It’s an odd twist of fate that when fur demonstrators were storming the London Fashion Week gates, Hannah Weiland - Shrimps designer and all round ambassador of faux fur - was showcasing her S/S 18 presentation. Weiland has been proclaiming the gospel of faux fur for almost four years now - a surprisingly short amount of time considering her coats and clutches are ubiquitously popular.
This season, Weiland showed us all the classic attributes of a Shrimps presentation; unique colours, light feminine patterns and better-than-real texture, but there was an introduction of art, glitter and denim too.
Weiland had been drawing from her recent trip to Venice - the swirls of Murano glass, the trinkets and collectibles one can find when on holiday, and best of all, her engagement. Denim floppy summer hats and A5 clutch bags came decorated with Venetian knick-knacks, as too did the monochrome shirts, furs and tote bags - each splattered with ink drawings of such memorabilia. Likewise, the set - huge sprawling paintings from Weiland's S/S 18 collaborator, artist Faye Wei Wei - was decorated with snakes, moons, sea urchins and stars. The paintings intentionally clashed with the collection, highlighting Weiland's aforementioned doodles. ?
A brilliant Shrek green was a jovial addition to the Shrimps colour palette and looked confident on a fur collarless coat and merry and sweet on fluffy slipper. Silhouettes were either soft, long and sweeping or cascading frills. The former was best seen on a grand floor length fur coat, complete with Peter Pan collar and train. Weiland is in the process of designing her own wedding dress and those larger than life coats seemed to be a merging of thoughts.
A new chapter for Weiland and some new favourites for Shrimps - a pleasantly successful S/S 18 for both consumer and creative.