Most designers were expected to pay tribute to the Queen this London Fashion Week. None more so than Richard Quinn.
He thanks Her Majesty for his rise to notoriety after she sat front row at his 2018 show, and thus ahead of his spring/ summer 2023 catwalk show which concluded LFW yesterday evening, expectations were high. The 32-year-old designer stepped up to the moment with aplomb.
The candy pink carpets, full orchestras and chandeliers — all mainstays of his previous presentations — were stripped back and replaced with black drapes and a hanging globe covered with CCTV cameras and television screens in Pimlico’s Lindley Hall.
The Mortal Coil’s haunting Song to the Siren played as 23 models filed out in funeral attire. There was an uncanny resemblance to the state funeral arrivals at Westminster Abbey, which 26.2 million people in the UK had watched the previous day, as the sombre black outfits appeared in Quinn’s unique brand of dramatic dressing.
Wide brimmed hats came supersized, adorned with bows and sat atop embroidered, charcoal velvet overcoats. Sixties couture silhouette gowns met Victoriana-style mourning garb, covered in jet pearls and bouncing feathers. And clips of a young Princess Elizabeth played on screens, giggling in her riding hat and hacking jacket, before a metres-long trained veil covered in chunky crystals brought the opening section to a close.
“Whenever anyone asks me about what we do, it always starts with the Queen. That’s how everyone knew us first,” Quinn said post-show. When news of her passing broke twelve days before the SS23 show, he put initial plans to the side and raced to create a new start from scratch. “Fashion is always a comment on what’s going on,” he said. “This is a really historic moment, so we took a moment to pause, re-look at the shapes and fabrics and did a 360°.”
Lights then went down, and in a flash of heavily encrusted yellow embroidery his second act began. They were the looks he had worked on for months, and played with proportions and haute couture techniques in his signature style. Latex catsuits embellished with flowers covered high heels to the hands and ballooned at the neck. “It was all about taking a technique we would usually do on a tiny corseted dress or glove and blowing it up. This spacey idea of what clothes could be,” he said.
Part sci-fi part historical was the intention, as fuchsia jumpsuit clad moonwalkers met satin floral prints in mid-nineteenth century A-line coats on the runway. It was the reason for the dangling surveillance cameras, which changed purpose in the new context. “When we were watching the funeral, it was as if the whole world was watching London. We had all these cameras, so it felt right,” he said.
A white wedding dress made for the closing look, part of his bridal line that launched in 2019, moments before the room filled with black confetti and familiar faces lauded his efforts from their seats. “It felt like a really emotional and honouring moment,” singer Griff told us as the room emptied. “Everyone watching it was just stunned.”
Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan, who wore a custom Quinn gown to this year’s Met Gala, headed backstage to offer her praise. “Phenomenal,” she said. “He’s such a lovely person, so creative and pushes boundaries.”
And after a week of shows shadowed by mourning, Coughlan took a moment to champion the joy to be found in clothes. “He makes it so theatrical. That’s the thing with fashion, why not have fun with it? Life is short.”
