Silk dresses in multiple tones of pink, with bold art-deco prints, glided down the catwalk. We couldn’t help but imagine these on a golden strip of beach, with a cocktail in hand. Next came an array of dainty electric blue skirts, with blush
worthy slits up the back teamed with roll necks. Gold eccentric patterns were prominent on black knits. A few perfectly tailored coats and jackets appeared amongst the collection, which were also covered in wacky prints. Fulton stated that her inspiration lay in psychedelic graphics by pop artist Peter Max.

Known for her bling, models were heavily accessorised with necklaces and earrings – think Pat Butcher but a million times chicer.

The collection proved to be much of the same from Fulton. Those who admire what she does will adore it, and those who don’t…well, that’s their problem.

Words: Millie Cotton

Inspired also by the 60s appreciation of minimal detailing, looks were less fussy than Koma’s previous seasons. A multitude of LBDs with ensnaring cut out shapes, bustles drooping from the shoulders and leather paneling blossomed into a dresses with a flurry of colour, peplum and elaborate pleated hems. Stiff, high neck collars, in a rainbow of shades and glitter added masculinity to what would have otherwise been one of the most feminine collections we’ve seen this season.

Metallic ovals, carried through from the previous season were played an important role throughout the collection – they secured models’ hair in a low ponytail, embellished large patent belts and lined holes offering glimpses of colour that lay beneath.

Black and white leather boots with barely-there mesh cut down the sides and metal heels, which upon closer analysis transpired to be greyhounds stood to attention, were our most longed after footwear of the season.

Amalgamating metal ovals, glittery collars and art deco doesn’t sound particularly appealing, or wearable, but some how Koma managed to get the balance just right.

Words: Millie Cotton

Explain the concept behind Clash Beauty in a sentance.

Digital and analogue, real and surreal, daily and not daily, gorgeous and kitsch, eastern and western, classic and contemporary, serious and crazy, material and spiritual, destructive and constructive, new combination of different materials, not normal, a balance of forms. We run a regular called “heroes”.

Name the five people who have informed your style the most.

Andy Warhol, Rei Kawakubo, Alexander McQueen, pop Madonnas who have queen taste.

How has growing up in Tokyo influenced not only your work, but your world view?

In Tokyo, there are many amazing kitsh and complicated elements. The street fashion and street culture produced here is very amazing.

What fabrics did you work with for the collection? Am I right in thinking latex was one of them?

I wanted to use the artificial and glossy material that has both a gorgeous and kitsch feeling by using original, complicated prints. I have used the thin vinyl coating material for it. I’m interested in latex as material of amazing taste, but I have heard about dangerous latex allergies, so I will not use it.

In what way were you affected by the earthquake in Asia? Did you lose anyone you knew in it? How has it changed your outlook?

I have experienced the fear. It was a fear that I have never experienced before. There was nobody whom I know and lost in it, though, but a lot of people died and the city by the sea was destroyed. We (the Japanese) had a deep feeling of loss and from that point we began to be conscious that the strong will recover.

Was working with print difficult or fun?

I want to continue to produce amazing and new prints.

Words: Jack Mills

All photos: Hatnim Lee

The models’ dip-dyed locks sat upon heavy V-neck knits, finished with ruffles, causing us some confusion. Was this really a Pringle show we were watching, or had we got lost and ended up in Dalston?

Show after show this season has seen ridged structures descend the catwalk so coats with billowing lapels offered a much needed breath of fresh air for AW12. Angular patterns in hues of burnt orange and eggshell blue were nipped in at the waist and accessorised with leather gloves in various complimenting colours.

“Behind the collection is a girl I used to know at school.” Carr said, referring to his inspiration. We left fascinated by where Carr studied and couldn’t help but wonder why we didn’t get to go to a school full of girls as cool as those ones.

Words: Millie Cotton

Film: Rhys Frampton
Fashion Editor: Way Perry
Editing and filming: Daniel Burdett
Make-up: Adam De Cruz
Hair: Meggie Cousland

Fast’s penchant for tiny knitted dresses continued but they have never been as assorted and wearable than what he offered for AW12. Lykke Li sang, “I’m your prostitute, you gon’get some” as models sauntered down the catwalk, with a mess of French plaits and wool beanies, wearing baggy, cropped knits and matching snug pencil skirts. Fast adhered to the emerging trend of contrasting textures and colours – although not with the same extremity we have seen from some designers.

