Fast Fashion brand Pretty Little Thing (PLT) took to the streets of London this week, with their first-ever London Fashion Week show, led by their new influencer creative director, Molly-Mae. Whilst Pretty Little Thing has been showing across the pond at NYFW for a few years now, the time has finally come to bring the show to London.
It’s clear that if there’s one the thing PLT does well, it’s make the headlines. From being the first brand to hire an influencer as a creative director, to now becoming the first fast-fashion brand to display at London Fashion Week.
However, the question bears, did Fast Fashion brand PLT belong at London Fashion Week? London Fashion Week defines itself as telling ‘the story of London’s individuals and businesses’ which are ‘rich in creativity and culture’. Further to this, this year London Fashion Week has started to promote ‘Positive Fashion’ in which the organisers and designers discuss taking responsibility for the planet: “From the environment to diversity, supply chains, ethics and responsibility. How are we talking about and acting on some of the biggest issues that affect the industry globally?’.
Whilst the presentation, lighting and stage set up of the show was one which had obviously been well thought out, the show was not a true representation of what London Fashion Week should be, with a lack of innovation in the designs and a continuation of the trends we have already been seeing throughout the last 6-12 months.
The collection mainly ranged from a-typical muted tones to a variety of shirt dresses and the continuation of Pleather garments such as trench coats and blazers. A particular stand-out look from the collection was a two-piece oatmeal plisse shirt and wide leg trouser ensemble, both highlighted by lettuce hems, creating very flowing garments. The colour range seen in the collection featured predominantly muted tones, but also included a small selection of more vibrant oranges and greens. The more vibrant coloured garments directly portrayed the trending 70’s ideas that have been floating around for the last few years, with a focus on flared leggings and power suits.
The contrasting colour schemes were unclear and no real story was told through the show, taking away the artistic element that turn a display into a show. Similarly, the designs showed no innovation and weren’t celebratory of fashion as an art form, which is the main intention of a fashion show- to highlight a designer’s talent. Instead, the show was just a new way to promote a fast fashion collection and another way to boast about their newly appointed ‘creative director’ Molly-Mae.
Whilst the garments themselves were lacking in innovation, the show itself was not, representing a new way for fashion week to work with consumers. In broadcasting live on YouTube for consumers to watch, viewers were then able to shop for the products directly during/after the live show, with them already being readily available on the Pretty Little Thing website, where they are all displayed photographed on the creative director, Molly-Mae. The readily available nature of the products pays tribute to the fast fashion nature of the brand. Fast Fashion is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends”, and is renowned for its negative effects, creating pollution and fueling sweat shops. Unsurprisingly, the lack of consideration towards the planet in order to pursue consumer demand attracted many protesters to the show, creating a large amount of PR noise for the fast fashion brand.
Protestors at the Pretty Little Thing Fashion show, image courtesy of The Independent. Another core ideal from the debut was the fact that the model choice was extremely inclusive, with the show using the hashtag #everybodyinplt as a unique selling point, and a large variety of models being used throughout the show such as plus-sized models, disabled models, models wearing hijabs and transgender models.
A diverse range of models at the show, Images courtesy of Fashion united. It should be noted, however, that the inclusive use of models was exclusive to the show, and the products themselves were featured as modelled solely by the creative director, Molly-Mae on the e-commerce site. For a brand that is making such a bold effort to be inclusive on the runway, it is disappointing to see that the same has not been mirrored on the Pretty Little Thing website.
Molly-Mae on the PLT website Could this use of readily available clothing and the inclusivity of models be Pretty Little Thing’s way of making the average consumer feel a part of fashion week, stripping back the exclusivity of the events and making it accessible to the masses? Or is it simply another PR stunt used to increase the brand’s visibility?
For a first debut, Pretty Little Thing did well and made a statement against the high-end designers through their use of inclusivity, however, the lack of innovation within the designs still leaves the fashion world wondering if a fast fashion brand such as Pretty Little Thing really belongs at London Fashion Week.
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