Zoe Jordan’s African Inspired Collection Turns Heads in London

And appropriately, the designer who successfully looked to a motoring theme before - influenced by her years in the pits accompanying her dad, Formula One racing mogul Eddie Jordan - took centre stage at Brewer Street car park in Soho, where the British Fashion Council is temporarily based this week.

“We started getting mum’s pictures from Kenya on WhatsApp, and then I was looking at Peter Beard’s artwork and the whole African lifestyle and that’s how it came about,” said Zoe, whose very tactile collection features shearling, leather and cashmere.

“My Autumn Winter 16 collection is all about an adventure, it’s like an African roadtrip,” said Zoe, who mixed raw elegance and tough motorcycle elements through the medium of goatskin, laser cut leathers, silk twill, wool crepe and bleached Mongolian shearling collars.

The collection is full of boyish charm and luxurious feminine touches - including the slouchy olive shearling which delivers her designer DNA of ‘thrown-on glamour’.

There are clever touches too like her ‘Kari’ jacket, which features an internal rucksack which allows you to sling it over your shoulders as a shrug.

LFW was a hotbed of celebrities, with Ronan Keating’s new wife Storm Uechtritz taking in the Burberry show, while Anna Wintour, editor of US ‘Vogue’, and style icon Olivia Palermo, were also spotted on the front rows. Also enjoying a prime front row spot was Samantha Cameron, who watched the Christopher Kane show while her husband, UK Prime Minister David, battled a ‘Brexit’.

Also flying the flag for Ireland at LFW was Danielle Romeril, who comes from Ranelagh, Dublin, but has been London-based for the last few years. She turned heads with her AW16 collection and a fabric that looks like leather from a distance but feels like satin.

Dream

It falls like a dream and the techno fabric worked exceedingly well in a double- pocket shirt dress and wide- legged trousers.

Danielle showcased a total of 14 outfits for the NEWGEN show which she very wisely located right beside the Topshop catwalk show in Millbank. Meanwhile, Victorian mourning jewellery inspired the AW16 of Natalie B Coleman, from Co Monaghan, who is also showing at the Brewer Street car park venue and received a very positive reaction to her ‘Gin Tears’ collection.