Hooded, merino wool cardigans and wrap dresses, in dark tones, gave a grungy feel to the collection, and exhibited Fast’s inspiration, “Questions in a world of blue”, a lyric from Fire Walk with Me.

Fast’s concept of expressing a destructive society through his collection was certainly innovative but we can’t help feeling that the mood was a little too sombre for a Monday afternoon.

Words: Millie Cotton

Models paraded the catwalk with low, slung ponytails and a smug aura about them. If ever there were women to take on the reoccurring masculine feminine battle, these were them.

Crushed plum velvet and enhanced silhouettes contrasted against mannish shaped coats and skin-skimming trousers. Patent loafers with eye-popping coloured socks kept in toe with Smith’s classic androgynous style.

“To be honest, it’s what I know.” Said Smith, when asked backstage about the potent tone of his latest collection, “I feel that at this time in my career I should say this designer can do really unusual things and this designer can do amazing bias cutting but I know what I can do, and that is cut clothes which are tailored. That’s what I studied and that’s what I can do, so I just stick by my guns.

Words: Millie Cotton

There was this image in The Sun that really got me thinking about your new film, “Maya Deren’s Sink” (2011). It was a grainy photo of the bathtub Whitney Houston died in. Deren’s sink, Whitney’s bath – what do these objects represent to you?

To show Whitney Houston’s bathtub is exploitative, but to see Maya Deren’s sink from the 1950s is revelatory. I was sitting in the Anthology Film Archives lobby, and somebody brought in this sink and said it was Maya Deren’s. I couldn’t believe it. Seeing her work “Meshes of the Afternoon” [1943] made me want to make film in the first place. I immediately wanted to project her films back onto her pieces of furniture. It’s a lowly sink, I suppose, but to me it carried some memory of her. And that was the way the film began. So with some snooping and research, I found Teiji Ito’s [Deren’s second husband] wife after Deren, who inhabited the same home. That was pretty interesting, because she could talk – even about the bathtub that Deren used to use and how she used to soak for half an hour! She felt like Deren’s spirit was still there.

Do you see a trajectory from your early shorts to the later long-form documentary?

When I started making films, I knew there were very few female filmmakers, and as far as I knew, no lesbian ones, so I decided to put my life into my films and on the screen, for the lesbian community, and for everyone else. Today, at least in urban centres, we’re less fixed on these identity statements like “I’m gay, I’m straight, I’m bi, I’m asexual” – we don’t care anymore. But there are people in the middle of America, in rural communities, and in other countries, who are bullied and committing suicide. So in a way I think we have to work on two levels at the same time. So all these films that show my young, youthful ideas as well as my mature ideas, and issues of mortality, all fall under that theme, of making the invisible visible. I want the audience to move out of their seats, to become active. I want them, after they watch my cinema, to become political in the world.

Your films seem to broach the subject of age, often through taboo-breaking representations of the ageing-yet-sexual female body. Is ageism something you’ve come across?

You can’t help but notice ageism in society. Greetings cards, for example, are always making fun of old age. All of us – men too- should make a stand. In many societies, age equals wisdom and beauty. I was always been attracted as a lesbian to older women. They knew more than I did, it seemed like. And I knew that, as with lesbian lovemaking, it had not been depicted on the screen in terms positively. So in “Nitrate Kisses” (1992), I wanted to show the older woman as active, as sexual, as attractive, as smart. “A Horse Is Not A Metaphor”, my film about surviving ovarian cancer is also looking at the ageing body, a body under treatment. So there’s the bald head from chemotherapy, the scars – but look, she’s living! She’s walking! She’s swimming in the river! She’s only half-way through chemo! That’s a strong message to share, but it was my life, so why not share it?

Barbara Hammer: The Fearless Frame is running until the 26th February at the Tate Modern. Hammer’s DVDs and autobiography HAMMER! Making Movies Out of Sex and Life (2010) are on sale at the Tate Modern shop.

Words: Sophia Satchell Baeza