Welcome to London fashion week in a nutshell. What happened? WELL, the whole world decided that from pretty much February next year they’d be wearing *deep breath* bubblegum pink, coy mint, blush, plastic and oil-sleek finishes, monochrome, stripes, patchwork, sheer slips, retro sunnies and floral motifs. Not all at once, mind.

How to distill absolutely everything that gave us fashion envy? Not easy in a single post. Perhaps I’ll just take the scattergun approach and list a bunch of awesome LFW stuff instead PLUS keep locked for fashspirations to follow…

Trends

Bermuda shorts

Can I call them that? Or does it sound a little too Weekend at Bernies? From the looks of it, Jonathan Saunders (pictured below) wouldn’t mind. Ashish showed sequin bermudas and Mulberry’s version was striped and leather. In short; playful, cool and elegant.

Bombers

You DO know that these are still happening right? That orange-lined one you’ve had since ‘98 just isn’t cutting it anymore. See Holly Fulton, Christopher Raeburn, Pringle and Richard Nicoll (pictured below) for silk, patterned and cropped outerwear.

Sheer brilliance

The joy of sheer? Semi-skin baring is modest and sexy all at once. Gauzy, well-cut layers showed at J.W Anderson and Richard Nicoll. Sheer also featured at Antonio Berardi and Jonathan Saunders. Peak-a-boo plastic was worked to modern effect at Burberry (pictured) and Antipodium. Get ready to bare (quite a lot) next summer, let’s hope it’s a scorcher.

Honorable show mentions

Christopher Raeburn

Military-inspired stripped down classics with a shot of sheer shine. Raeburn’s prints were based on antique Ordnance Survey maps and satellite photography of the desert. And if that didn’t GEEK YOU OUT enough he added drawstring waists, racer-front necklines and all-terrain sandals. This was urban exploring for grown-ups.

N.B Urban exploration of a slightly more twee (but endearingly fabulous) vibe came from Orla Kiely. Fashion loves a Wes Anderson reference and a special cuteness mention goes to their Moonrise Kingdom inspired set and styling.

J.W Anderson

BIG love here at Le Blow for J.W. There was a minimalist feeling, with futuristic fabrication, acres of modestly revealed skin and stark, boyish femininity. Blush was a big tone. High necks and textured sci-fi finishes were key.

John himself described the collection as ‘avant bland’. A contender for the new ‘funky offish’ perhaps?

Christopher Kane

Ok, so the floral thing for spring is hardly revolutionary. What’s notable at Christopher Kane is that his motifs were anything but clichéd. They had a primal, botanical textbook feel to them. Sheer leaves ‘fell’ on dresses, scientific diagrams were ‘cut-out’ on separates and metallic pieces almost glowed with floral colour.

The sweat and the skirt is ultimately Kane’s signature and his slogan this season was as simple as ‘Petal’. Like double biology, in a good way.

N.B Mary Katrantzou also reworked florals in a fun, literal sense. The models looked delightful – like they were actual buds in bloom.

Simone Rocha

Simone refined her schoolgirl-gone-bad aesthetic with studded pearls, leather, handcraft and space-age materials. Dorm-room black dominated with mono, green and blush looks punctuating the collection.

Considered, wearable and modern – must-have perspex-soled heels, polished mohawk hair and what can only be described as ‘lady bags’ complimented the modern, off-kilter looks.

Street style update

Pink coats were everywhere OBVS. Kind of feels like a yawn before it’s even really happened. I mean, it’s quite easy to turn up in the same look as everyone else doing dropping the pink Carven/Jil Sander/M&S thing but I guess it’s cute all the same. On the catwalk pink was seen at Emilia Wickstead, Richard Nicoll, Temperley, Burberry and Preen to name a few so it’s still very much happening for next season too.

Checked shirts were tied at the waist around Somerset House courtyard. Like grunge went ultra-commercial. Think model off duty meets a derivative Saint Laurent AW13 homage. Easy, en point and not too try-hard.

Lastly, I can report a fashion genuinely meets function shocker. Flat shoes now officially rule. The fash-crowd were actually able to walk for the closing shows as they had the preferable option of wearing mannish lace-ups and trainers all week. Olivia, Alexa, Daisy and Cara set the high-lo tone.

And as if we needed more affirmation of flat shoes being the footwear du jour, they were also all over the catwalk too. Look to Giles, Simone Rocha and Roksanda Ilincic for some flat kicks appeal.