After New York, the frill and ruffle mania crept in also at London Fashion Week.
One of its first victims was Betty Jackson who opted for ruffled collars and frill tiered tops in soft summery shades. The most romantic designs were balanced with glamorous looks in metallic shades, though the glamour prize went, as usual, to Ashish.
His collection was a studded punky and sexy affair with a heavy glamour dose: the designer’s trademark sequinned dresses returned in more sensual incarnations that strategically left uncover portions of the body, and in fun, almost Pop Art, numbers.
Sequinned dresses with images of the Mona Lisa, the Tour Eiffel and the Statue of Liberty, maps of Italy or Africa, ice creams and pink flamingos, referenced postcards and holidays.
The colourful take on sportswear with Nike inspired tops and soccer ball shorts, reconfirmed critics and buyers that Ashish is a master in perfectly balancing sportswear and glamour.
Though most of us stopped at the baby dolls and Jean-Paul Gaultier-like rigid conic bras, there was much more to see and focus upon in Louise Goldin’s collection.
There were hints at deconstruction and reconstruction in the tops, Renaissance echoes in the puffed shorts, Baroque gold prints and pleated fan-like motifs that opened on tops and skirts or wrapped around the body.
Yet the real highlight was the light and thin knitwear that, pleated like fabric, almost had an Art Deco feel about it and looked luxuriously futuristic.
Matthew Williamson followed on the futuristic luxury trend with dresses, tops and swimwear with metallic inserts, appliquéd mirrors and shiny tops with geometric designs in eye popping colours, over-embellished numbers with micro-ruffles around the sleeves, sequins as big as gems and bronze sculpted shorts.
Though his fans will be generally happy, Williamson moved forward a bit, keeping in mind while designing a slightly different woman who likes to party but mainly lives and acts in the city.
Eley Kishimoto sadly controlled their prints a bit too much and, though there were intriguing numbers in which prints of feathers clashed with stripes, other designs were less interesting compared to previous collections and the smock dresses had something almost childishly naïve about them.
The lack of eye popping and striking prints, Eley Kishimoto's trademark, was somehow a shame, though it wasn't as disappointing as seeing a sort of bland Pucci metamorphosis at Issa's where the marquis’ iconic prints from the 60s were transferred onto kaftans and swimwear.
Antonio Berardi doesn’t only have Italian parents and an Italian name, but also has in his blood the talent of the Sicilian tailoring school. The only problem is that he doesn’t seem to be able to get it out.
Having proved to himself and to the rest of the world that he can create 
crystal embellished armour-like body-con dresses and of being a master in corset-making and sheer tops, Berardi needs to take out his talent for sculptural designs – as seen in jackets with armadillo-like sleeves – and precisely cut skirt suits.
Berardi will definitely create an absolutely perfect collection once he edits a bit more his pieces and manages to find a balance between body-con and elegant yet tight and short dresses, a thing he proved he can do as his random skirt suits proved.
Strong, sexy women and the sea were probably on Julien Macdonald's mind as he came up with this collection.
It would have been otherwise difficult to explain scuba trouser suits with pointy shoulders and knitwear that called to mind fishermen’s nets.
Macdonald’s women looked as if they came out of Helmut Newton’s images, though, towards the end of the catwalk show the designer got carried away, relapsed into costume design and introduced a few mermaid-like short or long dresses, entirely covered in silvery sequins.
In a fashion world in crisis, wearability and saleability are naturally important keywords and both were ticked off at Vivienne Westwood Red Label’s.
Despite Westwood’s punk ethos, there were quite sensible plaid dresses that looked perfect for picnics on mossy lawns, an impression reinforced by the straw hats (and horns…) worn by the models and the cornucopias filled with flowers they carried in their hands.
The high waist trousers and red, navy and white jackets and suits were among the best sealeble garments, while the "Mercury the messenger God" winged feet sandals for Melissa were ironic and fun.
Another designer who seems to be able to produce effortlessly saleable designs is Richard Nicoll. For his Spring/Summer 2010 collection the designer took a trip to Tahiti.
There were echoes of his Resort Collection in the trouser matched with bras and grosgrain ribbon miniskirts and flapper-like dresses.
Fringes were another big theme on scarves wrapped around the waist or around the neck.
Misty shades of grey and dusty pinks – calling to mind the colours of the costumes in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical "South Pacific" – prevailed, while the Perspex and medal brooches encrusted with crystals from Nicoll's Resort Collection were replaced with straw earrings and collar necklaces incorporating metal elements.
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