THE second annual "Edinburgh Fashion" Festival kicked off in style with a lavish catwalk show featuring design duo Clements Ribeiro's autumn/winter 2013 collection.
In the grand setting of Mansfield Traquair, a historic converted church in the heart of the city, models including fashion festival founder Anna Freemantle walked the runway wearing Clements Ribeiro's eclectic designs.
The collection on Friday evening featured items such as mini-kilts and tartan dresses which were inspired by Scotland's rich heritage. Floral print, lace and embellished collars also loomed large.
The husband-and-wife team behind the label, Suzanne Clements and Inacio Ribeiro, have used Scottish cashmere in their collections since they first launched in the mid-1990s. Because of this and despite the fact Clements is English and Ribeiro is Brazilian, it seemed fitting their work was showcased in Scotland.
In their current collection the pair used Scottish cashmere to render their signature modern reinterpretation of a twinset, which had floral emblems snaking up the side on this occasion. The duo first met while studying at Central St Martins in London and launched their label soon after graduating. They have since then worked with Barrie Knitwear, the Borders-based company bought over by Chanel last year, to make their statement sweaters.
Ribeiro says: "It has evolved into a very long partnership between us and Barrie Knitwear. Our first creation was the twinset, a striped twinset. We decided to be creative with these crazy stripes and the twinset was immediately picked up by Vogue, Madonna and Nicole Kidman and it sold out. That really put us on the map."
Riberio is keen to emphasise the brand's Scottish connections: "From that point on, not only our brand, but our reputation for cashmere and our association with fabrics made in Scotland became strong."
The collection shown at the Edinburgh Fashion Festival is a reinterpretation of an earlier collection which helped cement their signature style.
"It was heavily based on tartan," says Ribeiro. "And the idea was to mix something rebellious with something really romantic and feminine. That is the essence of what we like doing. This collection is a reinterpretation of that collection. We reissued some of those classic pieces from 1997 like cute style pleated skirts."
The festival continued on Sunday with a series of talks by industry experts at Summerhall. Speakers such as shoe designer Georgina Goodman, fashion designer Bella Freud and retail guru David Lindsay discussed issues surrounding the festival's main themes, fashion as performance and fashion as storytelling.
Author Amanda Mackenzie Stuart, who has written a biography on the legendary former American Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, had the audience laughing as she recalled Vreeland's eccentric behaviour.
Likewise, Amanda Harlech, Karl Lagerfeld's muse and ?¨right-hand woman at Chanel was another big name on the ?¨bill.
The festival continues this coming week with a special menswear event at Harvey Nichols on Thursday. The store's fashion buyers will display an edit of their new menswear collections and there will be appearances by designers such as James Long, Christopher Shannon and Casely Hayford. For anyone looking to find the next big thing in Scottish fashion, the Future Fashion: Design Market and Runway Show on Saturday is the place to go. Featuring the work of Scottish designers and brands such as Rebecca Torres, Eribe Knitwear and Bebaroque, it will showcase Scotland's diverse selection of emerging fashion and accessory brands.
From established designers to fashion luminaries and up-and-coming designers, the programme for the Edinburgh Fashion Festival showcases vital aspects of the British fashion world. Judging by this year's line-up, the festival, only in its second year, continues to go from strength to strength.
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