Autumn’s shapes come in with a swing

“Red is the strongest colour, followed by black and navy,” said Shelly Corkery, Brown Thomas’s fashion director, at the store’s preview last night of its autumn/winter collections. Green, she added, was hard to sell.

Longer lengths, fuller skirts and the dome-shouldered coat emphasised the more rounded silhouette coming into fashion, along with references to the 1940s. New labels include The Row from the Olsen twins in the US and Sacai from a designer who cut her teeth making patterns for Comme des Garçons, both with hefty price tags.

The glamorous catwalk show held in the Designer Rooms in a bright studio setting highlighted the contrast between the current vogue for abstracted punk motifs and more grown-up, ladylike attire suggested by fuller skirts and nipped-in waists.

It opened with all-black outfits –tailored pants suits, cape coats – from Yves St Laurent, accessorised with biker boots, and closed with a colourful line-up from Dior, modern takes on the New Look skirts and the famous “Bar” jackets of the 1940s. Knitwear was chunky but light.

As always there were the standout and expensive pieces: the sweet butterfly dresses from Lanvin, the Azzedine Alaia cling and swing black dresses, the sweeping Alexander McQueen coats and the embellished jackets from Dries Van Noten. Victoria Beckham's figured dresses remain customer favourites.