A galaxy of stars help Armani paint town (RED)

"Thank you for having me, Mr Armani!" shouted Beyoncé last night after her performance at a celebrity-studded event at Earl's Court, west London, staged by the Italian designer to show his spring/summer 2007 Emporio Armani collection, and to highlight his involvement with the Red charity.

By the standards of any fashion capital, this was not so much a catwalk show as a stadium gig. After all, what fashion show ­ let alone one held in London ­ is presented by Leonardo DiCaprio and Bono? Or lavishes a crowd of 1600 guests with dinner, champagne and the chance to eyeball 50 Cent at close range.

Armani is the most powerful man in fashion, and so it should be no surprise that he, and his charitable cause, are able to persuade Beyoncé, Razorlight, Bryan Ferry and Andrea Bocelli to provide the soundtrack to his catwalk show. There were plenty of clothes for the guests to look at though ­ many flown in from Italy.

Making a nod to the charitable intentions of the evening, there were splashes of red in his otherwise grey and black spring Emporio Armani collection, as was the case with the tomato-coloured patent belts worn with a black-and-white striped cocktail frock ­ keeping in tune with the 1980s trend hitting London catwalks earlier this week ­ or strawberry-red taffeta dresses. Was there any hint here that Armani was inspired by his British venue? Only in the Savile Row smartness of a three-piece charcoal grey suit worn by the male model who opened this show, or in the shrunken waistcoats, for women, that recalled Kate Moss's signature garment.

Armani used the same event, to be broadcast by Channel 4, not only to reprise his autumn/winter 2006 ready-to-wear and haute couture collections, but also to showcase a special collection of Red clothing, with the most politically-skewed garments a T-shirt proclaiming "Shop till it stops" ­ referring to the charity's stated intention to fight Aids in Africa.

London Fashion Week, which closes today, isn't used to such glittering events. Instead it has become known as the city where newly-hatched fashion talent can be spotted, and ex-Gucci designer Tom Ford was also in London casting a critical eye over collections by aspiring designers.

Ford was one of the judges at Fashion Fringe, the Pop Idol style design prize that was launched in 2004. On a circular catwalk constructed in the council chamber of the new City Hall in east London, four young designers competed to win £100,000 in business advice and manufacturing. In the end it was an unashamedly theatrical entry by Gavin Douglas ­ Eliza Doolittle frocks and swashbuckling jackets ­ that took the prize.

For better or worse, what talent-spotters in the capital still hope for is the opportunity to discover a designer with the ability to create some of the drama and aggression that made Alexander McQueen famous in the mid-1990s. On Monday, the focus of the fashion world will shift to Milan.