October 28, 2010
The fire trucks were summoned to Ciano in New York City’s Flatiron district—site of last night’s cocktails, hosted by Ed Westwick and Georgia May Jagger (left) for up-and-coming London designers—by a small fire in a wood-burning oven. The firemen had it under control in a matter of moments, but they didn’t seem to want to leave. Must’ve been all the pretty young things—Hanneli Mustaparta in Todd Lynn and Byrdie Bell in Holly Fulton, included—at the party. The British Fashion Council’s co-chief executive, Caroline Rush, was even spotted posing for pictures with a ladder truck for a backdrop. But it hasn’t been all play and no work for the Londoners. From the sound of it, they’ve been selling like crazy down at the Soho Grand this week. “What makes London different is there’s such a sense of camaraderie and creative vitality amongst these designers—it gives them the confidence to do what each of them want to do, and not worry if their things are different from everybody else’s. That’s why we have such colorful originals as Meadham Kirchhoff, Louise Gray, Mary Katrantzou, and Michael van der Ham,” Vogue’s Sarah Mower said. Thanks to the showroom appointments here and in Paris, she tells us, sales to international retailers have gone up by 50 percent over three seasons.
