What the show means for you: next summer, fashion wants to sell you a coat
Burberry will always want to sell you a coat. But watching this collection – which included trenchcoats in a glorious fuschia-to-scarlet gradation and elegant trench-dresses in emerald lace – one wondered whether designers were influenced by the fact that the lines were mostly designed during the early summer of this year, when it never stopped raining. Burberry was fizzily upbeat, in Quality Street wrapper shades and with a covetable selection of handbags, but practicality was never far from the catwalk, albeit in the form of a copper-tinted Perspex mini-cape. Christopher Kane opened his show with a leather biker jacket, and Mulberry sent out a collection that was summery in a very British understanding of the word: leather capes, ankle boots, long skirts worn with cosy sweaters. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
What the show means for you: the pinafore is the new peplum
Bows and bolts, good girls and Frankenstein: this collection was as rich in imagination as it was in killer frocks. The headline contribution to the fashion conversation, for those who don’t have the budget or wardrobe for midriff-baring injection-moulded rubber cocktail frocks, is the emphasis on the pinafore. The exaggerated-hourglass exemplified by the peplum carried bravely on from last season into New York fashion week, only to be trampled in the general London stampede toward straight lines and workwear motifs. Pinafore, tabard and dungaree shapes are the outlines that will update your look instantly. Accessorise with a satchel: the It bag of next summer will be the Bathurst satchel, star of Anya Hindmarch’s quirky, tripped-out-Jane Austen show. Photograph: Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage
What it means for you: stripes go Ziggy Stardust glam
This was the best show of the week. The first model appeared in a simple beige T-shirt and hologrammed leather skirt, but as she walked past me an all-black rear view appeared. The contrasting views were a neat trick to maximise the drama on the catwalk, and set the scene for a show that was dramatic without being theatrical. Stripes were a key look for day and evening, either brash and wide in football-jersey style, or Ziggy Stardust shiny. The polite Breton has been banished to the school-run, and the pinstripe is still strictly for the office. Chevrons and horizontal stripes – a victim of fashion’s does-my-bum-look-big-in-this obsession in recent years – are where fashion’s at. The brave and bold will go for matching striped top and skirt, thus nailing about three trends in one. Photograph: Ian Gavan/Getty Images
What the show means for you: Slogan print
Ribbons and frills may be banished from fashion’s inner circle, but you don’t need to go minimal. Colourful is still cool, especially with a vibrant print, and the best of the week came from Mary Katrantzou. Postage-stamp designs were transformed into dresses and suits, whose pricetags the front row are already privately justifying as not bad for three-dimensional artwork. Old-hat print: anything small-scale smudgy. New-look print: vibrant designs printed on stiff, boxy fabrics. So new it doesn’t yet have a name, I’m christening this trend Billboard Print, for its high-impact unmistakeability. Peter Pilotto’s arresting mix of Aztec graphics and Florentine marbling is part of the trend, as are Clements Ribeiro’s beautiful dégradé florals. Photograph: Antonio de Moraes Barros Filho/WireImage
What the show means for you: stop buying dresses. Buy skirts and tops instead
The Preen label does not stretch to glossy ad campaigns, but you will find the name in the wardrobes of most of the front row. Designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi are husband and wife, which is perhaps where the chic balance of masculine and feminine comes from. Matching and almost-matching shell tops and pencil skirts made the case for one of the diktats of current fashion: matching separates are where it’s at. Later in the week Tom Ford told us “we fought the matching thing for so long that we’re ready to embrace it again”. The new softly-softly suit – a blouse and trousers, or a T-shirt and skirt – is the smart way to shop. I complimented a fellow editor this week on her new AW12 Jonathan Saunders dress. “It’s actually a blouse and skirt,” she said. “Much more useful.” Photograph: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images
What the show means for you: straight lines and sharp edges.
In the past two seasons, Unique – the catwalk line from Topshop – has come into its own as a collection of wearable, modern clothes that are cleaner and more grownup than the trend smörgåsbord that is the chain's shopfloor. The message this season was about crisp, clean edges, and a silhouette more boxy than hourglass. The new utilitarian, frill-free mood, much in evidence throughout the week, does not sacrifice sex appeal: this asymmetric dress is elegant and feminine without fuss. The rapidly rising star of the young designer JW Anderson, whose angular collection drew a huge crowd, reflects the momentum of this trend. Photograph: Stuart Wilson/Getty Images
