Milliner Flora McLean debuted her first House of Flora dress design aspart of SHOWstudio's Future Tense project last year - and she turned to us again when producing her latest Autumn/Winter 2009 design - appropriately enough, titled 'Dress No. 2'. Slow and steady evidently wins the race - McLean plans to design and make a new creation each season, calculating that she will have created 46 dresses by retirement age. This season, she once again partnered with Justin Anderson to showcase her dress design - and the accompanying multitude of accessories - in a short, stark and atmospheric film. Her second dress segues into both her first offering (a precisely pin-tucked cotton shirt-dress) and her latest collection of millinery and accessories, LETTERHEAD. With a feeling of Russian Constructivism in its simple, strict lines and minimal detail in navy-blue wool, drawing on the tradition of utilitarian workers garb - albeit chicly rendered. Remember Adolf Loo's declaration that 'Ornament is crime'? McLean evidently does, as her garment is stripped of any extraneous decoration - perfectly fitted with winters emerging harsh, austere mood. Alongside this, accessories are similarly spare, rendered in moulded felt and tough black resin in harsh mechanical shapes. Rubber accessories and trim are seemingly printed with Cyrillic lettering - although McLean revealed they are in fact reversed secret messages, the accessories then functioning as integral rubber stamps to print said wording onto surfaces.

Report by Alex Fury on 23 February 2009.