AS LONDON Fashion Week draws to a close tomorrow, it was announced that a satisfactory compromise had been reached between the four fashion capitals - London, New York, Milan and Paris - regarding show schedules.
London will shorten its event by one day from September 2009, allowing New York to move its dates forward.
With a couple of exceptions, the week ended with up-and-coming designers showing their work through sponsored catwalk presentations.
Most attendees at these events, however, tend to be London stylists, press and friends rather than buyers. Lars von Bennigsen, chief executive of Alice Temperley, a designer who returned from New York this season to show in London, told the Evening Standard that "if [designers] want their collections seen by the largest number of influential people, London is not the place at the moment".
Yet one outstanding and bankable star yesterday was Richard Nicoll (31), who graduated six years ago and went out on his own after working with Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton.
A master of playful shirting, his spirited collection married colour blocking techniques with a certain 1950s style, evident in a trouser suit in wide bands of pink, red and grey and buttoned with pearl jewellery. Long vest dresses with flying silk panels came in similar stripes. Prettiest of all were the lurex brocade suits in mint or pale blue, some with cropped jackets or puff skirts. But the real wow factor was in his use of grey pearls either as accessories or fabric, giving a whole new meaning to the idea of a pearly king.
Betty Jackson's show was downbeat in colour and spirit, featuring loose drawstring dresses with ruched necks, long grey jersey knit skirts and flashy orange parkas. In a collection that lacked her usual brio, dresses in shirting stripes, shifts with draped hoods and a dove-grey trouser suit were truer to her style.