A Tale of Two Christophers
It was the stuff of legend. After the emcee at last night’s British Fashion Awards announced that the presenter of the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator would be Karen Elson, the flame-haired model appeared onstage, took a few steps, and, to the audience’s horror, plunged offstage into the void. An agonizing silence followed, with no signs of life. Then, suddenly, Elson was back onstage, un-stunned but still stunning in her red velvet Alexander McQueen gown. “I’m possibly the clumsiest person alive,” she declared to wild cheering, which continued as honoree Grace Coddington thanked her “redhead friend.”
There seems to be so much going on at every level of the British fashion industry at the moment that you could sympathize with Coddington when she said of her own career, “I just hope I can squeeze it all in before they retire me.” Squeezing it all in last night meant an early-evening reception at St. James’s Palace to mark the British Fashion Council’s 25th anniversary, the awards ceremony itself in the impressively scaled banquet hall of the Royal Courts of Justice, and the unofficial after-party hosted by Style.com’s Sarah Mower, the BFC’s Ambassador for Emerging Talent, at Concrete, an appropriately named bunker in the East End.
On the awards front, there were a few pleasant surprises, including Georgia May Jagger as Model of the Year and Katie Hillier as Accessory Designer. Christopher Kane’s nod for British Collection of the Year and Kim Jones‘ Menswear prize were more expected. Victoria Beckham presented Christopher Bailey with the Designer of the Year Award, and Kate Moss accepted John Galliano’s award for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design, only to appear back on stage minutes later for her London 25 award, voted by the public as “the individual who embodies the spirit of London.”
“A chance for fashionistas to play grown-ups,” was Virginia Bates’ summation of the night, but it was all kids’ stuff at Concrete, where Charlie Porter played disco for Mower’s mob of young designers (and their godmother, professor Louise Wilson). Meanwhile, Coddington accompanied Elson to A&E, where X-rays showed the only lasting injury from her stage-dive was a sprained thumb. Fate continues to smile on British fashion.
—Tim Blanks
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