MFW-Richard Nicoll

By now, the American editors who have been zipping around town will have become acquainted with some of London’s parking regulations. Lesson one: If you want to avoid a ticket, don’t park on yellow lines. One such canary-colored stripe ran down the middle of the runway at Richard Nicoll, and as guests arrived they were politely asked to steer clear. Was this a directional metaphor that would play out in the show? Or an allusion to some elaborate conceptual theme? “It was actually purely functional,” said Nicoll with a shrug, “so that the models knew where to go.”

To state the obvious, if you want to know what the collection was all about, look no further than the clothes: uncomplicated and believable designs to streamline a modern wardrobe. Nicoll has been stripping back his aesthetic for the past couple of seasons, and the athletic note of spring was a nod to his sportswear beginnings. He was quick to deny any Olympic influences, despite the zippered Airtex sweatshirts, leather cycling shorts, and the trailing, floor-length hybrid skirts (long in the back, short in the front) that looked like they were assembled from brightly colored windbreakers. Nicoll grew up on the southwest coast of Australia, and the uplifting shades of orange and blue spoke to that sunny surf-and-turf landscape. One attendee at the show commented that, by the looks of his immune-boosting palette, it felt like Nicoll had taken all the right vitamins. And a bright blue parka with reflective stripes was certainly an instant sartorial pick-me-up. Unfussy, straightforward clothes like these fall right in line with the way stylish working women want to dress.