London Fashion Week S/S 2007

Controversy and London Fashion Week, go together like a cup of tea and a nice biscuit, don't they? Last season, it was all tabloid talk of Cocaine Kate and very lively fashion parties and leading the way with its hysterical headlines was London's own Evening Standard, which, although the newspaper is a the former sponsor of LFW, had no hesitation in laying the boot in. This season, London's turn in the international fashion spotlight was preceded by a heated debate about size 00 models. Banned in Madrid, there was talk of a crack Body Mass Index squad appearing at shows and stopping models with unhealthy BMI's from taking to the catwalk. It didn't happen.

We went with a positive attitude aiming to cover a variety of shows from both the off-schedule and on-schedule catwalks and what a truly wonderful week we had. "Oh, Preen's going to New York - this will probably be their last London season" moaned some people, "Oh, London's lost its appeal and the international press just don't support it" banged-on others. Bollocks. As PR expert with 11 designers showing both on and off-schedule this season alone, Michael Salac points out in his video interview with us, the international press are great supporters of London, it's our own fashion press who are less in evidence.

Thanks to our hard-working team - Maia Adams, Selene Pearson, David Jones and Judith Erwes who helped us prove that it is possible for an independent fashion community with limited budgets to do a sterling job. The pace was fast and furious and we didn't get to see and report on everything we would have liked, but we have covered 40-odd shows and hope you find our photography, text and videos insightful.

Big thanks also all the designers who spared us a few moments of their precious moments at this manically busy time, the PRs and a big shout to all our comrades at the coalface - the photographers and crews we work alongside like Al and Chris Moore from catwalking.com and Piero whose luggage got lost en-route from New York and almost had to shoot the week in stinky pants.

Finally, if you are part of the Vespa company - help us out next season. With the Vauxhall Fashion Scout set to be a regular feature like On|Off has become, there are now so many venues dotted across the capital that the physical challenge of getting to where we need to be is bonkers, However, we wouldn't swap it for the sterlity of New York where all is contained, controlled and executed in a corporate fashion culture. LFW cream crackers you, but we get to see such a rich variety of fashion talent, it's worth it.