This year marks the 25th anniversary of London Fashion Week, a celebration of British designers which began in an Olympia car park and included a presentation from the legendary Betty Jackson. A quarter of a century later Jackson told

Making their debut this time last year, Qasimi is the brainchild of the architecturally trained H.H. Khalid bin Sultan AlQasimi and Elliott J. Frieze. For AW09, the duo chose the magnificent architectural wonder of St. Mary’s Church to showcase their third collection.  Lit so that the stage appeared to be glowing, the building was the perfect setting for Qasimi’s...

This show followed straight on from Peter Jensen, so if I was gushing a little too much in my Jensen review it was because this was in contrast horrific. The theme for this collection is: “Ann-Sofie Back burns in hell.” Now I’m not being funny, but if you choose this as a theme, you need to make sure your collection is so good that it doesn’t actually create catwalk...

Peter Jensen is the king of kooky style. There is always a grown up cutesy feel but without being sickly. This was a very unusual collection and felt slightly more spring/summer than autumn/winter. The theme was ladylike folk. A mixture of textures including crochet and knits were set against ladylike structures and knitted hats. There was a sense of optimism throughout...

This was a surprisingly strange show. There are designers you rely on for beautiful simplicity, like Betty Jackson and Paul Smith, John Rocha is one of these. But this Autumn/Winter 09, he was clearly feeling creative. But did this creativity pay off? I’m not so sure. If I were to describe the look of the show I would say it was Princess Elizabeth I sent to the future....

What do you get if you cross gypsy style, with Indian beading and a tassel salesman? Jenny Packham’s Autumn/Winter 09 collection. It was the strangest show. Jenny Packham is loved by celebs and she does make fabulous eveningwear, but as a collection this was confusing and yawn worthy. It was a strange combination of colours and choice of styles. The highlights were,...

So what do you do, when you’ve put your best clothes on, your wearing staggering high heels, you’ve got your ticket in hand and then you have a door slammed in your face? This was my Charles Anastase experience today. After queuing for a while and having run from John Rocha, I was all ready with my ticket to get into the show. And after much waiting, and complaining...

Arriving in a Leicester Square full of confused tourists, I rounded a corner to discover a massive queue waiting to get into the show. Ashish was the hottest ticket of the day and was the first event to really generate a sense of excitement from the LFW crowd. The Hippodrome is a massive venue, but it was packed. Ashish chose a circus theme for his AW09 show and a trapeze...

Wait a min. What, no eighties looks? No rock chic either? Yes, Nanette Lepore went against the norm that has been NY fashion week and churned out a collection full of bright clashing colours and prints. Patricia Field would have been proud. Was it any good? This really depends on how you like your fashion. If you’re a classic kinda girl then look away now. If you’re...

Nina Garcia was very gracious and polite while being shamelessly chatted up by a photographer… (more pics after the jump)