Spring/Summer 2018 Ready-To-Wear Halpern..Fashionweekly..On Fow24news.com

If the sea of sequins that's hit us this season is anything to go by, no designer has influenced fashion more this year than Michael Halpern.
You couldn't escape the sparkle during the New York shows - today in London, designers including JW Anderson, Molly Goddard and Simone Rocha all showed sequinned looks. So when it came to Halpern's own show on Saturday afternoon - only his second since graduating last year - expectations were high.Did he sense the echo of his own influence? "I'm definitely feeling a bit more sparkle and that's amazing. I think maybe other people are feeling the way I am," Halpern smiled, modest as ever. Of course, when it comes to drenching garments in sequins and likening our political age to the dark glamour of New York in the 1970s, Halpern - from upstate New York - has already been there and done that.

Now was the time to move it on. And he did.A dimly opulent London Palladium theatre played backdrop to his jungle-inspired collection (very Indochine on Lafayette) where Halpern's intricate sequin work now simply laid the foundation for his adventures into the world of sparkle. He layered super skinny sequinned 1970s tailoring and cocktail dresses adorned with his signature trains with further surface decoration, from fringing beaded with Swarovski gems to lurex thread and chainmail and beads and snakeskin and plissé soleil lamé bows - never-ending opulence!"I wanted to keep the exuberance of what a sequin looks and feels like," Halpern said, referencing the gem-like colour scheme of his jungle reference, some of which came from wallpapers. "It felt like something that could go really bad really quickly, but if you play with this good/bad taste and keep it cool you can get these ridiculous motifs." This was all that glittered, even if Halpern's politically conscious generation knows that isn't always gold."It's a young brand's reaction to how things are right now," he said, reflecting the at once melancholy and activist spirit of said generation. The fearlessness goes for his business spirit, too. "After seeing our first season of sales the real fashion pieces were what went first: the jumpsuits and bustiers. If that's working why make it super commercial and do something that's not inherently me?"