LONDON, United Kingdom — Phoebe English has been known to design collections exclusively in black, claiming a fear of colour that she shares with her presentation's stylist, Ellie Grace Cumming. English is also a writer and a critical thinker, hence why current world politics underlined her Autumn 2017 presentation, but in a most unexpected way.

Shown under the gilded mosaic ceiling of a 1920's faux Byzantine chapel, English's collection conquered her chromatic fears in one of her most poignant efforts to date — in clothes that sang in a full technicolor spectrum from Biro blue for the power of the pen (from which she crafted a tiara) to bloody red (for tyranny) and everything from soft grassy green (to heal) and putty grey (apathy) in between.

That colour symbolism however was not the only update here: English's chopped up tailoring and wrapped or ruffled shirt dresses held a new polish thanks to fabrics like cotton poplin and bouclé wool — whilst padded velvets and sequins trapped in tulle ensured the organic strangeness of her oeuvre stayed well intact.