Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
Fashion designer Mowalola Ogunlesi has revealed the real meaning behind the bullet hole dress worn by Naomi Campbell .
Earlier this month, the supermodel made a bold statement at her Fashion For Relief gala, wearing a dress that featured fake blood pouring out of a bullet hole wound.
The dress was lauded by many as a powerful political statement on gun violence , however others believed the garment undermined victims with some calling it “insulting” and “bad taste”.
“I know it's for charity but the bloodied bullet hole dress is surely beyond bad taste Naomi Campbell?” one person wrote on Twitter alongside the hashtag #guncrime.
Another person added : “If you say it's political with a black woman being shot that's b******s and an insult to people who have lost their life by a bullet.”
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019Show all 28 1 /28LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 The popularity of plaid shows no signs of abating. This fashion week guest accessorised his bright scarlet ensemble with black loafers, camel-coloured socks and a tangerine shoulder bag.
PA
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Fashion writer Susanna Lau, aka Susie Bubble, was pictured at the Erdem show wearing a black sparkly gown with a white structured jacket and biker boots.
PA
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Fashion blogger Leonie Hanne shows her style cred with this vibrant pink-orange suit.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Blogger Hedvig Sagfjord Opshaug tempers the girlishness of her shimmering Bora Aksu dress with Kurt Geiger biker boots, Givenchy aviator sunglasses and a co-ordinating bag.
Getty Images for Kurt Geiger
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 A guest wears an abstract print dress by designer Lydia Jackson, with pink matching hair.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 A cheerful attendee does a perfect display of the athleisure trend, with primary-coloured sneaker wedges.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Love Island star Ovie Soko is in classic style as he sports a bucket hat, which he was known for wearing on the show.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Fashion icon and RuPaul's Drag Race season 10 winner, Aquaria, wears a green sateen suit and rocker-style mullet hair.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Three friends with impeccable style wear 80s-inspired looks, reinvented with modern fabrics and designs.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 These stylish show-goers incorporated some of this season's biggest trends into their looks, from pearls and headbands to mini handbags and sunshine yellow.
Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Fashion writer Saffy Khan wears a Crossover green coat during Spring/Summer 2020 London Fashion Week in London.
PA
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Model and influencer Jazelle, known by her Instagram handle, @uglyworldwide, wears a futuristic look with silver boots and fitted House of Holland dress.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 This guest celebrates the tulle trend with this vibrant pink outfit.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 This attendee shows off an avante-garde look with face mask and matching orange boots.
Rex Features
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Chinese fashion blogger Freya Sinyu Siu sports a colourful look with a Prada bucket hat and messenger bag.
PA
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 US actor Billy Porter opted for a patterned red shirt and matching trousers as he attended the Victoria Beckham show. He accessorised the look with a white head scarf and a denim blazer draped over his shoulders.
PA
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 This guest decided the street was the best place to pose up a storm as she waiting outside a LFW venue on the Strand on day one of the event. The fashionista opted for a 1980s-esque look, combining leather-look leggings with a cropped, black, lace top and a black beret with netting.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 This attendee opted for a red Givenchy two-piece with black chunky brogues.
PA
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Fashion journalist Harper Silin wears an ornate, knitted jumper from the Uooyaa x Christian Lacroix capsule collection. Sirin completed her look with a pair of block-colour striped shorts, white heels, red and white striped socks, pink sunglasses and a pink shoulder bag. The design for the jumper was inspired by Christian Lacroix's 'Rio de Janeiro' print.
Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 It's that time of year when it's unclear whether it's appropriate to go outside wearing a coat or not. Fortunately, this LFW guest had a handy trick for finding the best of both worlds – wearing a cream, mini trench coat on one shoulder, leaving the other exposed. She accessorised with a pair of silver and white pointed ankle boots and a dusky blue handbag.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Fashion stylist and freelance journalist Adam Chi Lung Chan delivers an unwavering stare to the camera on the first day of LFW, wearing a pair of orange-tinted Burberry sunglasses and a Moss Bro coat.
Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 This LFW guest was stylishly caught in the moment as she stood outside a fashion show venue on the Strand, playing with her hair. She wore a bronze, metallic coat with a matching polo-neck underneath, accessorising with a pair of oversized, bronze shades and an emerald handbag.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 When you attend LFW, you never know when someone is going to take your picture and catch you off guard. Holding two iPhones at once, this guest opts for a casual look in a black, blouson-sleeved top and a black, ribbon necklace.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Camo print has proven itself to be one of the most fashionable sartorial trends as of late, and is showing no signs of going anywhere. This LFW guest was all smiles as she wore a camouflage-print, US Army jacket.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Fashion journalists Adam Chi Lung Chan and Harper Silin pose with fashion designer Fabio Ortega with a quintessentially British backdrop of two red London buses.
Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 This attendee wears a cropped leather jacket with snake print trousers and a padded pink headband.
Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Can you ever be wearing enough prints? According to freelance fashion designer and model Elizabeth Whibley, the answer to that question is an emphatic 'no'. Whibley opts for a pink-heavy ensemble, wearing a pair of bubble-gum pink jeans designed with eyes on the back pockets, a pink checkered shawl and a zebra-print top, carrying a yellow and pink handbag.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
LFW: Best street style at London Fashion Week, September 2019 Model Jeanne Cara appears calm and collected as she leans against a metal railing during LFW. Cara wears a high-waisted black skirt with a sheer, striped crop top, a pair of old-school, yellow-tinted sunglasses and a black bucket hat.
Isabel Infantes/PA Wire
However, now Campbell and Ogunlesi have defended the dress, revealing it was part of a collection that delved “into the horrific feeling of falling in love”.
In a statement on Instagram, Ogunlesi said the dress is extremely important to her and refers to her “lived experience as a black person”.
The designer added: “I make clothes to challenge people’s minds. This gown is from my collection ‘Coming For Blood’ – a delving into the horrific feeling of falling in love.
“It shows no matter how well dressed you are or well behaved, we are time after time, seen as a walking target.”
Campbell commented under the post – which included a picture of the supermodel wearing the gown – in support of Mowalola’s statement.
“This dress is not about glamourising gun crime in any way,” Campbell wrote.
“It’s an artistic statement. I support @mowalola, who’s doing such great work and is passionate about bringing such a serious issue to light through her designs.
“Proud of you and your courage, as we are still in the grips of trying to balance diversity In the UK”.
The 49-year-old hosted her annual charity event during London Fashion Week , with the aim of raising money for the Mayor’s Fund for London .
Some of the biggest names in fashion attended or walked the runway, including Stella Maxwell and Leomie Anderson.
Fashion For Relief aims to fight poverty and support disadvantaged people around the world and has raised millions in donations over the past 14 years.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies