Twenty8Twelve

Click here to see a video of the show

There were rumours that Sienna Miller might skip the debut catwalk show of Twenty8Twelve, the collection that she co-designs with her sister, Savannah, in order to be at the Oscars. “As if,” said the actress, before the show. “I love being part of this, and I'm doing it to help my sister”.

“I hope that's not the only reason you're doing it, Si,” says her big (two and a bit years older and, at 5ft 10, five inches taller) sister. “Of course it isn't, Sav, you know that.”

The Miller sisters are so unguarded that interviewing them about this collection can feel like butting in on a family get-together. Bottom line: this is an appealing synthesis of their shared penchant for slouchy, hip clothes, with a nod to strong, Balmain-esque shoulders. There are cute, cropped trench jackets, rugged khaki parka-style coats, minidresses layered over denim leggings and luxurious knits. It's eminently shoppable and unpretentious. Which, with 70 stockists and a solid fan base, should make it perfect for now.

Some critics argue that clothes this easy don't need to be on the catwalk. But catwalks are a form of fashion oxygen. “If anything,” says Sienna, “the recession pushed us into doing this show. It was either blur into all those other labels or make a statement.” LA

Nicole Farhi
The past few seasons chez Farhi have been crying out for a new departure. How much floral whimsy does anyone need in her wardrobe? And there's only so much of an aesthetic that flits between bookish heroine and glamourous French Resistance agent that one wishes to see in 2009, especially when everyone around is peddling the 1980s .

Thankfully, Farhi has finally listened. Gone were those floaty numbers and in their place was something far more structured and dare we say it, even sexy.

Multicoloured tweed suiting, flashes of metallic gold on a leather jacket signalled a bold change. So too did the exaggerated shoulders and subversive (to followers of fashion) just-below- the-knee skirt and dress lengths. Colour was key; cue a riotious mix of fuchsia with teal, inky blues and apple greens, orange lapels on a raspberry mohair sweater. And there was also plenty of dramatic black.

Everything was tightly cinched in at the waist, while the decorative flourishes - appliqué surface texture and brightly coloured, scattered sequins on niftily cut blazers - were a modern way of prettying an outfit without veering into tweedom.

Obviously this new Nicole isn't for everyone, but she might just find that she wins more fans than she loses. CA

Christopher Kane
Kane is a designer who is often cited as the reason international buyers come to London. In a relatively short space of time (less than three years) he has emerged as one of the leading voices of the capital. Sunday's show was a masterclass in coupling bold, beautiful clothing with wearable design. Such as the superbly cut, charcoal wool jackets or hounds-tooth cashmere knits with trimmed pockets that kicked off the show.

The rest was equally impressive. A leitmotiv quickly emerged: black velvet or silk ribbon edges on gauzy, nude-coloured dresses, often employed vertically and horizontally to give shape and structure to the dirndl miniskirts, pelmet pockets and necklines, sometimes creating a trompe l'oeil effect. On occasion these were jazzed up with coloured stripes. There's no doubt that these are exactly the sort of cocktail dresses that ingenues will be fighting to be papped in come September.

Anyone looking for something a little more covered up could choose from a dizzying selection of patterned, fabric shifts on which contrasting swirls were juxtaposed to create the illusion of a teeny-weeny waist. Recession or no recession, what woman would say no to that? CA

Richard Nicoll
One of the most eagerly awaited shows of the week. Would Nicoll be able to live up to the hype set by last season's sophisticated take on loud, splashy colour? That show so excited fashion editors that many left the venue declaring (somewhat dramatically) that they'd just experienced a “fashion moment”.

In the event, it proved all too much. While Sunday's collection was for the most part beautiful, poised, considered and very cohesive (which is still a lot more than can be said for other designers), the clothes never quite translated into real life.

The all-cream statement look (above) was cut so narrowly as to render it uncommercial, and that's no little fact to gloss over in times such as these. Cut-out panels on coats, dresses and skirts, suspenders that hung from cropped jackets and some complicated layering looked awkward at times. Even on the catwalk, the corseting effect of the gold and cream bustiers seemed restrictive rather than sexy or suggestive.

The balancing act between confident, interesting design and clothes that women of a range of sizes will want to wear is never easy, but something that designers are increasingly going to have to get to grips with. CA

Luella
Luella Bartley is increasingly allying herself with a growing band of designers who concentrate on providing tempting individual items rather than applying The Message. If this is a recessionary syndrome, frankly, there are worse ones.

From tweed to brocade, paperbag-waist trousers to slashed-neck dresses, she gave the trends of the season a distinctive Luella stamp. A sliver of frilled lace peeking from the armholes of a military grey flannel dress, a mini lampshade skirt or two to partner her jackets... she's perfected the cute angle. Her front row - Kaya Scodelario from Skins, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, who plays Jack Dee's daughter in Lead Balloon, Nicola Roberts from Girls Aloud, Peaches Geldof and her sister Pixie, who modelled - tells us who can wear Luella.

The next step is to take the brand to a wider demographic ( the tweed jackets and a conker-coloured patent trench were a good start) without losing its Brit-girl appeal, because there is a limited number of teens and twentysomethings with the budget for those sparkling prom dresses and mink jackets. Not all the contents added up to a logical business strategy, but maybe that's its charm. LA

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