LONDON, Feb 22, 2003/ FWD/ --- The first show to attract the full quota of attendees at London Fashion Week was Moto Fashion East, an "un-official" calendar event, yet one with all the London pre-requisites. Now in its third year, Moto Fashion East is a sponsored program to launch new talent. Three designers with fledgling businesses are chosen by industry insiders each season, and their show is paid for by sponsors, including The Old Truman Brewery and Motorola. Their clothes are also produced as part of the deal.

Roksanda Ilincic, a beautiful 29-year-old ex-model from Belgrade with an MA from St. Martins, was first up with a collection of extremely chic eveningwear inspired by Russian dolls and the sculptural work of artist Niki de Saint Phalle. Body-hugging wool crepe dresses in classic cuts with eccentric details ­ voluminous sleeves and heart cut-outs ­ were rendered in eye-popping shades of Kelly green, cerise, black, mustard and deep purple. Often these colors appeared on one dress in artistic splashes of color and print to shape the body. Inspired by YSL, Zandra Rhodes and the decorative, folkloric crafts of Serbia, the collection was small yet beautiful.

Tatty Devine is made up of Rosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine, a pair of 25-year-old London-based accessory and fashion designers. The pair run an art gallery-cum-shop in London's trendy Hoxton and are the designers behind Chicks on Speed merchandise. They are best known for their brilliantly quirky accessories, and designed a collection of 16 themed mini-shift dresses to showcase their accessories. To give you an idea, the "music" dress was white wool, appliquéd with two black staves, and hung with a musical note necklace and musical note belt. The "debutante" dress was a sparkly pale pink mini-dress with a huge trompe l'oeil pearl necklace worked in; accessories were 2-D pearl strands worn at wrist and neck. A "Toadstool"-inspired dress had matching toadstool knitted ear-muffs, and so on. Very cute. The dresses take a day to make by hand, but the accessories are what will fly.

Finally, Jonathan Saunders, a 25-year-old Glasgow-born Fashion Print MA graduate from St. Martins, took the audience on a high camp journey with his fanciful collection of glamorous colorful clothes designed specifically to show off his highly original prints. Inspired, he says, by Art Deco, animation, Transformer toys and the Moomins, these prints are stunning. Some of the clothes were stunning too, especially a kimono, a voluminous chiffon-waisted robe worn over leggings and a polo neck; deep-V tunics worn with opaque tights were very Edie Sedgwick or Twiggy.

Ed Burstell, general manager of Henri Bendel, sat front row watching keenly. "Twenty percent of our seasonal buy comes from London. It is one of the few places where we find true entrepreneurial spirit, and shows like this are very important to us," he said, before he took note of the address for Tatty Devine¹s Hoxton store, and hurriedly told an assistant to add a visit to his itinerary.