Warning, extra long post, this has been mulling in my head for over two years so left crack it open and inhale the heady must…

It first started with Marios Schwab’s A/W 08 catwalk show, a collection Sarah Mower described as “new and “out there” in a way few designers dare in these days of commercial constraints”. She went on to use the word ‘bellwether’, which Wikipedia told me is an “entity in a given arena that serves to create or influence trends or to presage future happenings.” Bang on.