A Woking fashion designer has wowed London Fashion Week for the fifth year running with her new collection Azure Majesty.

Vaishali Ragunathan owns the couture label Vz Perfection and made her debut at the prestigious showcase in 2019.

This year Vaishali called on nature as her inspiration, choosing the sky as her canvas and the kingfisher bird as her brush. Bird and sky found their duet in her collection, with an infusion of the essence and attributes of both into a narrative that flew down the runway. Each outfit mimicked the texture of both such as metallic textiles for the former and feather-like textures for the latter. 

Vaishali made this connection in her opening garment, a beautiful corset dress paired with an embellished shimmering overlay. 

Vaishali elevated her collection by working with local artist Hannah Bruce to create a custom design of a kingfisher. Each outfit was a slow reveal of the different ways this beautiful design was used in all the garments. 

The collection unveiled itself in rich fabrics like silk, satin and velvet in deep azure tones with flowing, ethereal silhouettes in gowns, dresses, capes and jackets evoking a sense of majesty. 

Kingfishers make their presence felt through stunning hand embroidery work designed by artisans of India and bespoke digital prints of design incorporated in different ways on the garments.

Vaishali surprised everyone by introducing midway a long azure jacket with bright orange lining, billowy sleeves and a large stunning embroidery of the kingfisher design at the back. 

But the actual showstopper was two hand-embroidered kingfishers with feather details forming the top and an ombre skirt featuring the contrasting colours of kingfisher orange, cyan and blue and a colourful hand-embellished waistband producing a startling flash of colour in motion.