Expressly oriental: Eastern influences dominate London Fashion Week

There was a moment on the first day of London Fashion Week when I wondered where I had landed, seeing Chinese designers Yifang Wan and Ping He on the catwalk and with a special presentation of Design by Shanghai at the Royal Opera House.

London Fashion Week lures leading lights from around the world because many international designers trained at its famous art colleges. The city has a well-earned reputation as a creative hub and the international fashion press and buyers flock there during Fashion Week fearing they might miss out on something new.

The city was sizzling with energy this week, with Burberry anchoring the spring collections and Americans Tom Ford and L'Wren Scott making it their preferred location. Given time, maybe other top labels such as Victoria Beckham, Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen can be lured back to their hometown. Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-Porter and chairman of the British Fashion Council, claims that London is "a place where fashion stars are born".

The presence of the Chinese designers highlighted a subtle oriental theme threading through several of the collections. J.W. Anderson's supremely technical collection of structured, pleated and textured dresses, and origami-folded bib dresses brought to mind Issey Miyake.

He draped and twisted fabrics and experimented in a conceptual way that we've not seen since Hussein Chalayan's early days. Holly Fulton's crane and coy carp prints, meanwhile, had more obvious roots in the orient, along with fan-shaped bodices.

L'Wren Scott similarly was inspired by the East with her bamboo and wisteria embroideries stretched across a tautly tailored pantsuit and cheongsam dresses. Obi belts cinched kimono-style jackets over pencil skirts creating a tall, slender silhouette.

There was a distinctly sports luxe mood running through the collections, something that London designers are doing rather well because they like the casual urban style of parkas, bomber jackets and sweatshirts, but also have a strong sense of femininity in their collections in terms of embellishment and colour palette. Juxtaposing sportswear and solid footwear with rose pinks and floral embroideries counterbalances the potentially cloying sweetness with an element of toughness.