Christopher Kane's Thing of Beauty

Let’s start at the end... And then the crowd rose and whooped for joy and even the most demure editors behaved like they were on the terraces.

You could say that Christopher Kane’s spring summer 2012 collection went down rather well. Why? Let us count the ways.

It was serene, youthful, meticulously crafted, light as air and breathtakingly pretty all at once. With a 60s bent, stiff origami folds of silk opened and closed around neat shifts and skirt suits. Slits were cut across elbows and ribs and up the front seams of shorts which, alongside starched beige short-sleeved shirts, gave the hint of a gym attendant’s uniform, pushed further by rubber-soled pool shoes. This latter was the only opinion-divider of the show and so ugly that they are bound to be a cult shoe for next season.

After the shimmering pink and mint taffeta, came another childhood favourite re-visited. Last season we had the liquid-filled pencil case, now it’s the turn of cut out flowers stuck down on Perspex or gauze to give the effect of a (distinctly more talented than we ever did) collage book. Then came the heavily emerald and diamond jewelled stiff t-shirts and shifts just as you thought it couldn’t get any better.

The clothes bounced off the chrome-lined office space venue, and the gorgeous clothes, pitch-perfect casting and Lana Del Rey soundtrack made for a moving fifteen minutes. We’re aware how ridiculous that sounds but this was worthy of a couture show.