William Costelloe is rewriting the rules of his father’s fashion house, and London Fashion Week just got a front-row seat.
For his second collection as creative director, William returned to the Eighties, the decade that helped define Paul Costelloe’s relationship with Princess Diana. Shoulder pads, pussy-bow blouses, silk headscarves and oversized buttons brought the era back to life, but this was no simple trip down memory lane.
Think of it as renovating a house without knocking it down. The foundations remain, but the proportions are changing.
Where Paul Costelloe was known for expressive colour and print, William kept things deliberately restrained, working mostly in navy, cream and white, with flashes of sky blue and butter yellow. The focus was on shape: exaggerated shoulders, balloon-hemmed capris, flowing culottes and knitted hot pants.
Some experiments landed better than others, but the strongest looks were those that trusted the clothes to do the talking.
“The design and the fabric should do the work,” William said before the show. “No rules.”
That attitude extended to the styling, with blazers thrown over swimsuits and bralettes beneath outerwear, giving the traditionally polished house a more irreverent edge.
The show also marked a change of scenery, moving from the Waldorf Hilton to Banking Hall near Liverpool Street after 15 years. Yet the family remained at the centre, with William’s sister Jessica helping at the door and Nicholas Costelloe opening the show with a hand-drawn animation honouring his father.
Hand-drawn scarves, Irish linen from Ferguson’s and fabrics from Magee brought craftsmanship and heritage back into focus, while Dolly Parton’s Here You Come Again provided the soundtrack to the finale.
William is not abandoning the Costelloe legacy. He is testing how far it can stretch.
The shoulder pads still belong to Diana. The balloon capris, however, are entirely his own.
