Blooming crazy! Ashish's electrifying show brings flower power to Fashion Week - though the boots were 'creepy', designer admits

London Fashion Week continued apace this morning as Ashish wowed the crowds with a vibrant display of clashing blooms and electrifying colours. 

The London-based designer sent out a models dressed top-to-toe in his signature sequins, with simple T-shirts given a high octane overhaul with Van Gogh-style sunflowers, shorts adorned with sequined zebra print, and over-sized poppies making their mark on mini skirts.

Hair was loose and tousled - teased out of ponytails that suggested the models had just emerged from a hay bale - while goth dark lips brought drama and intensity to an otherwise optimistic, vivacious look.

Blooming marvellous: Models boots were styled with flowers that gave an unexpectedly 'creepy' effect, says Ashish

Shining example: 'Why would I make a pair of black wool trousers? You can get those at Joseph. I want to make objects of desire that transcend seasons,' Ashish said after the show


The looks were topped off with straw boaters and bovver boots filled with meadow flowers, a look that was unintentially 'creepy',  Ashish admitted after the show. 

'When we'd styled up the models, they looked creepy,' he confessed. I looked at one and thought she looked like a serial killer!'

Creepy boots aside, the overall result was a riot of clashing blooms that could have assaulted, but somehow charmed, the eye. 

Every item was more lavish than the last and, although the floral motif was a departure for the designer, the sequins were not, and it was clear that Ashish has become more adept than ever at working with the embellished fabric.

Beautiful but melancholy: For the first time Ashish used flower motifs in his collection, clashing 'random blooms' for dramatic effect

                                                                        Ashish show at London Fashion Week

But while the sequins hinted at high glamour, the simple lines and loose, wearable items channelled the sportswear for which Ashish has a passion.

'I think what's nice about what I do is it looks super dressed up, but it's actually super casual,' designer Ashish Gupta told MailOnline after the show.

'I'm really influenced by sportswear. I try and keep all my shapes really clean and really minimal, put zips on everything, everything has big pockets. 

'It's that feeling of wearing an evening dress, but making it feel like a T-shirt. And when you're wearing a T-shirt, making it feel like an evening dress.'

Ashish's easy glamour is the embodiment of what it means to be low maintenance, but look your finest.