Spring 2013 London

You can't talk about handbags for Spring 2013 without mentioning Karl's enormous hula-hoop creation that stole the show at Chanel. Clearly, that one takes the cake as the most dramatic accessories moment of the season. (And comes with an instructions on how to use it from the Kaiser himself.)

Tom Ford actually released all of the spring 2013 collection images and a video a mere three weeks after his show. Look!

Sophia Webster is a relatively new shoe designer--but she had a pretty impressive career in fashion before she even graduated from the Royal College of Art; her final student collection was picked up by Browns. After school she worked with Nicholas Kirkwood for two years as his first-ever assistant. He offered to mentor her for those two years, with the promise that he would help her launch her first collection. This is the result. She's already been picked up by Bergdorf, Net-a-Porter, Neiman, Saks, Harvey Nichols, and Colette, to name a few.

Last night, the first night of Milan fashion week, I trekked over to the Katie Grand for Hogan party at the historical (but not old by Milan standards) Casa degli Atellani. Amidst handfuls of parmesan and gulps of cocktails (jet lag cure), I managed to steal a few minutes with the woman of the hour: Katie Grand herself. Read on to see what the influential stylist (and now designer) had to say on how the collaboration came about, what the process was like--and why she's a bit competitive with Choupette.

So it looks like Anna Wintour did indeed skip the Gucci show to host yet another Obama fundraiser, this time in London last night. And look who else turned up...

Tom Ford once again showed his collection to editors, press, and buyers privately in London last week, invoking his usual strict no photos policy. But what's this? Has Tom Ford changed his mind about the internet? Because he just released a few teaser images way earlier than he has in previous seasons.

London is the shortest fashion "week" of the month (it's only five days long) but it manages to pack in a ton of shows in that time. And we were at most of them! London's fashion is really unique--from heritage brands to the buzzy up-and-comers, we've chosen our 10 favorite collections from the London shows. Click through to see our picks (in no particular order) and tell us if you agree!

London Fashion Week may be the shortest of all the major fashion weeks, but it more than made up for it in its amazing street style

With Alistair Carr gone as the creative director at Pringle of Scotland--and announced as the new creative director for McQ the same day Pringle showed their new spring collection--there was some skepticism in the air. Would Pringle's spring collection, designed by the label's in-house design team, live up?

Showing skin is taking a turn for the demure. London has been chock full of skirts with sheer panelling, a more cautious take on the sheer trend, though no less suggestive. There is certainly no shortage of options, either.

Before I left for my first ever London fashion week I asked Susie Lau for her list of designers to watch. Canadian-born, Central Saint Martins alum Thomas Tait was at the top of the list. And after seeing his spring show, set at an outdoor graffiti covered skate park by the Thames, I can see why.

The Clothes: A beautiful, updated mix of the pieces Roksanda does best, but with a little more slouch and insouciance. Dresses were paneled with diff

London fashion week is officially done, and our heads are still spinning. We covered a whirlwind of shows, hit some parties, paid a zillion pounds in cab fare, and ate a whole lot of sandwiches from Pret a Manger. In addition to all the memorable collections, we also saw a lot of wackiness--and tons of fashion "personalities." From an actual Kate Moss sighting to models in boxes, check out the things that mystified and delighted us in London.

The Clothes: If you know anything about Ashish, you know that his collections will invariably involve sequins--and lots of them. This one was no excep

The Clothes: Where to begin? There was a Marie Antoinette/courtesan vibe here--Meadham Kirchhoff always does costume-y shows and this one was a doozy.

The Clothes: This was Simone Rocha's third season on the runway at LFW, but she already has tons of buzz and a waiting list for her shoes. Pretty sure

Pure fashion fantasy, it was easily the most fun show we've been to all week--and the clothes were total editorial eye candy.

The Clothes: J. JS Lee is a Newgen winner who's been showing at LFW since 2010. This collection was minimal with simple lines--her signature--in a pal

The Clothes: Tailored pieces with a subtly boxy shape, that read modern and lady like, in a palette of navy punctuated by granny smith apple green. Kn

The first looks Erdem sent out were a series of snakeskin pieces, which right away suggested that perhaps this wasn't going to be a typical Erdem collection.

The Clothes: As always with Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos, the design duo behind Peter Pilotto, their one of a kind prints took center stage.

The Clothes: Super tight mini dresses, often with Mark Fast's signature open weave and lots of fringe. Colors ranged from black and berry to the icies

The Clothes: In the past two seasons, J. W. Anderson has grown from a tiny show space to one of the big draws of London Fashion Week. This packed-to-t

The trench got a metallic makeover. It was chopped and cropped into capelets, corsets, and capes in done shimmering shades of fuchsia, turquoise, green and bright red. Harry Styles of One Direction (and his hair) and Dita Von Teese sat next to each other in the front row. Wonder what they talked about?