Bright sparks: Young designers at LFW

Economic forecasts may be bleak, but London Fashion Week's young designers offered a bright, beautiful distraction, says Susannah Frankel

Showgirls and dreamers, rock stars and ballerinas all had their moment at last week's London collections.

If, for the past few seasons the overriding feeling is that the most sensible reaction to economic downturn is to play safe, the British capital's designers did anything but that. Instead, again and again, the audience was transported to a more happy place, a world that wowed and inspired, whether anyone in the western hemisphere can actually afford to buy any clothes or not.

And so minimalism was well and truly buried in favour of the boldest, brightest colour, the most kaleidoscopic print, technical innovation everywhere from knitwear to cut and a sweet, home-spun and hand-worked touch that the high street may copy only at its peril. And if that seems like unadulterated fantasy, then in places perhaps it was. Underlying that – and the much welcome ability to make people smile – was sound business practice, however. Should any woman have the means to invest in clothes she's likely to want to stand out in the crowd after all. And that she most certainly will.

Demonstrating the art-school sensibility that London-educated designers are known for, Christopher Kane's collection took as its starting point "a teenager on a council estate dreaming of things to wear". Kane – and his sister, business partner and right-hand woman, Tammy – understand her well. It's small wonder then that the bell-shaped 1960s-couture inspired silhouette, colour palette which ranged from "insipid" (Kane's word for it) to violent, appliquéd stickers just like the kind a young girl might collect, and hi-tech fabrics (aluminium organza, anyone?) came together so beautifully. If the muse in question was evident throughout – in crystals she'd painstakingly sewn on to battered denim in her bedroom, say, or in flat, white rubber shower shoes she'd customised to suit each look – she's no amateur. A reality check came, meanwhile, in the form of a sense of sportiness which undercut the romance and ensured the nostalgic looked new.

A not dissimilar mindset was in evidence at Meadham Kirchhoff, where designers Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff came up first with a troupe of babydoll, can-caning Courtney Love look-a-likes and then pre-teen ballet school hopefuls as a backdrop against which to show their clothes. These were a fusion of the opulence and volumes of Versailles and pop cultural references – Hello Kitty, cartoon hearts, flowers, rainbows and big, blinking eyes – and the delicacy with which two such unlikely juxtapositions were brought together was extraordinary. Throw fluffy pastel-coloured marabou jackets and teeny tiny crochet knits into the mix and it could all too easily have been saccharine sweet were it not for an over-riding spirit that looked back in anger to the uniform of punk. Tartan, mini-kilts and school ties toughened things up to just the right degree.

There was nothing much tough on display at Jonathan Saunders' stand-out show. Instead a rigour and sense of holding back just enough for a cool and vaguely other-worldly elegance to shine was the order of the day. If the silhouette spoke of the 1950s Stepford Wife – part sugar and spice, part zoned- out zombie – the techniques, both in print and knitwear, looked to the future. The colour meanwhile – think hyped-up Miami Deco shades – sang.

Giles Deacon has never been shy where there's fun to be had. This designer was inspired by the early photographs of Cecil Beaton, by showgirls and by Leigh Bowery, he said, and here was just the mix of chic and tongue-in-cheek tacky, of nasty and nice, that he is known for. Feathered head-dresses, a show-stopping swan print and silver leather – tooled to look like doilies then overlaid with fringing – made for contemporary big-entrance dressing par excellence, not to mention a level of workmanship which was, in places, nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Louise Gray's background is in textile design and that shows. She's also always big on colour, so much so that she has consulted for Dulux in the past – never let it be said that London's young designers are restricted to couture fantasy. Given a focus on surface detail and ever more vibrant hue elsewhere, this designer's collection moved from maverick to trend-setting territory and that was good to see. Patchworked, appliquéd knits, striped shirts and beaded and embroidered skirts were thrown together with gay abandon – and that was just the one exit. Even the shoes had multicoloured rope soles.

Peter Jensen – the label not the man – is 10 years old and the designer chose to celebrate this anniversary by returning to the London catwalk. His timing couldn't have been better. If anyone has the lucrative teen market nailed, it must surely be Jensen, whose sense of humour (slightly sinister rabbit-ear sunglasses), prettiness (frilled floral-print sun dresses) and craft (a blouse worn underneath that had been appliquéd with flowers) is always in evidence. Jensen picks a muse each season and bases his collection on her. This time around it was a suitably stroppy Nina Simone he turned to for inspiration. She looked great.

J W Anderson is a designer generating a fair share of excitement just now, so much so that two members of team British Vogue were spotted wearing his paisley print designs the day of his show. This too was technically advanced, innovative and, perhaps most importantly, boasted just the type of metropolitan viewpoint that ensures a young, fashionable person is well and truly seduced. The show was derivative in places. Nicolas Ghesquière's archive for Balenciaga was the thing to see and be seen plundering on this catwalk as well as on many others, though not always so cleverly. Aforementioned print, tooled leather, draped patchworked dresses and tailoring that was interesting but never tricksy all made this designer a name to watch.

Is Mary Katrantzou the new Christian Lacroix? A catwalk planted with multi-coloured carnations – the couturier's favourite flower – suggest she may think so. And doubtless the man who saved the world from all that was greige with his maximal aesthetic back in the 1980s would be impressed by such accomplished, rainbow-coloured print in return. Katrantzou's silhouette is not always as contemporary as it might be and her designs work best when that is at its most simple. A tropical aquarium-print vest and an oversized knit densely covered with tiny flowers stole the show.

Peter Pilotto – in fact there are two designers at work here; Pilotto and Christopher De Vos – are also specialists in print and the loud, proud, exotic travel-inspired versions that strode down their catwalk for spring/summer 2012 were brilliant. These designers have sharpened up their line and the result was a more polished showing than ever and one that allowed for exuberance but never at the expense of sophistication.

Finally to Acne, the increasingly successful Swedish label that has evolved from purveyor of jeans and among the most wanted leather aviator jackets in the business to become a fully-fledged fashion name to be reckoned with. Acne first took to the London catwalk two years ago but this latest collection was an especially confident move forward. In line with the upbeat mood – and inspired by a trip to Morocco by all accounts – designer Jonny Johansson came up with roomy kaftans, giant, wide-legged trousers and full circle skirts in bright, block-coloured cottons played off against a monochromatic repeat print, all of which was light, crisp and entirely uplifting.