the perfect opportunity to catch up on

The pre-show queue is the perfect opportunity to Louis Vuitton new 2012catch up on and share stories from last night’s extravagant Shopbop party, and once inside we spy Bill Nighy double air-kissing Anna Wintour on the front row. For the fashion assistants, there’s a selection of designers to check out at Vauxhall Fashion Scout, presentations and designer shows to attend as well as great street style looks to keep an eye out for, microtrends, and (hopefully) some celebrities to spot.

Each season, Topshop host various designers’ shows (including Michael van der Ham and Peter Pilotto) in their venue. It’s always a highlight on the schedule, for the catering if nothing else! So we headed there early: here's where we and the team will be spending lots of our time over the next few days.

One of the afternoon's highlights is the louis vuitton sobeVivienne Westwood Red Label show. Held within the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, we spotted one of Vivienne's old 1980s Blitz nightclub kids, Philip Salon, dressed in a snakes and ladders printed sheet. And nothing else. And then we quickly poped into Somerset House to take a look at the previosuly unseen Meadham Kirchhoff one-off piece for Disney. This denim jacket will also be shown in their catwalk collection tomorrow but here's a sneak peek...

 No-one really knows much about him, his name or what he does. But he attends every show every season, and always dresses like this...

We then fled across London to dance the night away at the Vivienne Westwood party in Mayfair. The cocktails were good but we couldn't hang around: we headed off to join the über-fashion crowd at the Philip Treacy party where we spotted Kristen McMenamy, Burberry model George Craig and, erm, Niall from One Direction.to celebrate his new lingerie collection for ASOS. Inside, erotic dancers showcased the designer's lingerie while in the DJ  chanel handbags outlet booth Pam Hogg played post-punk and Pixie Geldof put on some 90s R'n'B.