London must prove it’s still in fashion

LONDON Fashion Week, the country’s biggest style extravaganza, opened to the sounds of jazz legend Josephine Baker crooning her love to Paris in an arch message that forward fashion has moved elsewhere.

Ronit Zilkha, a longtime London shower with a whim for swinging chiffon dresses and scarecrow catwalk models, kicked off five days and 45 shows of spring-summer 2005 ready-to-wear style with a throwback 60 years into the past.

Ben de Lisi followed up with a modern take on the nurse’s candystripe, buttery pastels and bling-bling jewels, and cocktail dresses stripped away to reveal wide swathes of skin, both front and back.