“It could become London’s answer to New York’s Met Ball.” So said fashion lawyer Hugh Devlin at last Tuesday’s Victoria & Albert museum gala celebrating the opening of its new costume show The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London 1947-1957. Looking around the glittering and gowned attendees, it was hard not to agree. Here was Emma Thompson, in long black Prada, chatting to tuxedoed (but not tied) artist Marc Quinn; there was co-host John Galliano, over from Paris in a leopard-skin beret, kissing Carla Sozzani, up from Milan in bubble-skirted Azzedine Alaïa. Here were Kevin Spacey, Claudia Schiffer, Lady Helen Taylor (in Armani, of course) and Jemima Khan in Barbarella-silver. There was more celebrity wattage in the Raphael galleries then on any catwalk, and more money. “I think we’ll raise half a million,” said Damien Whitmore, the V&A’s director of public affairs. “Fashion is crucial to the growth of the museum; you have events like this and they just draw people in.” The problem, of course, is figuring out how to do a fashion blockbuster every year. “Any ideas?” asked Whitmore, but no one at the party replied; they were too busy having fun.

Indeed, having fun seemed to be something of a – yes – trend during London Fashion Week. But whereas in years past the fun has taken the form of DJ-ing in the East End, this season things were more upmarket, to put it mildly. Or to put it another way, the predominant dress code was black tie.

The British Fashion Council and Moët Hennessy kicked the whole thing off with a fancy-dress (in every sense of the word) bash in Regent’s Park on Sunday complete with merry-go-round; on Monday, Vogue Italia hosted an exhibition to celebrate its 50th birthday at the Royal Academy of Arts; Tuesday was the V&A’s turn; and Wednesday saw Cartier toasting its biggest-ever fine jewellery collection, complete with catwalk show and gourmet supper. On Thursday, Stella McCartney’s bash for her Adidas collection was slightly more informal (it’s a sportswear line, after all), but next week comes Theo Fennell’s Show-Off, a week-long exhibition at the Museum of Mankind featuring the jeweller’s signature fanciful and baroque pieces adorning Fennell-designed “exhibits” – a skeleton wearing an elaborate cross and gigantic cocktail ring, and brooches planted in the earth. Opening night will feature – what else? – “a glitzy red-carpet VIP event”.

London mayor Ken Livingstone has had a bit of a bee in his bonnet about Fashion Week and the whole skinny model thing recently, and rumour had it that his London Development Agency was even thinking about withdrawing its funding, but perhaps he should consider the shedloads of money and jobs generated in the last week – at least for the city’s catering community, not to mention the paparazzi.

Add this to the construction industry’s windfall thanks to a perfect storm of shop openings – Luella Bartley on Brook Street; John Rocha on Dover Street (a whole building, no less) ; French cashmere king Lucien Pellat-Finet on Elizabeth Street; and Duro Olowu on Portobello Road (go for the extraordinary mix of vintage furniture and African textiles) – and it’s hard not to think t’would be a pity to turn back now.

edwina.ings-chambers@ft.com
vanessa.friedman@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/chambers and www.ft.com/friedman