Show Report: Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood S/S 18 Womenswear

The dash to Comme des Garçons begins the minute this show ends, which sadly means there is never time for one to go backstage afterwards. This season the opportunity to ask some questions, in a bid to get even more under the skin of this collection, would have been great. It looked like making it must have been a lot of fun! The collection was incredibly psychedelic in places thanks to tie dye sweaters and prints of flora and fauna romping across a fantastical landscape. And there were drug references ahoy too via marijuana leaf prints on pants, scarves and belts. Before the show got underway, some street cast models came out wrapped in duvets. Once they had done a turn on the circular runway, they found a spot next to the catwalk and faced the audience for the entire duration of the show. Was this some sort of fantastical, drug induced sleepover? A bio of Andreas Kronthaler's life was left on seats and on the same sheet of paper read this small section of text: 'The highpoint was a visit to the wooden clock shoemaker Urhan Kain, alias "Wani", that ended in a jolly gathering at the Mittendorfer home. Everyone had a wonderful time - telling stories, joking, laughing.' Was this 'jolly gathering' the aforementioned surmised sleep over? If so, it was really rather jolly indeed. Glitter face paints in the stencil shape of a human hand looked like a party had literally slapped some of the models in the face.

Kronthaler spent the first part of his life in Zillertal, which is in the Austrian Alps. The Austrian and Bavarian shapes and silhouettes could be seen here within the collection. Satin suiting was cut at the knee like lederhosen and a red skirt flared out in a cookie cutter folkloric style. Crochet tights, fringing, and tattoo style loveheart knickers felt both craftsy and rock'n'roll. Knee high socks were worn with some fantastic velvet shoes, that looked far cooler than any sneaker out there. They were joyously oversized, and embroidered with tassels. Like toy town lasts for shoes, they had a Pinocchio quality. Maybe the guests at the shoemaker's party started creating some storybook style shoes whilst high on life? There were some beautiful art nouveau prints of flowers on dresses and leggings - and an 'office party' style photocopy of a pair of women's breasts featured on t-shirts and dresses. As the show went on, it became more theatrical and more stunning. Japonaise style headpieces and an operatic style funghi wrap melded with a world of ruffles - and a Saturday afternoon where everyone was 'generally having a wonderful time!'