London sportswear designer Nasir Mazhar’s Spring/Summer 2014 collection was presented on Monday at London Fashion Week. Curated as a presentation rather than a catwalk, Mazhar’s carefully selected models consisted of his female friends, hardly any of which were professional models. This presentation was refreshing in a number of ways, predominately and most obviously through the spectrum of different body shapes and ethnicity’s cast which is endlessly important to celebrate when any designer choses to display their clothing like that. Other than that, the behaviour of the girls while being photographed added a layer of contemporary narcissism, the feel of being inside a reality television program as they took selfies and danced around for the guests and photographers. Mazhar’s clothing is inherently street wear, and like all sports based fashion its through attitude which turns the clothing into having a stronger identity. The likes of Yoon of Ambush, Mademosille Yulia, Grace Ladoja, Arabella Drummond and Isamaya Ffrench were transformed into Mazhar’s women through the confidence that beamed out of them throughout the presentation. Ranging from the ultra sexy fringed suspenders to perfectly comfortable tracksuits, the clothing seemed to excel a kind of boldness which made his models look proud to own their own bodies and be themselves.

Mazhar’s use of branding was predictably predominant throughout the collection and found its way warped around the girls bodies, but extra details like the corkscrew fake nails and make-up artist Daniel Sallstrom’s slashed eyebrow’s really completed the collection. Mazhar chose women to represent his already well known brand who are all successful young creatives in their own right and ultimately this escalated the collection into one higher vision which completely detracted from the mainstream fashion weeks.

There was none of the anonyminity of the under-whelmingly uniformed models in constrictive and elitist garments which has sadly become more than beyond a stereotype of the fashion world. The designer showed us a group of women enjoying themselves in clothes that they actually wanted to wear and that is exactly what fashion should be about.

You can see the whole collection here

www.nasirmazhar.com

images by Reba