Fiat is no stranger to the world of fashion, and the Italian car company recently endorsed designer Allegra Hicks’ Catwalk Show, which took place last Tuesday during London Fashion Week (19 September). Energy, ideas and outstanding glamour – welcome to London Fashion Week, the English capital playing host to over fifty trend setting designers on the catwalk, and many, many more at the exhibition. Those talents were housed at the specially constructed tents at the Natural History Museum and at inspiring venues across London. Each season, designers unveil their collections to a professional audience of press and buyers who pay visit to the capital from the UK and cities across the globe. London is where fashion ideas start, where creative talents bloom and where flourishing businesses are born. The capital celebrates fashion both on and off the catwalk in the city’s renowned restaurants bars and clubs and of course on the street.

Last week saw many exciting Spring/Summer 2007 fashion collections being unveiled at the London Fashion Week, which took place from September 18th to 22nd at the Natural History Museum. Iconic British designers like Paul Smith, Betty Jackson and Jasper Conran anchored the event.  They were joined by an exciting group of designers that has emerged over the last years and who are beginning to conquer the international fashion scene, like Jonathan Saunders, Giles Deacon and Preen. Completing the picture, London also showcased the renowned New Generation designers. This year’s participants were particularly promising and included the already much talked about Marios Schwab, Gareth Pugh, Todd Lynn and Christopher Kane.

Other highlights included Biba - a quintessential London fashion label from the 1960s and 1970s which chose the occasion to re-launch with new ownership after 30 years; the ready-to-wear collection designed by Bella Freud was shown on the London catwalk for the first time; while another high-point was the Zandra Rhodes show. One of the major forces in propelling London to a leading position in the international fashion arena in the 1970s, Zandra Rhodes was showing at LFW for the first time in 20 years.  The guest showing of the Emporio Armani collection, along with the launch of the Emporio Armani RED capsule collection to benefit the Global Fund was another highly anticipated and successful event.

One of the stars of LFW was Allegra Hicks, who has recently designed the special colour scheme of a Fiat Grande Punto. Hicks was born in Turin, Italy and grew up in a glass house designed by her father, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. She studied Design in Milan and Fine Art in Brussels before moving to New York, where she worked for a contemporary art gallery and as an assistant to the artist Donald Baechler. In 1987 she moved to London to begin a career painting frescoes and married the architect and furniture designer Ashley Hicks in 1990. She has two daughters. In her professional career she soon specialized in textile design with various carpet and fabric collections that were soon exhibited at several Design Shows and distributed throughout Europe and the States.

After becoming an established name in the world of interiors, Allegra Hicks, who by then had been nominated one of the 10 best dressed women in the world for her great sense of style, moved into fashion design. In 1998 she launched a range of kaftans and fashion accessories. Today designs 2 ready-to wear, 2 lounge and cruise wear and 2 accessories collections each year, in her own fabrics, She also creates bed, bath and table linen, table and home wares as well as rugs, cushions and other interior textiles. In 2002, she wrote a book with her husband, entitled ‘Design Alchemy’, published by Conran Octopus, with foreword by Jeremy Irons.
 

Allegra Hicks is now a highly recognised international luxury lifestyle brand featuring a ready to wear and beach wear collection, home ware, interior textiles and an interior design service, headquartered in London. The whole lifestyle story is presented in the beautiful flagship store in London’s Knightsbridge and sold worldwide through an extensive wholesale distribution network. The various collections are built around Allegra Hicks' distinctive textiles and have a rich bohemian theme, just like her celebrated personal style. Her signature product is the kaftan and she is considered the “Queen of Kaftans” (Vogue). She designs all her own fabrics, both for fashion and interiors, and her style translates oriental themes into western style using strong organic patterns and colour. She is credited with re-inventing the kaftan, making it into a sexy, western garment to be worn at home, in the city and on the beach.

Her fashion collection is aimed at the women who travels a lot and needs stylish clothes that can work in many climates, different functions as well as travel and pack easily. Her home collection reflects Allegra’s bohemian eclectic lifestyle. The Allegra Hicks lifestyle is easy, stylish, individual, fun and enduring.

Allegra Hicks opened her stunning 300m² flagship store in Pont Street, just off Sloane Street, in September 2003. The shop was designed by Allegra’s husband, Ashley Hicks, and is decorated and laid-out like a home with a drawing room, library, dining room and bed room. The property retains all the period features of an early Victorian Cadogan Place home, with lovely original cornicing and fireplace. The lifestyle shop is an opportunity for Allegra to showcase all her design talents in combining her fashion collections with an extended home-ware collection, as well as Allegra’s much sought-after rugs and interior fabrics. It is arguably the most stylish shop in London and is featured in Cool Shops London (Teneues, 2005).

Allegra Hicks’ collections are also sold world-wide through many department stores and boutiques, notably in London through Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Allegra Hicks is represented throughout the US by Saks, Scoop and Fred Segal amongst others and all around the world from Harvey Nichols Riyadh and Barneys Tokyo, to The Landing in the Bahamas. Allegra’s rugs are also distributed through the Rug Company, while the wallpaper collection is distributed through the Paint and Paper Library.