Barbara Casasola A/W 2014

This Brazilian-born, London-based designer is on our radar for having sewn her contrasting cultural perspectives - one restrained, the other sensuous - into an alluring aesthetic that's perfectly placed for modern women of the world. Continuing with the tailored focus of her Pre-fall collection, shown this January at Pitti Uomo, where model-cum-musician Jamie Bochert took the role of muse, the designer explained her ethos backstage: 'Brazil is in my DNA, it's part of who I am and I think I wanted to show a Brazil that is not the clichéd one. I just had this feeling of opposites; masculine and feminine, tailoring and transparency. I wanted to explore the duality of being Brazilian, in a clean way.' Against an architectural backdrop, planted with native succulents and featuring a series of windows, Casasola enabled guests to peer into her world. Here, alternate suiting options saw cropped woven polo necks pared back with split-pencil skirts in aubergine and flecked grey wool, just as a wide-legged magenta pantsuit was worn open with a silk swim-top underneath. Yet, at the same time the show had an almost monastic purity, thanks to her broad-brimmed felt hats (another Bochert shout-out), belted blazers and buttoned-up shirting. Casasola's allure is that she makes sensuality entirely workable. This same lustful transparency was cast over her ribboned evening looks and a black broidery, plunging jumpsuit, both impeccably executed and fun, again sharing a tale of two cities.