London Fashion Week: instant sales, floaty dresses, plenty of theatre, but no trousers

New York might have gone large on the see-now, buy-now trend but the idea was first mooted by Burberry, when Christopher Bailey announced this year that he would show womens­wear and mens­wear together and that the collections would be available for sale immediately. He tested the proposal with a capsule coat collection sold online a few years ago and with other limited-edition offerings. This season those with fast fingers could tap out their orders online within minutes of the show ending.

Burberry is not the only British brand doing this. Topshop Unique presented its super-sophisticated new collection last Sunday and key looks were immediately available in the pop-up mar­ket­place at the venue and online. Preen also made a few selected items, including a pretty pink ruffled chiffon dress and a black lace top and skirt from the spellbinding hippie collection, immediately available for purchase on its website. And so did Temperley London, using Vero as its e-commerce platform to sell three key looks from its show.