Fashionable Life: Brit Business Attire

You may only hear about the most eccentric designers in London, but there are nonetheless a vast number who create flattering clothing for the modern woman that would work well even in Washington. If you walk past the massive catwalk tent and venture inside Somerset House, the historic arts building on the Thames that is the home of Fashion Week, you’ll find many incredible but little-known designers exhibiting in the massive London Fashion Week Exhibition.

Peridot London is one such brand. Creative Director Rachel Wilson is the granddaughter of Ernest Asser of the famed Turnbull & Asser on Saville Row, and she has developed a line that is quite simply “elegant and easy to wear,” her sales representative said. The key elements of the brand are fit and fabric, as the designs are perfectly tailored and made in all English fabrics, including some sumptuous leathers and a vibrant chartreuse silk.

Around the corner, you’re drawn in by a structured but minimalist white leather dress by Liz Black, named by Vogue Italia “a designer to watch out for.” After studying with designers like Emilio de la Morena and Diane von Furstenberg,

Black launched her own line in 2010. For spring, she has feminine silhouettes in a minimalist, almost futuristic, style.

Finally, the new line Muscat Vielma by Kevin Muscat and Gabriel Vielma just launched this season but is sure to make a splash with the designers’ new interpretation of power dressing. “We wanted to create a collection that is a new style of power dressing,” said Kevin Muscat at the designers’ presentation at the W Leicester Square. “So, it’s not the 80s-style big shoulders, not power dressing to look like men, but a very strong, quiet, sexy style that’s powerful from within.” Indeed, the delicate palette of blush, navy, and cream is feminine but makes a strong statement.

Samantha Sault is a writer in Washington, D.C., who covers global fashion and the intersection of fashion and politics. Her work has appeared in the Weekly Standard, the Washington Times, and Policy Review, as well as her own blog, SamanthaOnStyle.com.