Although shopping in this area is probably the best in London, I wouldn't feel that I was providing you with the ultimate in fashion gossip if I didn't let you in on a few secrets of Fashion Week and what to expect to see in the shops in six months' time.

The shops are filled with colour and rich clothes at the moment and this looks set to continue into your Winter wardrobe. Fashion week was the brightest I have ever seen it. Bright rock chick tops are the name of the game teamed with denim, goatskin, and leather.

Not everyone had gone for bright, though, and the other feeling coming through this season is one of luxury and expense. Fashion is 'moneyed-up' at the moment. Robert Cary-Williams was one of the designers whose collection was 70% leather and tailoring, but he'd opted for neutral colours. His collection mixed white silk with nude leather tailoring exposed in perhaps the most underground show on the London Fashion Week schedule this season, literally. It was held in the cavernous depths of an East End Goods Yard, where the guests assembled in a reconstructed Japanese garden to munch their way through a plate of Sushi before the show started. Personally I was more interested in the punch, thanks to the Antarctic climate of the venue. How do those near naked models do it?

I bumped into a number of our local designers displaying their Autumn/Winter collections at Fashion Week. Lucy Barlow had, as ever, a fantastic array of hats. The Jacksons have also performed their usual miracles and their collection is centred on celebrating the lives of two fantastic women of the 20th century, Marianne Faithfull and Marlene Dietrich. The result is a selection of pieces that epitomise modern ladylike chic and will happily remain at the forefront of your wardrobe for a number of seasons. If you fancy something slightly more daring, head to Olivia Morris for her 'kitsch couture' bags. Must-haves include a patent leather bag with studded shoulder straps and a fuschia tartan saddle-shaped bag with chain & locket handles. Her shoes are elegant but seductive.

Anyway, back to shopping for this summer. Over the last five years we have gradually worked our way through revivals of fashion from the 20's, 30's, 50's, 70's ……no-one ever thought the 80's could possibly come back into fashion; in fact, the thought of it sent shivers down my spine. Huge shoulder-pads, fish net stocking and anything and everything that could possibly qualify as being vulgar. But the inevitable has happened and this season in comes the 80's revival. Strangely enough, it's not so bad. Apart from the pussycat bow blouse which I refuse to adorn even if I was offered an Audi TT to do so, it's worked. It's sexy, it's sassy but there's nothing vulgar about it at all. Obviously, be careful not to get too carried away with the whole 'expose-a-label-whenever-possible' look, but do go for hot pants and heels teamed with well cut short jackets or shirt and big shades. If you don't think hot pants are for you, go for the pencil skirt or brightly cropped trousers options instead, and accessorise like crazy.

The market is selling glittery colourful bracelets at a fraction of the cost of the High Street shops and if you want to splash out, the safety-pin telephone wire covered bracelets from Nigeria at J.W. Beeton's are particularly original.

read about London Fashion Week 2001