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Day 1, and when the press weren’t talking about what Kate Moss wore to the TopShop opening show last night – and is she really creating a capsule collection for the high street giant? (More on that later.) Chat focused on the current newspaper scoop; that all models with an unhealthy height to body weight ratio should be banned from the catwalk. Of course there was no evidence of this at the shows – models that were booked weeks ago, lean as ever, wore clothes designed months ago, most of which could only fit such slender creatures. We are not talking early 90s waif here, thankfully we have moved on, but the reality is that these girls are incredibly slim. The general view amongst the fashion pack, however, is that little will change and that it’s highly unlikely that plus size models will become a regular sight on the LFW catwalk.

Back to the Kate Moss story. Seems like the press have come up with a new sideline for the notorious model. All this talk of her developing a range for TopShop, meetings with Phillip Green and now an appearance at the Top Shop show have given the impression that a design debut is on the cards. Meanwhile, my sources back at TopShop HQ report that nothing has been confirmed and no such deal announced. 

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Over at the tents and the first day introduced a few changes. Breakfast reception half and hour before the first show – great idea. The exhibition tent not open until the 2nd day of LFW – not so great. Organization aside day 1 was busy with back-to-back shows and a good number of off-schedules. In general the mood is romantic; lots of floaty light-as-air layers and voluminous cuts combined with sexy tight jerseys – even a touch of latex at Noir. Key colours include: black, white, cream, mushroom, nude and pale grey with a flash of hot red. Tone-on-tone proved popular as did pleating, frills, layering and puffy hems.

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Personal highlights of the day came courtesy of: Gardem, John Rocha, Kaviar Gauche and Manish Arora. The latter revealing the complete opposite to a sombre colour palette; Manish displayed a riot of shades that depicted scenes of a happy and beautiful world. His show was a visual feast and the kabuki style make-up added to the high-octane drama.

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By JoJo Iles