London

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Day 3
Elongating silhouettes at Marios Schwab, giant sequins at Christopher Kane and wearable clothes with a conscience at Wildlifeworks, Maggie Davis and Dan Jones report on the third day of London Fashion Week.

Shows of the day
Marios Schwab
Greek/Austrian designer Marios Schwab is the name of the moment on London’s fashion circuit and so one front bench was taken up almost entirely by Vogue editors. They weren’t disappointed; his offerings were as inventive and sexy as ever. Schwab played with proportion: figure-hugging flesh-coloured tube dresses were paired with cropped jackets to elongate the body. Some of his floor-skimming dresses featured big cut-away panels at the front, but the biggest hits were the sleek dresses with cracked mirror embellishments. Only one problem: the dresses were so narrow at the ankles the models were having trouble walking.
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Christopher Kane's show was one of the hottest tickets of the week

Backstage at Christopher Kane
The tension was quietly rising as hairdresser Guido and his team slicked back the locks of the models at Christopher Kane’s eagerly awaited fourth show at London Fashion Week. The young Scottish designer, who's already a favourite of Donatella Versace, is currently one of the hottest tickets of the week. The clothes – cropped biker jackets embellished with rivets and studs over delicate dresses scattered with giant paettes (big sequins) and heavy knits – displayed Kane’s unique combination of craftsmanship and frivolity. Out front a humiliated fashion editor was turfed out of her front-row seat at the final second (ouch) to make way for the noodle-haired Topshop owner Sir Philip Green, who plonked himself down and put a chubby arm around Hilary Alexander. So far, this is our favourite show of the week.

Basso & Brooke
Dimming the lights into blackness ten minutes before the show made for an interesting effect – buyers and press clamoured through Basso & Brooke's black-lit venue like drunks in a cheap nightclub. But when the lights came up, Bruno Basso and Christopher Brooke presented quite the opposite. Their collection, based on architecture, including Gaudí, and photography, somehow opened with a girl with a giant squashed woolly egg on her head. Then followed cleverly structured pieces embellished and detailed with tiny pleats and ruffles, layered skirts, hourglass coats and a dark colour palette of fawns, purples, ochre and black. We loved the fat cocoon shapes and accessories like gloves that bulged into balls at the wrist and excellent jewellery by Thai designer Disaya Prokobsantisukh.

Liya Kerbede

Model of the day
We spotted the stunning Ethiopian model Liya Kerbede backstage at Christopher Kane. Kerbede, one of American Vogue’s favourite cover girls, rarely graces the London catwalk so this was an extra-special appearance. More than just a pretty face, Kerbede has set up a charity which aims to help reduce mortality rates in newborn babies and children in her mother country and around the world (www.theliyakebedefoundation.org). Ah, bless.

Off-schedule hit
Wildlifeworks
There aren’t many fashion labels out there that have style and a conscience, but Wildlifeworks, a San Francisco-originated company that uses consumer-powered conservation to protect an 80,000 acre plot of Rukinga Wildlife Sanctuary in Africa, is proving eco doesn't need to mean hemp and sludge green.

Eco goes stylish with Wildlifworks show

The label has produced a gorgeously wearable but quirky collection for men and women for this autumn/winter. The collection included gentle, easy pieces such as slouchy double-breasted coat dresses in dove grey, figure-hugging geometric-print dungarees and cute thigh-length fitted dresses with capped sleeves in softest silk (made for the RSPCA). Men were equally well catered for with slim jeans and neat felt cropped jackets. The best news is that it’s also highly affordable (www.wildlifeworks.com).