London Fashion Week SS12: Ashish

Who: Ashish

What: Florals, oversized sunflowers and graphic chess board prints – all crafted in signature sequins. Feminine dresses are paired with big grungy boots and separates are mixed to clash prints; fans will be pleased to hear his souchy pyjama pants are still around, too.

Highlights: Vibrant sequin sunflowers set against black and white stripes; exaggerated, sexy V-backed dresses and wild flowers spilling out of heavy boots.

Lowlights: Are you kidding? This is like Lucky Charms for breakfast, and then some.

Overall: Ashish has gone decidedly feminine for spring 2012. Though his trademark toughness is still apparent at core – grungy Nineties lengths, sweats and shorts and plum-black lips – the designer’s shown a soft side, too. Girly garden prints form the spine for spring, with blowsy roses appearing on a straw fedora, sequinned sunflowers on separates and dresses, Oritenal poppies on denim and French marigolds on a shirt. But though this girl likes florals – the focus is a gardener’s daughter, if you hadn’t caught on – she’s not flowery. Attitude is packed into graphic prints like lawns and brick walls, as well as other, geometric patterns – a monochrome stripe or a sharp chess board. As such, shapes are simple – shift dresses or ankle-length sheaths are clean, but a deep v-back or a hip-reaching split would suggest she’s devilishly playful, too. Pretty-but-dishevelled ethereal plaits, straw fedoras and big black boots deliver the perfect dark finish to this feminine collection – it’s wearable, edgy and, possibly, Ashish’s best one yet.

Watch the video of Ashish’s spring/summer 2012 collection below:

Image: catwalking.com