Orla Kiely SS 2011: Stiff Models, Adorable Dresses and Cake Lollies

September 26, 2010

Orla Kiely SS 2011: Stiff Models, Adorable Dresses and Cake Lollies

Orla Kiely presentations at London Fashion Week are always a treat, quite literally. Not only are the clothes pure eye candy, but this time the print mistress had a sweet-faced 'cigarette' girl serving popcorn in pink retro (of course) cups and the most delicious things I've ever tasted - cake lollies. I wasn't the only one who thought so. A young girl I was standing next to in Orla's tiny cinema was eating one and asked me "Have you had one of these? They're sooo good! I'm on my third one!" That decided it, I didn't need to feel shame for wanting to go back for seconds. Besides, I had already endured being laughed at by two guys who were watching me go to town on one of those popcorn cups. I hadn't eaten anything all day (this somehow happened last season, too) and after some champagne I was desperate. So I stood there with a cup and I ate it all the way to the bottom. It's not like my face was buried in it and popcorn was flying everywhere in a ravenous frenzy (well, only for a moment), but still I must have looked like a freak - hardly anyone even touches the food which is nuts! - but you can't take pictures while holding popcorn so I had no choice. It was use it or lose it!

Moving on....Orla Kiely opted for cardboard cutouts of models wearing the collection to the real deal. That's one way to keep the whining about sore feet in high wooden heels to a minimum. But it worked. Her venue at Somerset House is the Portico Rooms, and she transforms the main room into Orla Kiely headquarters. This time she constructed a cinema, complete with theatre seats, to show her collection and the spirit of it through a film by Gia Coppola - yes, she's related. It took us back to 1960s London, leaving the ochres, oranges, browns and moss greens of the 70s behind (a palette I typically loathe yet I love Orla Kiely without exception), in favour of a rose and mint-green tinted world. There were cupcakes and pretty teacups, ponytails and hair ribbons. It all served to strengthen my resolve that I am indeed a girly-girl. No apologies!