London Fashion Week: Charles Anastase

Charles Anastase's girls remind me of fashion illustrations. Tall, impossibly skinny girls wearing the highest platform shoes imaginable, with huge eyes peering out from behind thickly rimmed glasses, and teeny tiny pouty lips. And the clothes! Oversized white frilly dresses that look like the model has raided her mum's closet; prim button-up dresses that look like something a librarian would wear - if they weren't totally see-through. Anastase's collections always look twee and sensible, sometimes a bit puritan-esq, at first glance. But, look closer! There's always a twist (remember summer 09's suspenders?) and this time it is this: the majority of the garments are completely sheer, and these naughty models aren't wearing bras!
The obvious muses for Anastase are his 'official' style inspiration, Valentine Fillol-Cordier, and queen of geek chic, Tennesse Thomas of The Like. A not so in-your-face inspiration surely comes from someone whom most of you will have known (or perhaps even been) at some point in your life: the awkward girl at school. Think She's All That (or any other 'geek becomes prom queen' high school flick) - the girl before the transformation. Messy hair, unflattering clothes, self-conscious demeanor, and of course the thick glasses. All Charles does is sex it up a bit. The hair is just-got-out-of-bed Alexa Chung; the clothes are based on typical geek-chic (peter pan collars, misfitting shapes, knee to midi lengths) but sexed up; the self-conscious way of holding themselves now looks cute and appealing and the glasses are here to stay. The main difference, of course, is that this is the new 'It' girl and nowadays, everyone wants to be her.

Photographs. Style.com