Fashion Week in the swing with Costelloe

PAUL COSTELLOE opened London Fashion Week today with a very wearable collection of swing coats and shift dresses.

Twenty-four years on from his first appearance at the event his autumn/winter designs stayed loyal to his established customer base.

Colours were bright but not garish; terracotta and pink were fused with gold and silver brocade.

A champion of workwear, the Irish designer used a dark brown tweed to create a series of skirts and jackets all finished with an exposed zip.

Over the next six days some 51 other designers will be showing in London. The hot tickets are the shows by Giles Deacon and emerging talent Peter Pilloto, but long-standing labels including Costelloe, Betty Jackson and Jasper Conran continue to account for a significant part of the week's proceedings.

London Fashion Week generates more than £100million each season and depends on emerging talent and established labels to survive. Earlier, British Fashion Council chairman Harold Tillman announced that the event will move from the Natural History Museum to Somerset House in September. Mr Tillman, who took over as chairman from M&S boss Stuart Rose last year, also announced the launch of a website and increased funding for designers in celebration of Fashion Week's 25th anniversary this year.