Having spent Friday, the first day of London fashion week, in a jet-lagged daze wandering in and out of high street stores on Oxford Street while waiting for my hotel room to be ready, I missed all the smaller shows that day. Julien Macdonald, on a sunny Saturday morning, was my introduction to London’s fashion scene, and it was a great way to start. (And not only because they were handing out Krispy Kremes outside the venue.)

Imagine Robert Palmer’s “Addicted to Love” girls wearing black and white origami-cut dresses and dragon prints, and you have the Julien Macdonald show (well, the first half at least.) Featuring slicked, painted hair (Spring beauty trend alert! We saw it in New York, too) and red lips, his girls were ready to kick ass and take names.

With more than 125 years of dressing lovely ladies in the UK, Jaeger is as British as tea and crumpets. And while their long history can read a bit stodgy, Jaeger has been on a campaign the last few years to hip it up a bit to appeal to a new generation–and, this show, with a few exceptions, is going to help that cause. It’s still a bit on the conservative side, yes, but I don’t really expect to see the Queen in the rainbow knee-length shorts or chic flat-brimmed Panama-esque hats any time soon.

I chatted briefly with the Telegraph‘s Hilary Alexander before one of the morning shows, and she predicted that geometry would be an early trend in London. That lady is not a fashion legend for no reason–Jaeger opened with a series of dresses and skirts featuring triangular cut-outs and neat scalloped edges. Tiny polka dots, almost like dotted swiss, adorned suits, dresses, and skirts. Striped pieces in muted tones of mustard, orange, and blue, were the standouts here, particularly on a tidy crew neck nipped-waist dress. It got fancier with eyelet and broderie gowns, followed by sheer lace adorned with bows.

I hadn’t planned on attending the Jasper Conran show, but somehow I found myself wedged into the front row, so I went with it. I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t know much about his work before the show, but I’m certainly going to start paying better attention from now on.

As a certified freak for fuchsia, Conran won my heart immediately with his beauty look, which featured sleek (but not wet) hair held back with a simple hair band. All the girls had fuchsia lips, neutral fingers, and fuchsia toes. This totally worked for me on every level.

Conran’s Spring colletion was minimalist, and the person next to me who said, “It’s a bit Jil Sander back in the day, isn’t it?” could be forgiven. It was, but there are worse standards by which to be judged.

Shown at a super-slick space at Paddington Central, lit with rows of neon tube lights, I was expecting stark minimalism at the Jonathan Saunders show. Instead, the designer gave us a vision of vaguely 50s cuts in a thoroughly modern color, with ombré thrown in.

Miami-inspired palettes were popular this season (Henry Holland mined the colors, too), and the color combination was also the starting point for Jonathan Saunders’ gorgeous collection. Vaguely paisley-esque patterns boldly covered ladylike knee-length dresses. For the most part, the pieces were all modest and buttoned up, but it never read as frumpy, which is no mean feat.