Fashion Holidays

August is a month that has come to be defined by two thoroughly modern phenomena: out of office emails and tropically-focused Instagram feeds. It's a time during which everyone’s annual leave is coming to fruition – and plenty can be said of a person by their choice of holiday destination and vacation associates. Whether it’s @Kris_Van_Assche’s tour of Mykonos with @Olivier_Rousteing or @Anna_Dello_Russo in Puglia with @Dsquared2, fashion’s biggest names have been hashtagging their holidays in abundance and revealing the industry friendships and inclinations behind the scenes – but what about the people that they are designing for? Here, we ponder the trips and activities that we imagine some of our favourite collections might inspire…

The J.W. Anderson Woman
J.W. Anderson’s A/W15 muse exhibited an unusual yet brilliant blend of Northern nightclub British glam with Soviet Union stylings. She was New Wave-meets-new era politics; Anderson’s self-proclaimed interest in the Soviet party girls of the 80s was explored through the unconventional high-fashion fabrics of lame and lurex. If she’s heading anywhere, it’s straight back to the Eastern Bloc.

Packing attire:  An abundance of 80s lame teamed with geometric prints and acrylic accessories

The soundtrack: Anything by The Human League

The tipple: Tequila Sunrise, Blue Lagoons and White Russians, in plentiful quantities. 
Cultural companions: A copy of Master and Margarita and a Goodbye, Lenin DVD
Unlikely to say: "What’s Perestroika?”
Has a penchant for: Pat Butcher

The Céline Woman
With its tattered glamour and whimsically illustrated prints, Céline A/W15 exhibited a nuanced departure from the hyper-slick minimalism that the world has come to expect of Phoebe Philo. Presented within a showspace of terracotta tiles and crackle-glazed ceramic stools, there was a distinct warmth to the collection; one that we can only imagine will find the Céline woman taking a trip to a villa in Rio or São Paulo.

Packing attire: Oversized, animal-printed silk shirts for balmy days and by night, a quilted duvet coat (the avant-garde equivalent of a pashmina, no?)
The stay: A terracotta-tiled Brazillian villa – where, as Philo declared, “the blood is hotter and the approach is more dramatic.”
The soundtrack: The impassioned Tropicalismo of Caetano Veloso, whose Bossa Nova-inspired Brazilian rock soundtracked the show.
The tipple: A Caipirinha, of course.
Cultural companions: A low-key array of multi-purpose essentials (Davines SU Hair & Body Wash, Dr Lucas’ Paw Paw ointment etc)
Unlikely to say: "Pass me the selfie stick"
Has a penchant for: Junk food (at least, according to Philo's own declarated love for KFC)

The Miu Miu Woman
The A/W15 Miu Miu collection was never quite what it seemed; its mock-croc patents paired with a rainbow of (real) python, its fifties overcoats worn atop eighties frills. At first, it might appear a melange of references – but composer and Mrs Prada's long-term collaborator Frederic Sanchez revealed one distinct inspiration: "Africa seen through the eyes of someone European" and the intercontinental approach of eighties artists like Talking Heads and the B-52s. Thus, we imagine that for 2015's summer break, she is going straight to Ghana.

Packing attire: Patent miniskirts and glittering costume jewellery with smeared eyeliner and artfully dishevelled hair
The stay: Accra, Ghana, circa 1982
The soundtrack: Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat and The B52s (first presses, on vinyl)
The tipple: Akpeteshie, a Ghanaian palm-wine moonshine
Cultural comapnions: Brian Eno and Princess Di alongside the perfect cat-eye liquid eyeliner
Unlikely to say: “Is this outfit too much?”
Has a penchant for: Cryptic references

The Rick Owens Woman
"It's like Star Wars," Rick Owens once explained to Susannah Frankel about his then-recent trip to Dubai. “Ancient and futuristic at the same time. And then everything has gold slapped on it.” And that was the distinct feel one got from his A/W15 collection, that it had been inspired by a strange, timeless universe that somehow spoke to Mayan sun goddesses and capitalist excess in one, primitive breath. So, ever the unexpected, perhaps his woman is off to the UAE, Rick and Michele’s predictably unpredictable favourite destination…

Packing attire: Grecian robes in earthy hues with a face full of gold leaf
The stay: Dubai (that hotel with the gold-bar vending machine in the lobby will do nicely)
The soundtrack: ASAP Rocky
The tipple: 12 shots of espresso a day, if she’s anything like Rick. (At least, according to Harper’s Bazaar)
Cultural companions: As little as possible; less is more
Unlikely to say: “Do you have that in a brighter colour?”
Has a penchant for: Frank Lloyd Wright and old Hollywood

The Gareth Pugh Woman
Walking out to Sunderland football chants remixed into a haunting slow techno beat, Gareth Pugh’s A/W15 homecoming showed a Boudicca-inspired archetype of British female strength and patriotism. Her blood-smeared face and voluminous black armour cut an imposing presence, but Pugh explained to us that she symbolised “that idea of being part of a team, and being part of something bigger than yourself; that unquestioning sort of togetherness.” We imagine she’s staycationing in Sunderland, Pugh’s hometown and land of Sunderland AFC to partake in some good old-fashioned British fun.

Packing attire: Armoured boots, breastplates and daubs of blood-red paint
The stay: Sunderland
The soundtrack: Three Lions by Baddiel & Skinner
The tipple: A luke-warm pint
Cultural companions: A Michele Lamy-authored self-help book (as Pugh mentioned last month, her motivational aphorisms are definitely worthy of publication)
Unlikely to say: “Can you explain the offside rule again?”
Has a penchant for: Ritualistic sacrifice