.