There was always going to be a lot riding on William Costelloe’s second collection for Paul Costelloe.
Opening London Fashion Week at Banking Hall, the designer went straight into the Costelloe archive, pulling heavily from the exaggerated glamour of the 1980s. It’s an era deeply connected to the house, not least because Paul Costelloe began dressing Princess Diana during the decade. Broad shoulders, pussy-bow blouses, silk scarves and tailoring punctuated by oversized buttons all brought that history back onto the runway.
Ballooned capri trousers appeared alongside knitted hot pants, bralettes, swimwear and oversized jackets, while blazers were thrown over swimsuits and familiar pieces were pushed into less predictable proportions. Even the collection’s nautical streak felt playful rather than literal. Navy stripes and big buttons sat beside billowing blouses, enormous beach bags and resort-ready pieces that had been sharpened up through tailoring.
Navy, cream and white dominated, with touches of sky blue and butter yellow breaking through later. That restraint put more emphasis on silhouette and construction, which appears to be where William is increasingly interested in leaving his mark. At times, though, the same restraint worked against him. With a collection supposedly embracing freedom and spontaneity, there were moments when everything felt a little too polite. When the proportions got bigger, shorter or simply weirder, things became much more interesting.
There was plenty of family history surrounding the clothes, too. The show began with Nicholas Costelloe’s hand-drawn animation of a fox created in homage to Paul, while the closing section turned towards the family’s Irish roots through fabrics from Ferguson’s Irish Linen and Magee. Those references could easily have made the collection overly sentimental, but instead they provided a foundation for William to build from.
You could see Paul Costelloe in the shoulders, scarves and unapologetically polished femininity. You could increasingly see William in the proportions, styling and willingness to make that polish feel slightly awkward. Two collections into his tenure, he doesn’t need to have completely figured out what his Paul Costelloe looks like yet.
