The definition of London style

While Paris has long been considered the style capital of the world and Milan associated with the most extreme articulation of luxury, for years London struggled to define its place on the fashion map. When the city's first official Fashion Week catwalk was erected at Olympia in 1984, the game plan was to promote our classic heritage brands. Later, fashion enthusiasts found that celebrating the rich breadth of design talent bubbling over from the capital's many prestigious art schools was the way to get noticed by the rest of the world.

Today, while nurturing the McQueens and McCartneys of tomorrow remains a focus for the British Fashion Council, London has found another draw, one that has been staring it in the face: beautiful clothes that - wait for it - actually sell.

London Fashion Week has grown up. Where budding designers with boundless creativity once left the fashion industry wanting, with three-legged romper suits, today's additions to the schedule, though fiercely talented, are mediators of the relationship between their own creativity and those of their customer.

Jonathan Saunders's offering is a case in point. While experimenting with a print inspired by the sugary shades of Miami's South Beach, Saunders presented a collection that was easily the most wearable seen at Fashion Week.

Combining conventional femininity with a more playful, rebellious edge, Saunders's clothes are interesting and inspiring while catering to the needs of the modern women - understanding her lifestyle, her shape, her personality. The same can be said of Christopher Kane, who unveiled a highly technical collection that will be graciously received by his growing customer base.

At Burberry, Christopher Bailey gave a lesson in how to delight the scores of buyers at Fashion Week with a tribal offering that saw stunning pencil skirts crafted from woven raffia and the classic trench coat - a key seller for the brand -reinterpreted time and again.

This renewed focus towards commercially sound clothes has seen London Fashion Week catapulted onto a global platform, one where the UK's most successful luxury labels are honoured to appear. From Saunders's pastel prints and Kane's intricate appliqué, to an exquisite offering from Antonio Berardi that saw flowing cocktail gowns and sculpted jackets detailed with neoprene, this was a week in which London's designers found their rhythm. Long may they dance.