Ruffles, stripes and buying now: five themes from London

Ruffles can be romantic and feminine, or over-the-top and girly, but there was no avoiding them at the London catwalk shows this week, from new labels to established big brands.

There were centuries-old shapes as designers drew inspiration from history, stripes were big -- and of course, the talk was all about selling straight off the catwalk.

Here are five key trends from London Fashion Week:

- Ruffles -

Cascading down a voluminous blue lace gown or lining a jacket over a tiered skirt, ruffles were everywhere in Turkish designer Bora Aksu's romantic, demi-couture clothes.

Hong Kong-born designer Ryan Lo served his up in a joyous collection of shimmering, candy-coloured dresses, while Ireland's Paul Costelloe deployed frilly sleeves.

Tailoring specialists Daks had elegant tiered dresses in white and house check print, while artisanal label Temperley London had an off-the-shoulder dress with a ruffled top.

- Stripes -

British designer Gareth Pugh's collection was inspired by the power of the sun, with stripes of shimmering solar rays -- first silver and white, then black and white -- adorning tunics, trousers and coats.

Italian fashion house Versace developed a new vertical stripe print for its Versus label, while British luxury brand Mulberry drew on school uniform stripes in burgundy, mustard and olive green.

British designer Jasper Conran also went vertical in green, gold, brown, blue and red, while knitwear label Pringle of Scotland added yellow and red stripes to the hems of blue tunics and trousers.

- Historical references -

British luxury brand Burberry took its inspiration from "Orlando", Virginia Woolf's novel about a man who turns into a woman and lives for centuries, with heavily patterned coats and collar ruffs.

Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson looked back to the Tudors for his own J.W. Anderson collection, with oversized sleeves and quilting reminiscent of doublets.

Meanwhile Mulberry creative director Johnny Coca took inspiration from the 18th century for his shoes, which had exaggerated square toes, a chunky heel and bow ties.

- His and hers -

London label Teatum Jones kicked off fashion week with a mix of men's and women's clothes, a trend followed by Daks, Burberry, Julien Macdonald, Joseph and Versace's Versus.

Macdonald is known for his red carpet dresses and presented a sexy collection in which the men sparkled almost as much as the women in shimmering animal prints and studded tops.

Many of Burberry's clothes could be worn by men or women. "I always say the trenchcoat is completely genderless, and we tried to look at that, how things could be interchangeable," creative director Christopher Bailey said.

- See now buy now -

As in New York, the buzz in London was all about designers selling their wares straight off the catwalk.

Burberry put all 83 looks from its September collection, comprising over 250 pieces, up for sale in store and online as soon as the show was over.

The move was followed by high street giant Topshop, which offered 60 percent of its UNIQUE collection to buy immediately.