IF we gave out cups at the end of Fashion Week, Alice McCall would have a hat trick: best newcomer, prettiest collection and easily the most popular girl in the class. The buzz before her show in The Collection this afternoon grew louder and louder as more and more fashion folk passed her stand in the exhibition tent. "Have you seen that red coat?" was the most asked question of the day - and suddenly there we were and there it was. If the popularity stakes need proving, how does Cat Deeley, Davina McCall (no relation), Jools Oliver and all fashion's most recognisable writers, wearers and shakers, sound? Plus, McCall's biog bandies around names like Rankin, Natalie Umbruglia and Sass & Bide, so she's not one to ignore. Nor are the clothes: the aforementioned coat, empire-lined with a sweet bow at the front, was simply delicious. Lime chiffon vests scattered with a few strategic Swarovskis and tucked into a wide cashmere belt (bow dead centre of course), over a matching wool stretch mini with a frilled chiffon hem were part-Minnie Mouse sweet, part-French waitress naughty. The prints - black dashes on white or white on black - made for hotpants and hoodies that just made you die to be part of the in-crowd, while regal chiffon robes in orange, yellow and black rippled like sun through a stained-glass window and another enlarged poppy print indulged the hippy in us all. (February 16 2006, PM)
