Day Three of London Fashion Week saw a new strategy for leather pants: instead of the skintight Jim Morrison look, both Mulberry and Top Shop showcased wide-legged, baggy leather pants.

Others turned to velvet for a showy, festive look.

Much of the attention focused on Westwood, once England’s high priestess of punk, now a heritage brand unto herself, a designer whose vast experience and detailed archives can be mined whenever it’s time to whip up another collection.

This time it was her Red Label look, which often depends on being able to put a fresh twist of the designs of recent decades. This time she presented a show that was playful and picturesque

The mood was quite different at the luxury band Mulberry show. Taking inspiration from the monsters in Maurice Sendak’s children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, Mulberry sent models swathed in oversized, shaggy fur coats and gilets down the catwalk Sunday for its whimsical show.

Paul Smith’s show was more sober-minded. Long one of Britain’s most commercially successful designers, he stuck to his favourite slim, androgynous silhouette for his autumn and winter collection Sunday.

At Unique by Topshop, the new collection was all about utility dressing gone glam: Leather dungarees, velvet boiler suits, and full-length military coats.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD

Quirky orange-haired designer Vivienne Westwood returned to the catwalk Sunday, taking her customary turn on centre stage at London Fashion Week.

A hardy veteran of the punk scene who has seen dozens of trends come and go in her storied career, Westwood drew on classic British tailoring and traditions for the show of her Red Label collection, which traditionally looks to her own archives for inspiration and ideas.

It was a playful and picturesque show. Westwood called it a British collection, citing Savile Row tailors and the shirtmakers of Jermyn Street, but – being Westwood – the show also drew some of its buzz from the body paint and temporary tattoos put on the models in the frantic few hours before the show.

Most had something written, or some symbols, on their necks, chest or arms, adding flair and some mystery.

The designer called it African body painting but did not explain why it was mixed in with outfits that featured traditional long Edwardian jackets trimmed with velvet and shapely coats made of checked wool.

The skirt and top ensembles had an intentional mix and match look, seeking harmony where others might find clashing patterns, but the beautiful belted dresses carried the day with simple lines and elegant silhouettes. One of the most striking was a purple dress set off by dark blue dangling earrings.

“I thought this collection was absolutely great,” said semi-retired model Jo Wood, who made a star turn as a Westwood model three years ago. “Fab trousers, lovely little pleated skirts, really cool.”

Would the collection, or the chance to be among the first to sample Westwood’s next effort, lure her back to the pressures of a catwalk show?

“Without a doubt,” said Wood.

Westwood seemed triumphant as she walked onstage with her models at the conclusion of the show.

The designer usually uses her London shows to trumpet a political cause, and Sunday’s show was no exception. She said the show was in support of an environmental group trying to raise awareness about climate refugees forced from their homes by the changes wrought by global warming.

She offered showgoers a chance to buy custom-made tee shirts made from a low carbon supply chain with an anti-climate change message emblazoned on the front for just 20 pounds ($32), but it is likely most buyers had their eyes on one of much pricier sexy, slouchy dresses instead.

MULBERRY

They’re big, dark and furry, but these fashion monsters are more stylish than scary.

Taking inspiration from the monsters in Maurice Sendak’s children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, British luxury brand Mulberry sent models swathed in oversized, shaggy fur coats and gilets down the catwalk Sunday for its whimsical show at London Fashion Week.

Creative director Emma Hill said she was inspired both by Sendak’s beloved book and by Spike Jonze’s movie adaptation – and the playful tone was set with a few roars on the soundtrack as the show began. Some of the cartoon owlish creatures even found their way onto a model’s printed sweater, and at one point the catwalk was invaded by a particularly shaggy dog, dressed in a tiger-striped canine-sized sweater.

“The rustic colours, furry textures and dark woody atmosphere (of the movie) felt like a natural fit for Mulberry, but with a enchanted and childlike twist,” Hill told the Associated Press in an email.

Overall, however, Hill kept things sophisticated and wearable.

That included thin leather belts cinched in loose outerwear, made in black rabbit fur or brown sheepskin and adorned with exaggerated fur trimmings at the shoulders. And beneath the thick layers of fur, wool and fleece, the silhouette was kept romantic and delicate: Ethereal silk and lace nightie dresses and pencil skirts clung to the body, emphasizing feminine movement.

One of the standout dresses featured the sheerest tie-dyed silk in ink blue and dark red, so that the colours looked almost as if they were tattooed onto the skin.

While the autumn/winter collection was mostly made up of a palette of blacks and earthy shades of brown, Hill provided plenty of textural and colour contrast in the beading, Aztec-inspired zigzag prints, and pops of fluorescent orange in a couple of dresses and on the wedge shoe-boots.

Mulberry is best-known for its sought-after leather handbags, and the accessories – finished in a huge range of material from tweed to ostrich to sparkly snake print – were certainly as much of a star as the clothes on the catwalk Sunday.

The brand launched Sunday a new bag design that it named after hit singing sensation Lana Del Rey, who attended Sunday’s show at London’s historic Claridges Hotel.

Other celebrities seen on the front row included singer U.K. rapper Tinie Tempah and New York socialite Olivia Palermo.

PAUL SMITH

Trends may come and go but there is one constant at London Fashion Week: carefully tailored clothing at Paul Smith’s womenswear runway show.

The designer, one of Britain’s most commercially successful and best known for his men’s suits, stuck to his favourite slim, androgynous silhouette for his autumn and winter collection Sunday.

Like in his previous collections, models wore fitted blazers, skinny trousers, narrowly cut, high-necked sweaters, and had mannish, boyfriend coats draped nonchalantly over their shoulders.

Colours were muted, with greys, mustard, jade and burgundy dominating. There was a lot of velvet and tweed, and the designer also played with contrasting fabrics, including pairing a smoking jacket with brocade trousers.

There’s subtle sex appeal in the modest clothing, Smith said.

“I don’t think you need to see skin necessarily to respect the female form,” he told reporters backstage after the show.

The most feminine look of the collection featured a sheer top that’s made of a see-through, shimmery black material, with a man’s white dress shirt collar. Worn under an evening suit, the effect was elegant but daring.

Smith said that his new collection was “lean” in more than one way – they were versatile clothes appropriate for economically austere times.

“The times are difficult, so most of that (seen on the catwalk) you can add to an existing collection,” he said.

UNIQUE BY TOPSHOP

Leather dungarees, velvet boiler suits, full-length military coats: Unique by Topshop’s new collection is all about utility dressing gone glamorous.

Unique, the design-led offshoot of Britain’s popular high street store Topshop, gave London Fashion Week a good dose of tough, urban cool with its new autumn and winter collection.

A model sporting a floor-length military green coat over a black bralet and black trousers, felt baseball cap and spike-heeled, lace-up army boots opened the show. The message was clear: Don’t mess with this girl.

More military green and a great deal of black leather followed, in the form of jumpsuits, pleated, low-slung skirts, kilts, and shiny knee-high boots.

Oversized sweaters, many with a cross motif, were paired with barely-there shorts, and there was a covetable collection of overcoats with biker flap, gunmetal buttons and zip detailing.

But while the overall aesthetic was clearly street-smart, there was elegant, classic styling here too – a black velvet set of dungarees, for example, was paired with a billowing white silk blouse, an outfit that cleverly turned workman’s apparel into evening wear.

The show drew American Vogue‘s Anna Wintour and television presenter Alexa Chung to its front row.