When it came to trends, everything at LFW pretty much fell in line with what we were seeing at NYFW the week beforehand, except for one major difference.  It was FUN, and it was PRETTY.  Here are our trends, straight up, but without all that New York City attitude.

 

1.  Pretty Prints and Fab Florals

London almost felt like a Spring showing with all the bold prints and florals that reminded us of English teatime.  We loved the patterns at Erdem, Vivienne Westwood, Issa, Sass & Bide, and House of Holland, just to name a few.  Here’s our favorites:

Issa’s take on navy blue, not to mention the very royal hat on top, makes us think this might be the perfect outfit for Kate Middleton to christen a lifeboat…or, some other royal duty.

Katrantzou put out some pretty far-out outfits, but this may have been their most wearable of them all.  And oh, how we love this purple, including another look from this collection below.

2. The Bold and the Beautiful… colors, that is.

This season, London style is all about bold beautiful colors. While we saw many beautiful solids and prints at NYFW, they were rarely paired so whimsically together as they were at London Fashion week.

We loved the mixed textures at Michael van der Ham with this gorgeous chartreuse number. It’s a challenge to create a look that’s all the same color without looking like you’re wearing your grandmother’s track suit circa 1993. The richness of the colors and the mixing of textures and fabrics make this look wearable and fresh.

Mixing prints is a challenge no matter how skilled a stylist you are. I love this look because the mix is so nontraditional. It almost doesn’t work, which is precisely why it does work. The horizontal lace blocking on the t-shirt perfectly mimics the subtle color blocking on the skirt. The effect is a long decorated column that looks effortlessly dressy, even though the base of the outfit is a t-shirt. The cool factor, though, is definitely amped up by stocky lace-up flatforms.

If you aren’t feeling the loudness of these looks, try incorporating this look into your wardrobe by pairing a gorgeous, soft ivory cardigan with a pea-green trouser, or a classic black chiffon pussy-bow shirt tucked into red trouser jeans. Still too much? Punch things up with a brightly colored belt, sock, or bag.

 

3. Be bundled, beautifully.

We saw a strong continuation of the NYFW trend for interesting coats all over London this week. Gone are the days of the classic peacoat and puffy parka. If you’re going to bundle next winter, do it with a twist.

This Burberry coat taps into the classic toggle coat, but with a major military twist. The over-the-top toggles and double funnel neck buttons catch the eye and draw it upward to the model’s face. We love the detailing of the oversized pockets, too. This coat, for all its eccentricities, is surprisingly subtle and great for the everyday. And note the color- see item #2.

The details of this Aquascutum coat are astounding and the over-all effect is way cool. This traditional tweet coat is punched up with puffer shrug detailing on the outside of the coat, a matching shearling inside the lapel, and orange-lined tabs at the sleeves. This chic and sporty look was a surprisingly wearable stand-out, proving once again that this trend has major legs.