LONDON — “Against the backdrop of a year ago, we are on a front foot, fighting,” said Philip Green, the retail mogul of Topshop, referring to the improvements he has seen in the marketplace as well as to the battle ahead.
“Fashion is this country’s second-largest employer and supporting it is to make sure that we generate new talent and new business,” said Mr. Green, the chief executive, whose company has supported the “New Generation” fashion talent program for the last eight years — not to mention putting Kate Moss on her new career as a designer.
The Topshop Unique fashion show proved why the British fast-fashion chain, which has now set out to conquer the United States, is at the beating heart of London style. The collection picked up on all the current street style, focusing on down-and-dirty denim, worn as brief shorts over stretch biker mini-leggings, bra tops or coats teamed with graffiti-patterned pants. The models, with their bubble gum pink lips and tumbled, messy hair, had the sexual charge and fashion energy that has characterized the city since the days of “Swinging London” in the 1960s.
It was in the 1980s, when London Fashion Week was in its infancy, that underwear was first on the catwalk as visible bras at a Vivienne Westwood show.
Louise Goldin updated the pointy bra and incorporated it into her girly knitwear, as the shape emerged in twin peaks above skirts that were shell-shaped in a series of pleats. Brief dresses or rounded romper shorts gave a short-and-sweet look to a pretty, but never sugary, collection, in a spring palette of lilac, primrose and pale blue.
London designers excel at prints, but this season the sweet florals have been sharpened up with geometric patterns, including curving lines that outline the shape of the body.
“They were simple — but I liked them,” said Vivienne Westwood of the faux innocent dresses in her Red Label collection. A master of wacky historicism, the designer was inspired by the royal country home of Hampton Court to take her favorite shapes, wrapping the body with folds and drapes, to give a seductive cheekiness to polka dots, stripes and not-so-innocent floral prints.
Matthew Williamson banished Bohemia in favor of a more structured silhouette of short, form-fitting dresses, often with a corset built under looser draperies. Similarly, the designer’s prints shifted from ethnic patterns in vivid colors to more graphic and geometric shapes inspired by the Scottish contemporary artist Jim Lambie and his use of colored vinyl tape. The result was a harder silhouette that took the designer’s look forward.
Nicole Farhi was also influenced by art — the work of the German Expressionist Emil Nolde, who inspired blocks of prints in strong, sour colors. They were interspersed with curving stripes that gave a sensual shape to cotton separates. And there were echoes of Dries Van Noten in the combination of square cut jackets and pants in offbeat colors. Ms. Farhi has built a successful business in making palatable to modern women the look of the moment.
Prints — playful and charming — have always been at the core of an Eley Kishimoto collection. A Japanese vibe, but cutting the cuteness with wit, is the contribution of Wakako Kishimoto, while her partner Mark Eley brings a clean-cut style to simple silhouettes.
Is it the 2010 Olympic Games in London that has encouraged designers to turn their attention to sportswear?
In the Adidas by Stella McCartney collection, you might expect ergonomic wet suits as streamlined swimwear, form-fitting biker gear, hug-the-body hooded jackets and graphic striped sneakers. But, significantly, designers known for sophisticated dressing with a focus on evening wear have taken up sporty styles.
Julien Macdonald gave a scuba vibe to stretch bodysuits, scooped out at the front and replaced with flesh-colored mesh, or stretch pants with curving seam lines. Or there were color-block jersey dresses in strong mixes of gray, white and tomato red. But fans of Mr. Macdonald’s glamour could also find slim-line satin trench coats or the body-conscious aquatic look as stretch dresses winking with sequins, but with arcs of revealing nude fabric.
Antonio Berardi’s return to London after a decade away brought his signature body-conscious, ballerina dresses back to the British runways, but toughened up with samurai style. Flat-cut kimono shapes contrasted with the taut little dresses. But the imagination seemed to be more in the choice of a de-consecrated historic church, with a nave as the show runway, than in the clothes.
Graeme Black’s show backdrop was sketches of Indian temples with the chatter and cawing of birds on the soundtrack. But this was an upscale vision of India, where fine fabrics in vivid colors gave even a pair of jodhpurs, worn with a satin blouse and cropped jacket, a couture sportiness — not to mention the rivulets of diamonds and gemstone butterflies from the jeweler Moussaieff.
The London front rows are winking and sparkling with sequins, the preferred look of cool dressers from morning shows until the late-night parties. This highly visible trend was used discreetly and effectively by Jasper Conran, who included a striking silver sequined dress in his collection of pretty white dresses, embellished with appliquéd flowers.
