Gareth Pugh SS14: Sicily, Showgirls and Beefeaters

Gareth Pugh went to Sicily this summer, and the aquamarine waters and heady romance of the island crept into his designs in a way we've not see before from the British designer. The towering silhouettes and apex shoulders of the previous season were still there, but they were the fluid long teal skirts of a femme fatale rather than those of the witching hour - and high shoulders were spacey club kid getup rather than the stuff of nightmares. Though it may have been less potent, it was certainly more commercial. Silk bias-cut skirts with moulded plastic bodices, armour-like jackets bedecked with square sequins and dove grey woollen shift dresses paired with the longest tallest thigh high boots - it was the kind of avant garde that you could imagine off the pages of a magazine. But Pugh being Pugh he couldn't resist certain dramatic flares - showgirl-meets-Beefeater marabou headdresses were both ridiculous and sublime - kind of what the designer would probably want you to think anyway.