Thousands of women are wearing Peter Pilotto(esque) prints this season. They may not know it, but any pattern that looks vaguely like a computer-art generated rendition of the universe’s Big Bang probably had its genesis in Pilotto’s fertile brain. His gift is to take familiar themes from history, geology — younameitology — and turn them into something just disconcerting enough to be compelling. If the Christopher Kane ape prints are strictly for the fashion-at-all-costs follower, Pilotto’s are a subtler but still edgy option. For spring he has manipulated prints to look like tweed, canvas or even snakeskin but using industrial mesh and silks to achieve draped necklines and shoulder tucks. While this remains essentially a collection of impressive cocktail dresses for body-perfect women (is there any other kind coming out of London now? You’d be forgiven for asking what the devil a working woman is going to wear during the day), there were the seeds of a more inclusive approach. Belted dresses will probably evolve into something modern and wearable by the time they hits the shop rails. Pilotto brought his partner, Christopher De Vos, an ex-Vivienne Westwood designer, on to the catwalk — a gesture that indicates that this label intends to be much more than eye-catching prints igniting action in the high street’s cash registers.

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