THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON - Women should light up the dark nights of winter - and designer Matthew Williamson show them how with an exuberant display of slinky evening wear in vibrant colours.
With a variety of prints, fur, slim-cut leather pants and even low-rise harem pants, Williamson wowed a star-studded audience with his Autumn/Winter 2010 collection Sunday at London Fashion Week.
Any nominee for the British Academy Film Awards - being held just a few blocks away later Sunday - in dire need of a good outfit could do worse than to just stop on by.
"Absolutely fantastic," said '60s supermodel Twiggy, whose stellar career has been marked by longevity. "I want about ten things. I want the harem pants in every colour, they were amazing, and also those evening dresses, I probably couldn't wear them, but I think we'll be seeing a lot of those on the red carpet."
Twiggy said Williamson's clothes were extremely wearable.
"I love Matthew to death, I think he's a genius," she said. "They're for all age groups. The young look great in them. I'm certainly not young, and I love wearing them."
Actress Sienna Miller was also proud to pronounce herself a "FOM" - Friend of Matthew - and praised his outfits from her front row perch. So did model Yasmin Le Bon.
"He's taken the brand to a whole new level," said Miller, who is showing her Twenty8Twelve collection, designed with her sister Savannah Miller, later Sunday night.
The high celebrity quotient increased the pressure on Williamson, whose fall and winter collection lived up to expectations. He has gained an enviable reputation as one of London's favourite designers, with his dresses sought after by the party crowd.
The collection showed Williamson's easy approach, with grey and black checked wool overcoats set off by fur sleeves or collars in the same colours. Underneath the coats, models wore sexy off-the-shoulder dresses or dresses cut extremely low in the back.
One dress had a thick, black fur collar atop a bright print - the effect was almost Siberian. Another outfit topped slouchy harem pants with a salmon-colored suede top.
The designer experimented with a bold, bright blue, presenting several deceptively simple dresses in that colour, including one that was shorter in front than in the back. Another outfit paired a blue toreador-style jacket with skinny black leather pants.
Dresses were cut above the knee, but stayed out of the super-short, minidress range favoured by many in the audience despite the rainy London weather.
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