A Day in the life of a Fashion Week Virgin

Tuesday 24th February
Day Five of London Fashion Week

The day has come... it's my fifth and final day of London Fashion Week. It's an early start this morning, kicking off with the New Generation winners; Mark Fast and Mary Katrantzou showing at the British Fashion Council tent at 9am.

I arrive on time and join the ever-growing press queue. People waiting are muttering about how they think this show is going to be a good one as it's been eagerly anticipated. It's running late, but I suspect that's due to the difficulty of getting a sleepy-eyed fashion crowd to the front row at this early hour.

The show begins... First up it's Mark Fast. Showing a collection of sexy, body-con knitted dresses in shades of black, orange and dusky pink, his second sizzling collection is well-received by the audience.

After a ten-minute show the lights dim and I give the Mary Katrantzou press release a quick look. It has only one line which reads: "A woman who doesn't wear perfume has no future," Coco Chanel. The lights come up and British model Jourdan Dunn struts onto the catwalk in a beautiful silk shift dress printed with a stunning perfume bottle, which accentuates all the best bits of an hourglass shape. Simply gorgeous.

As I leave the tent, I wander past Erin O'Connor who is being photographed by a large number of photographers. I'm heading to the Science Museum for the Osman Yousefzada show. The Autumn/Winter 09 collection offers an icy pastel palette in shades of cream, white, pale blue and gold. Textures of wool , cashmere and jersey form the basis of the stuctured, simple collection but what I'm really interested in is those gold aviator-style sunglasses. They are wonderful!

After the show I drink the complimentary pomegranate Pre-tox drink which had awaited my arrival on my seat. Tasty, yet I havn't quite got my head around the idea of a Pretox just yet.

I hang around in the press lounge for the Ashley Isham show and Tess Daly waltzes past wearing a striking electric blue body-con bandage dress with a delightful red heart-shaped bag. Also here to see the show is Beverley Knight. Oh and there's Erin O'Connor again.

Ashley Isham Show: Beverley Knight, Tess Daly and Erin O'Connor in the front row.

I'm now heading over to Vauxhall Fashion Scout for the Avsh Alom Gur show. The tongue-in-cheek 'credit crunch' designs make me giggle and the show is enjoyable.

Next I'm off to meet a friend to head to the Mayfair for lunch, but not before I pop to the M.A.C studio in the tent for a makeover. They send me on my way with dark smokey eyes and a bag full of free products. It's a hard life.

My sixth and final show of the day is Bora Aksu at the Science Museum. I'm sitting in the second row having a sneek peek at my Bora Aksu goody bag which consists of nail varnish and eyeliner and the lights come up. The collection of floaty baby-doll dresses and punky leggings detailed with gold hoops is a great way to end my fashion week experience.

It's been exhausting but I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Roll on next season.