Last night’s Sass & Bide show, the first of many brands to return to London for its 25th Anniversary celebration, was, above all else, embellished.

Though the crowd wasn’t exactly robust, thanks to the Prime Minister’s Fashion Reception, Alison Mosshart and Twiggy did sit front row and those who were there appeared to love the mostly black and white collection.

There were a handful of black body-con minis covered in black, chrome and gold beads and gems, long white gowns with cut-out backs and gold necklaces or chain mail vests, bedazzled tights, leggings and, unfortunately, quite a few pairs of harem pants.

Sarah Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton’s program notes said they found inspiration in Argentinean gauchos, but we pretty much saw rock n’ roll.

We’ve still got about a month to go before London Fashion Week begins, so this is sure to not be the last of this sort of announcement, but Sass & Bide will be yet another of the lines returning to show in London this season.

Designers Sarah-Jane Clark and Heidi Middleton, who live in Sydney, said they came up with the concept for the line in London ten years ago and that “to be returning here 10 years later, showing in a city that we love so much and that fuels our creativity, is really exciting!”

I’m a huge fan and was kinda hoping they’d end up back in NYC again. Instead their UK fans like Twiggy and Kate (who showed up for their Shine party earlier this summer) will likely be front and center. It’s quick becoming increasingly more difficult to mask my jealousy that Britt’s heading to LFW sans me.

Dolled Up: There exist in the world 25 Terry Richardson action figures. Sometimes things are just so right. {Refinery29 via Slamhype}

Shine On: What does “shine” mean to Twiggy, Mischa, and Kate? Sass & Bide knows. Now you can too. {Vogue UK}

More Puppies! Modelinia continues to fill the void left in my life by George the Jack Russell being out of town with more model dogs. This time on video and including a trip to visit Santa with Chanel Iman’s very excited pooch. {Modelinia}

Up the Rabbit Hole: Where did the bunny ears come from? Marc discusses. {Fashionologie}

Last year, Sass & Bide dropped out of New York Spring 09 Fashion Week to focus on new projects.

They fully intended on returning to Bryant Park’s tents with their Fall 09 collection next month, but now they’re dropping out again, this time due to designer Sarah Jane Clarke’s third pregnancy.

Maybe pregnancy, maybe economy, maybe they’re tired of leading the shrinking Australian fashion pack?

Can’t they just throw their clothes on a plane and trust a stylist to make the runway look awesome?

We can feel Fashion Week slipping through our fingers - and we don’t like it.

Something’s in the air:

Could it be tie-dye?

We never thought we’d see the return of our favorite ‘month of July when we were in third grade attire,’ but the first inklings of it we saw a while back are now materializing into an actual on-the-street reality.

Henry Holland had a bit on tie-dye in the newest Vogue UK, the tie-dye-esque Zimmerman dress at left has been headlining our ShopBop Wish List for weeks, and now Sass & Bide is helping raise money for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer with the tie-dyed heart shirt dress at left.

On a somewhat related note: En route to work this morning, we saw a mismatched girl sporting a beanie and hoop nose ring on the street. We suddenly feel like popping Kids into the DVD player, er, VCR.

A much-discussed theory this week is whether the runway’s hemlines can predict an upcoming recession.

The saying goes, if dresses and skirts get longer, the economy is getting worse. It stems from a period in the ’20s, when short skirts revealed expensive silk stockings, and long skirts disguised cheaper wool ones. Now it’s thought by some (including Faran’s dad, an econ guy) that using more fabric spurs and encourages more spending within the entire industry, and you start to see long dresses when people get worried about sales.

We did a little obsessive check on Style.com and found that while designers geared to older luxury shoppers - Marc, Donna, Vera - did feature longer silhouettes, their secondary lines - Marc by, DKNY, and Vera Lavender - all had pretty short skirts. Check out DKNY’s red scorcher at left.

Other young brands - Sass & Bide, Anna Sui, Karen Walker, Charlotte Ronson - also had an a-line sheath shape happening, which means not everyone is surrendering to the grungy or silky long skirts that Erin Fetherston seemed to favor this season.

But does it mean anything for the stock market? We’re not sure - let’s see how Prada’s IPO does once it’s been public for a little bit.

Some smiling faces at Sass & Bide.

Click!

--PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

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The Sass & Bide show opened with a vintage record and Nicky Hilton in the front row. We were hoping for Sienna Miller.

At least the clothes lived up to our expectations.

The Harlequin themed collection included sequins, top hats, leathery leggings worn as pants (Linsay Lohan will surely buy every pair), capes flowing down the runway and a bright plaid jacket that we wish we could have this spring.

We scribbled “THIGH HIGHS” in capital letters across our notebook. Indeed, the trend we promised not to wear has popped up everywhere: Rag&Bone, Form, Costello Tagliapietra, Alexander Wang. The Sass & Bide girls, Sarah Jane and Heidi, layered theirs over wide-knit fishnets for an even more rock n’ roll look that balanced out the girly dresses topped with ruffled sleeves and woven ribbons.

We loved it all.

So if you see us wearing thigh highs - sorry, don’t hate us, we have to.

We don’t know why Sass & Bide’s models had slingshots stuck in their hair, but we do know that The Times’ Bill Cunningham LOVED it.

Check out the look on his face as one of the girls hits the catwalk, then consider…

Are the slingshots a reference to S&B’s tribal Australian style, or are they subbing for banana clips, which some hairstylists are desperately trying to resurrect backstage?