Jessica Ennis was given a hero’s welcome today as stars gathered for a showstopping finale to London Fashion Week.
In town to watch the Mulberry show, the Olympic gold medallist was joined by Kate Moss, Alexa Chung, singer Lana del Rey, Rebecca Hall and stars from Downton Abbey in the front row.
Ennis wore a little black dress and carried a Mulberry Bayswater bag. Moss wore a black shirt and jeans and looked remarkably fresh-faced after a night of partying.
The model began the last 24 hours of the fashion week at the Arts Club in Mayfair for a closing party also attended by Samantha Cameron, who is an ambassador of the British Fashion Council.
A few cocktails later, and Moss, 38, was dancing while her husband Jamie Hince’s band The Kills performed at the Serpentine Gallery Future Contemporaries party.
An onlooker said: “She turned up with a group of friends including Kelly Osbourne and stood right next to the speakers at the side of the stage. They were dancing like groupies and were having a great time, despite a brief rain shower which almost cleared the crowd.”
But by this morning it was all about the fashion and Moss and Ennis were treated to a show that celebrated Britishness.
Taking its own heritage as inspiration Mulberry, which is made in Somerset, unveiled its spring/summer collection for 2013 as the ballroom in Claridges was transformed into an English country garden.
Giant plastic gnomes in candy shades lined the entrance while trees topped with roses and hydrangeas stood at the end of the catwalk.
Citing the early years of the Mulberry brand, which launched in 1971, as her inspiration, creative director Emma Hill led her customers on a walk down the garden path.
This was a decidedly bohemian collection in which print was a key focus. Block prints featuring quintessentially English flowers ran throughout the show. A black standard poodle raised a smile from Moss as it took its turn on the catwalk.
