A swath of tartan silk taffeta tied just so around the waist of a model at the PPQ show yesterday at the Natural History Museum hinted wistfully at what London can offer the cool hunters from Tokyo and Moscow. Maybe. Cool Britannia, as Tony Blair found at some cost to his own credibility, is stubbornly elusive when it comes to capturing and marketing it.

That realisation was palpable at PPQ’s show yesterday. Here is a label which, although far from a household name, occupies a healthy position in the sales charts. It sells to Liberty’s, Selfridges, Villa Moda in Kuwait, across Europe and inevitably, is cult is Japan. Sofia Coppola, Sienna Miller, Amy Winehouse, Kiera Knightley and Lily Allen are fans. Last year, on the back of solid growth and external investment, its two founders, the designers Amy Molyneux and Percy Parker opened a four-storey,

Grade II-listed Georgian town house in Mayfair. Oh, and they also run a record label, 1234 Records. Peaches Geldof, “attached” to Cosmetique, one of 1234’s bands, modelled in the show. So far so quirkily entrepreneurial — a modern twist on the old story of British anarchy. Yet like so many British “anarchists” PPQ’s show seemed oddly nostalgic. The skinny patent bondage straps holding up the sundress on It-Brit-model Agyness Deyn, the glossy black patent stiletto ankle boot, tulle ballet skirts, and yes, that tartan, told the story: this was punk revisited, for the zillionth time, with a Ska black-and-white palatte. Or rather it was Punk-lite, with a nice line in accessories — in this instance chunky patent box bags.

Nothing intrinsically wrong with that, but it doesn’t take us much farther along the road map to Fashion’s Future. But be not despondent. Gareth Pugh, the shy, skinny (talk about size 0) St Martin’s graduate from Sunderland who started his career working for the English National Youth theatre is fast shaping up to be London’s most promising wild card. Deservedly so, from yesterday’s show. Black leather slashed into fronded coats, buttock-flashing shorts composed of a tagliatelle of more leather, huge shaggy Mongolian and suede-fringed gilets, an asymmetric dress of glinting black chainmail and crystal-studded platforms — this is not unfamiliar territory. But at just 26, Pugh has already managed to marry his East London clubland sensibility with a thoroughly sleek construction. One can see these clothes selling for serious money in the world’s top deparment stores to those with a rock ’n’ roll sensibility. And for a British enfant terrible, that is new.

While PPQ and Pugh market British street style — whatever that is now that cheap, instant fashion from the chain stores rather than DIY creativity dominates the way teens dress here — Amanda Wakeley has always aimed at a pared down, American slickness. It’s particularly hard to achieve a glossy minimalism — where every mistake is glaringly obvious — from business turmoil, however. Truth to tell, she always looked as though she was working in the wrong city: she should have been in New York. But with new investment and a new design team, Wakeley may finally achieve at least part of her goal. Yesterday’s show had its share of beautifully made, shimmering evening dresses; in polished charcoal silk with chiffon straps and ruched inserts, they glowed like hot coals. The timing may finally be right for Wakeley. Britain’s domestic market can’t seem to get enough luxury. Proof? Five years ago Harrods’s top-line dresses cost about £5,000, now it has customers demanding £80,000 dresses.

A British teenager is taking the modelling world by storm after she was discovered in her local branch of Primark. Jourdan Dunn, 17, is set to be one of the stars of London Fashion Week. At the New York Fashion Week she was snapped up by designers such as Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger. Jourdan was spotted by a scout from Storm while shopping in West London. Sarah Doukas, from Storm, said: “She is gorgeous. She had never left England before we took her to New York but she’s loving it.”

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