The spotlight turned to British fashion on Friday as London Fashion Week opened its doors only a day after the curtains went down on its sibling in New York.
Opening the event at Somerset House in central London, London Mayor Boris Johnson highlighted the accolade recently bestowed on the city by a major US consulting company as "the fashion capital of the world".
"That verdict is great news for our city and for our economy," Johnson said, adding that the industry contributes 80,000 jobs to London and £21 billion ($33 billion, 24 billion euros) to the British economy.
But the focus was also on another big event for the British capital.
The latest London Fashion Week, which includes 100 catwalk shows and 200 exhibitions, showcases women's and menswear collections for spring-summer 2012, when London will be in the throes of hosting the Olympic Games

Just when the whole fashion pack was beginning to expire from the dearth of any new mega trend in the New York season into which it could dig it's editorial and retailing teeth, along came Marc Jacobs and wowed us with a plasticized dancehall sweethearts show that will ignite a half a dozen new movements in the world of clothing and style.
His Wild West naughty gals meets Chicago nightclub flappers spring 2012 collection, staged Thursday, Sept. 15, in New York, will be the most influential show this season. Among its major trends will be plastic-coated ginghams, layered faux glass skirts, prim bobby socks, cloche headbands and a soft louche attitude.
The show also got everyone's vote for the best presentation in New York in many seasons, a dramatic barn dance setting with fairy lights, patched-up pine dance floor and gigantic, cheap gold curtains. Pulled away, the stage revealed models perched provocatively on wooden saloon chairs. Jacobs last collection for Louis Vuitton in Paris in March referenced boudoir chic and prostitute's glamour, and while this show had an easy virtue air, there was something purer and more innocent about the whole mood.
The majority of models wore either cowboy boots - and the see-through plastic versions will be another big trend - or courtly high-heels paired with ankle socks.
But if the collection referenced any era it was the Twenties with flapper dresses - albeit in green and white plasticized gingham. Throughout, the designer used technical fabrics to re-invent customary codes - most brilliantly with nylon gabardine sweatshirts, another look that will be influential.
"It's about women being tough and hardy even. But somehow being American and fresh, if you know what I mean," Jacobs commented backstage.

The Italian TV host, who split from A-list actor Clooney earlier this year, has long been against the use of fur. Her campaign will be shown prominently in Milan, where designers are still known to use fur in their collections.
"This is a thing which I personally believe and trust in, so nobody told me to do it. Since I was a little kid, I was against fur, I never wore fur in my life," she told Reuters.
Canalis, 33, joins a long list of Hollywood celebrities who bared it all for PETA's anti-fur campaign, including Charlize Theron and Pamela Anderson.
The Italian beauty said she was moved to work on the campaign after hearing of the immense cruelty suffered by animals in the fur trade.
"If you know what happens all around the world, everyday, like, 50,000 -- more than that -- animals are killed, bludgeoned, drowned, electrocuted, skinned alive, just for vanity. That's enough I think," said Canalis.
The model is stepping away from her famous ex-boyfriend's spotlight and into her own, with an upcoming stint on U.S. reality TV show "Dancing With The Stars." Canalis is training hard with dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy, in preparation for the live show, which premieres on ABC on September 19.