Sunday Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 47

THE SUNDAY REVIEW THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH OCTOBER 29, 1995 7 Fashion Tight fit In the grip of extremism at Hussein Chalayan Cutting edge Red or Dead's 'post apocalyptic housewife' Split end The bottom line from Alexander McQueen Shadowy figure Two unlovely black eyes at Abe Hamilton Unsightly tights Sonnentag Mulligan's undergarments AB Hair-raising Stella Tenant models Hussein Chalayan's 'The Scream' achieved with the aid of a toothpick A Absolutely 0 NE Week depot disused London of was the in held shows newspaper Fashion King's in at a Cross. It was a grim place with naked bulbs illuminating the cigarette butts and rubbish on the filthy floor which doubled as a catwalk. Into the gloom, Stella Tennant strode in wearing a Hussein Chalayan body-dress. her mouth open in a shriek of fear her jaw wedged open with a toothpick. Earlier in the day, Red or Dead offered a ghastly vision of inner-city life.

The show. sponsored by Greenpeace, featured models wielding meat cleavers, knitting needles and a steam-iron dripping As a visual representation of owner Wayne Hemingway's conviction that the French nuclear tests in the Pacific must be stopped it was grim just as Chalayan's toothpick was disturbing. But was it fashion? The question had to be asked again after Alexander McQueen's presentation, which included live worms wriggling inside a plastic T- shirt, gas masks and meathook earrings. As a finale, the designer hauled down his trousers and mooned at the audience. A pale, slightly chunky boy, he should not have bothered.

Even the stage of the Lloyds Bank British Fashion Awards gala was temporarily transformed into the hustings when Veronica Webb, an American supermodel, grabbed the microphone during John Galliano's show to broadcast a five-minute "gospel rap" which ended with a verbal two-fingered message for John Major. "Why not?" said Galliano. "Does he care about British fashion?" Galliano sees no conflict Getting to grips Industrial safety from Fabio Piras brutal London's young radical designers have made shock tactics their trademark. But at this season's shows, says Hilary Alexander, between fashion and politics. Recently invited to dinner with French president Jacques Chirac, he wasted little time on frock-talk, preferring to give his views on saving the dolphins and nuclear testing.

I told him if you want 200.000 young voters, you'll stop the tests right now. Although Jean-Paul Gaultier included a "stop nuclear testing" sticker in the programme to his recent Paris show, this was mild compared to the new brutalism and aggressive posturing of London catwalks. The wild nature of London's young designers, however, is one of the chief draws for the international press and buyers. They come seeking new stars and expecting be shocked, for they know there is no other capital where they will see fashion so raw and undiluted. Anarchic stances are positively encouraged by many fashion colleges.

"We want designers to be individual and to challenge what's already there, whether it's fashion or what's happening in said ex-designer Wendy Dagworthy, director of the fashion degree course at Central Photographs by Philip they went too far WANT ANSHING Writ large Hamnett's T-shirt protest to Mrs Thatcher St Martin's the alma mater of Galliano, McQueen and Chalayan. "Shock value is Clinton Silver, chairman of the British Fashion Council. also defended a designer's right to free speech during a fashion show. After the Red or Dead show, he said: "It was self-mocking and I certainly did not find it offensive. although I would not take a child to see it.

Why shouldn't a designer comment on con- Hollis and David Burges temporary issues?" Indeed. the audience at large seemed more offended the style crime at Sonnentag Mulligan's show: grisly grey tights welts. elastic, reinforced gussets and all clearly visible above what might otherwise have been quite attractive clothes. Equally. the red and yellow eveshadow.

hairnets and Gorbachev' skull painting that surfaced throughout the week often caused more comment than the shock tactics. The fashion arena has. of course. been used before as a political platform. most famously when Katharine Hamnett wore her '58 per cent don't want Pershing' T-shirt to meet Mrs Thatcher.

Chalayan was taken aback that women could feel repelled by his toothpick gimmick. His point. he said, "was to illustrate the face of death in a natural Paul Barker. former New Society editor. thinks some designers are responding to heightened female aggression.

tapping into what they see as women adopting more masculine But David Cammell. who produced Performance and The Man Who Fell To Earth. said: McQueen saying he dropped his 'Don't take it too seriously. after all it's only frocks'?" My own feeling is that designers who exploit death and violence cannot claim to be pushing "only I don't want to watch a fashion show that veers close a video nasty. I don't want to be force-fed half-baked political messages.

Shock tactics and brutal imagery too often posture as avant-gardism. We must beware when they are a substitute for clothes that have nothing to say. Bag blood Red or Dead's horror handbag Faceless Alexander McQueen's masked model.