LFW DAY 1: CORRIE NIELSEN A/W 2011

Last year Florida-born but London-based Corrie Nielsen won the Fashion Fringe competition. A graduate of Central St Martins, Nielsen charmed John Galliano, honorary chair of the event, with her collection entitled “Georgian Satires”, inspired by the 18th Century illustrator James Gillray and British caricaturist George Cruickshank.

For the Autumn/Winter 2011 season, Nielsen moved from traditional men’s tailoring, the Elizabethan period, English and Spanish portraits from the Renaissance and French Haute Couture from the ’40s-50s, and filtered these inspirations through her passion for caricatures and drama. The final result of such different inspirations may have been a tragic hybrid, but Nielsen mastered her starting points pretty well, coming up with costumy pieces with an emphasis on exaggerated and voluminous elements with a deconstructivist edge.

Based on a dark palette comprising black and grey with some splashes of blue, emerald and purple, the collection included garments with stiff high collars and pleated ruffles extending around the neck; structured shoulders; full curving sleeves; decorative knots and draped motifs and more extravagant pieces such as silk taffeta blouses and grand capes with voluminous silhouettes.

The collection revealed that Galliano was simply right in his judgement and that Nielsen – who spent six years at Vivienne Westwood working on the Gold Label – may reveal herself as the true gem of the exuberant London fashion scene, one of the few contemporary designers able to inject a much needed dose of drama into our boring every day lives through wearable yet striking ready-to-wear pieces.

By Anna Battista