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The Jaggers at Jaeger for London Fashion Week
Karen Dacre16 Sep 2008
Anyone still harbouring memories of the Jaeger of days gone-by - all knee-length skirts, shapeless tailoring and frumpy beige knits - should erase all traces as the new collection unveiled at London Fashion week was about as far removed as possible.
The brand's second appearance at fashion week - it made its debut in February - succeeded in shattering any remaining thoughts of Jaeger's dowdy past.
In the front row were Lizzie and Georgia Jagger who saw a show dominated by youthful flowing prints and progressive tailoring.
Skirts and kaftans with Seventiesinspired floral poppy prints opened the show and designer Karen Boyd continued on the vintage route with beautifully printed jump suits.
Some were gathered at the ankles and finished with a bellowing slit sleeve which looked stunning on six-foot models, though perhaps not so flattering on the typical Jaeger forty-plus customer.
The tailoring was similarly youthful. For Jaeger, next summer is all about the short-suit: mannishly loose shorts in peach and grey were either complemented by snug, short-sleeve jacket or softened by a loose fitting silk top.
The more mature Jaeger woman was not completely neglected - simple kneelength sack dresses, which have become the store's trademark in recent years, were reworked with large but grown-up bell sleeves in dark purple and black.
"It's our first spring-summer collection to be shown at fashion week and I think its bang on," said Jaeger owner Harold Tilman after the show. "I'm absolutely thrilled with it."
Tilman, who recently took over as head of the British Fashion Council from M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose, enjoyed support from a tent jam-packed with major retail and fashion industry figures.
