Margaret Howell A/W 2014

Four models - one in a red jumper and skirt, one in a red chequered dress, one in a black jumper and red chequered trousers, and one in a black top with a black gilet with fleece lining

(Image credit: Jason Lloyd-Evans)

Making the leap from her usual in-store presentation to the BFC's main tent, Margaret Howell's latest offering shared tales of the 1960s, albeit with a moodier grunge undertone that was still redolent of the lived-in familiarity she instills in each collection. Renowned for her unstructured jackets, masculine shirting and trenches, Howell once again delivered with a functional approach to timeless clothing archetypes that's seen her empire expand to no less than ninety stores across Japan in the last forty years. Booker T & The MG's 1962 track Green Onions set the scene at Somerset House (a nod to Colin Firth and Julianne Moore's 'twist' tune in A Single Man), where the show opened with a brushed velveteen camel trench, complete with military epaulettes and leather-covered buttons, grey socks buckled into Mary Jane sandals and topped off with a side-parted coiffure. But rather than riff on the Beatles era, Howell headed for the sun-bleached Prairies, with faded workman's overalls and red tartan shirt-dresses mixed in with Fair Isle sweaters that topped off three-quarter length pencil skirts. Building upon her outerwear and knitwear classics, a toggle-fastened duffle was similarly updated in an earthen shade of green, a hue that also washed over her twin-set. After all, Howell's appeal centres on pieces that feel right, now, and inevitably years from now.

Three models, one with a black duffel coat, one with a blue Fair Isle sweater, and one in a pale blue shirt with ruffles down the front

One woman wearing a pale blue shirt with ruffles down the front next to a woman in a red top and cardigan, people in the background

First image has one woman wearing a red sweater and skirt, one woman with a blue shirt, blue sleeveless sweater and blue chequered trousers and a woman in a red chequered dress. The second image is of a woman in a blue-grey shirt with a grey trouser suit

Three women, one wearing a black duffel coat, one in a blue Fair Isle sweater, and the third in a pale blue shirt with ruffles down the front