Hoggs and fishes, walls and wishes

Pam Hogg's show at the ON/OFF venue, Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square

For all the excitement, expectation and general razzmatazz, Fashion weeks for me without exception, mean high stress, low nutrition and a necessity for sleeping upright in chairs when a rare moment for rest comes along. This week my team and I covered more than 130 designers in six days, so great has the clamour to get onto the Roller-coaster ride of London Fashion Week, and our urgency to cover as much of the action as possible.

Peter Pilotto's show at Selfridges car park, W1

This particular London Fashion Week also threw my way a strong sense of déjà vu. Despite a sizeable gaggle of new names on the burgeoning schedules, something about the presentations reminded me of early London. As well as sober venues like The Cellars in Covent Garden and the car park at Selfridges, there was also a reinforced presence of strong classic British brands like, Burberry, Jaeger, Daks and Aquascutum, highlighting a more marked contrast between money and moderation than in recent years. There was as well something about the crowd that evoked those mad, electric days of the 1980s. At that time, the front row offered as much interest and colour as anything you might see on the catwalks, and the intensity of the paparazzi bun fights to crash the venues matched their vibrance.

Louise Roe and Peaches Geldof posing for the paparazzi, front row at Pam Hogg

Pam Hogg’s show had all this spirit and colour, on and off the catwalk; it was a hugely enjoyable and riveting scene which reminded me why shooting catwalks became such an addiction in the first place. In the 80s of course it was a post Live Aid, Bob Geldof and Paula Yates who sat with a detached air in the front rows, but now fast forwarding a couple of decades sits their daughter Peaches, rubbing shoulders and knees with fashionistas like designer Johnny Blue Eyes and presenter Louise Roe.

Siouxsie Sioux, Pamm Hogg and Johnny Blue Eyes,

all at the Pam Hogg show

At Somerset House it was touching to see the many messages and best wishes left on the British Fashion Council's board of condolence, in memory of Alexander McQueen. Some people left short notes and others included sketches of their favourite fashion designs, and the whole board changed organically as the week progressed, and I snapped a few details of the messages which are on the slide show at the end of this post.

The Alexander McQueen board of condolence at Somerset House

As well as the BFC wall, Lee Lapthorne of ON/OFF had the fantastic idea of putting the Catwalking archive of McQueen pictures onto an iPod wall, so that everyone could look through the entire span of collections since 1994, including some of his Menswear and collaborations with Givenchy. It looked amazing but the way it worked for everyone was even better and a lovely tribute to McQueen and his loyal staff, many of whom were his long standing friends. Well done Mr Lapthorne for making it happen.

Lee Lapthorne with the ON|OFF-Catwalking.com iPod wall

With so much work behind us in London Fashion week, the Catwalking team decided to celebrate in a good old fashioned British way with Fish & Chips, Daddies sauce and a bottle of Champagne ... Bloody marvellous!

Click here for the slideshow