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Pop. Hip. Hype. Creative. Visionary. Special. Innovative. Spectacular. London Fashion Week delivered all this and more. Last week, over 80 designers showcased their work - some barely out of college, others well-established - and, on variety alone, made this one of the most explosive events in the capital's fashion history.
Young unknown Warren Noronha burst on the scene with a collection that looked as if it had been crafted not by a recent graduate of Central Saint Martin's, but a seasoned designer. With two bolts of fabric - fine charcoal grey wool and pale pink jersey - Noronha stitched up some of the most competent tailoring and slinkiest dresses of the week. It all looked slick and sexy - two words that rarely apply to a newly hatched London-based designer. Bottom- gripping drainpipes and wing-sleeved tops cut close to the rib-cage, and a printing technique that used minuscule glass beads to conjure up images of birds flying across chiffon shirts, was suitably hard- edged.
If evidence were needed to prove that London designers are at the forefront of a global Eighties resurrection, Emma Cook and Sophia Kokosalaki together would present a winning case. London's fashion stylists were drooling over Cook's one-shouldered, draped jersey tops and her spray-on trousers in buttersoft emerald suede; nor could they contain themselves at the sight of Kokosalaki's slouchy leather tops cut into stripes of mustard, olive, wine and salmon pink, or a Grecian bronze jersey dress with voluminous ruched sleeves.
For a less ethereal, and perhaps more grown-up take on fashion's favourite decade, there was Anthony Symonds, one of the first, four seasons ago, to inspire the Eighties comeback. Symonds is a big promoter of sassy chic: icons of the "have-it-all" era are Symonds' scarlet suede bomber jackets with kick-pleat skirts, his tequila sunrise printed halter-neck dresses, and double-tiered ra-ra skirts.
One collection guaranteed to make it into the world's hippest stores will be that of Luella Bartley, formerly Vogue's fashion writer and one of the cover girls on the first issue of new magazine, Pop. Bartley's clothes - draped jackets, dresses and bikinis splattered with neon graffiti, spray-painted white leathers, shirts, ties and pencil skirts - embody Brit-cool spirit. By referencing youth cultures that have made Britain the...