It's hard to imagine a design team that doesn't intend to dress real girls-after all, it'd be hard to stay in business dressing imaginary ones-but London favorites, LVMH champs and SPACE mainstays Marques'Almeida really are about the women they know and love. The childhood sidekick, the work mate, the bookworm, the friend who's been away too long at college-and they are very much about creating her post-modern street-to-club, studio-to-hangout wardrobe.

In the weeks leading up to the duo's Tuesday runway presentation, their Instagram feed metered out images and sweet, cute micro-stories about the girls who'd be walking in the show, quietly asserting that actual people with interesting, engaged lives want, need, live and breath in the extra-long asymmetrical handkerchief-hem skirts, giantly puffy winter coats and yes, reimagined denim that we'd all soon see on the runway.

Via the show's Q-and-A formatted program note, Paulo Almeida and Marta Marques expressed that they'd worked differently leading up to the Fall presentation. They didn't design with full looks in mind; they designed single pieces -a cool skirt that could exist on it's own, a strong tunic, a colorful bomber that didn't need any further context.

On one hand, it's an analogy for the individuality of the real girl, and on the other, it's a surefire way to force an eclectic collection-one that meets their overall goal: to create a closet-full of independent clothes, a sort of anti-collection.

"Only when we started casting did things begin to reveal sense. Our friends would arrive and go straight to the puffer jacket or the mini skirt, and we knew that was their look. Of course Marta and I have something to say, but we also wanted to stand back, watch, and take it in," said Paulo in the interview.

The designers' mood boards were filled with images of their real friends, but they also drew on their "original obsessions, films like Kids, defiant teenagers, independent spirits." Sitting in the runway hall out on the West End, I couldn't help but remember when I first spoke with them and they mentioned their affinity for the 1994 documentary Wildwood, N.J., about, well, that very common and very uncommon town.

As the latest cut-ups of the latest Beyonce tracks filled the room, you couldn't help but get a little caught up in a riff on Queen Bey's 2011 anthem: Real girls do run the world.

Here's a clip of what it sounded like out in London:

http://blogs.nordstrom.com/fashion/files/2016/02/MA.m4a

The show's invitation was an early reference to the super eclectic and electric color story-which is a real departure for the brand.

SHOP: current season Marques'Almeida at SPACE

-Laura Cassidy