Jasper Conran reworks masculine classics at London womenswear show

LONDON (Reuters) - British designer Jasper Conran reworked classic masculine looks for his latest womenswear collection at London Fashion Week on Saturday, presenting a clean-cut line of coats, skirts and dresses. At a fashion show held at the luxury Claridge's hotel, models strutted down the catwalk in a range of outerwear including parka, mackintosh, bomber, quilted, biker and sheepskin jackets as well as duffle, pea and suede coats. Conran presented V-neck, T-shirt, print, fringed sequin, banded and tunic dresses in materials that ranged from mohair to cotton and organza. Slim trousers slit at the bottom came in mohair and wool, while straight skirts to the knee were in leather, hair-on-calf or layered organza. They were worn with banded vests or boxy tops. "What I have been working with is what I would call familiar, the things that (are) menswear classic," the designer told Reuters backstage. "I've been working with that and re-proportioning and rethinking and reworking and re-fabricating those so it's the familiar but it's unfamiliar." Conran used a colour palette of chocolate, berry, navy, greens, cream, black and white with dabs of scarlet, orange, pink and royal blue bursting through the collection. "It's... exciting juxtapositions of colour -- so classic colours, berry colours, browns and greens and then vibrant colour," he said. For accessories, footwear was flat, with knee-length boots and loafers in mainly dark colours. London Fashion Week, during which designers are showcasing their autumn/winter 2017 womenswear creations, runs until Tuesday. (Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Jane Witherspoon; Editing by Helen Popper)