Irina Shayk takes the runway for Matty Bovan at London Fashion Week.
to model his designs at The Crypt at St Martin-in-the-Fields on February 18. Starting London Fashion Week with a bang, the Russian model stormed Bovan’s runway near Trafalgar Square in a scarlet puffball dress – Storm Eunice be damned – before switching into a patchwork gingham look for an epic finale.
The inspiration behind the collection? “The idea of America, a fever dream,” according to the detailed notes Bovan gave attendees. “Growing up, my access to pop culture was heavily influenced by America, with TV shows set in high schools, American baseball, pep rallies and cheerleaders, which always felt so exciting, yet so far away,” he wrote.
In practice, that translated into lace American flags, dazzling star-spangled capes, and luxurious knitted wools printed with Bovan’s own Polaroids from his “two months in deepest Connecticut” making their way down the catwalk. If Laura Ingalls Wilder stepped through the looking glass, then decided to head to a pep rally, this is what she would wear – and I mean that as the highest compliment.