London Fashion Week has drawn to a close, and now that the shows, presentations, dinners and parties are over we can sit back and reflect on what a brilliant week for British fashion it was.

First of all it was huge. Between the main schedule, the off-piste presentations and pop-ups and the Vauxhall Fashion Scout shows, the whole of the ELLE team spent five days dashing back and forth across London trying to squeeze everything in.

And it was a week of high contrast – because that’s what London does best. At one end of the spectrum the mega-luxe, high-powered polish of , and and at the other the low-fi brilliance of , and . And then there were the small presentations, the emerging names that we happened upon with joy; , and .

The fact that such big hitters are vying for a spot on the London schedule is proof of the sway that it has on the fashion stage right now. And more international press than ever before hopped on a plane to see the shows, which the current chair of the British Fashion Council, Natalie Massenet, can probably take a large chunk of credit for. But there’s an excitement and unpredictability about London that you just don’t get in New York, Milan or Paris that the big brands are keen to cash in on. And we throw the best parties.

So what were the ELLE team highlights? playing it cool under pressure with his incredible first collection since selling a majority stake to PPR, not to mention getting a glimpse of Salma Hayek on his front row; first foray into the dark side with his line-up of beautiful black dresses; the game-changing masculine tailoring at ; getting up close and personal with the pop phenomenon that is Rihanna; watching 50,000 dominos topple to reveal Anya Hindmarch’s latest bags; and marvelling at how amazing Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn looked so incredible on the catwalk when they’ve walked so many shows and partied every night.

Now, who’s ready for Milan?