LONDON Fashion Week opened last weekend with the rarest of things - a model who actually smiled on the catwalk, as if to welcome the return of the style limelight to the British capital.

The grin as Paul Costelloe's show opened Fashion Week set a positive tone for a catwalk display that featured upbeat, cheerful autumn-and-winter outfits. The usually stern and expressionless models seemed to be enjoying themselves and the comfortable-looking ensembles.

Each female model wore an identical short red wig and simple makeup to contrast a series of short poncho-style dresses and short skirts with matching jackets. The men didn't wear wigs - but they sported burgundy velvet jackets, orange trousers and other adventurous outfits.

The fashion crowd popped bottles of champagne Friday morning while Samantha Cameron, the prime minister's wife, and Harold Tillman, chairman of the British Fashion Council, got the festivities going with speeches that emphasized the central role fashion plays in Britain's economic life.

"Fashion is one of our most important industries, full stop," said Cameron, wearing an elegant black outfit. "It brings about 20 billion pounds (US$32 billion) a year to our country, and it sends a positive message about British creativity. This should be a great week for London and for UK fashion."

Cameron was debuting in her role as a Fashion Week ambassador. She attended several shows during the course of the five-day event amid a packed schedule that includes some of the labels we feature here.

Issa

Issa took center stage at London Fashion Week, showing why the exuberant Brazilian-born designer is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

The woman who enjoys the title of being one of Middleton's favorite designers is reaping serious benefits from Middleton's high-profile support, including her decision to wear a sophisticated dark blue Issa dress when she and Prince William announced their engagement last fall.

"It's been amazing," Daniella Issa Helayel, known as Issa, said last Saturday after her autumn and winter collection was unveiled in front of an overflow crowd of devotees.

"I design for myself and my friends, to flatter the figure, to celebrate women, and if people are happy, I'm happy," she said after the show.

Issa, slightly overwhelmed by the waves of reporters and TV crews, declined to discuss Middleton's sense of style or to address speculation that she may design Middleton's wedding gown or perhaps the evening attire the bride will wear to a gala Buckingham Palace reception hours after she is wed.

Some of the outfits in the show were clearly too revealing for Middleton in her new role as princess-to-be. But many of the signature jersey dresses with cinched waists and an elegant feminine silhouette may find their way into Middleton's closet, and those of Madonna and Scarlett Johansson, who have both worn Issa in the past.

Issa has an imaginative touch with colors - she said Brazil is reflected in her choices - and this collection was filled with slouchy pantsuits and wrap dress and accessories like elaborated shaped hats, dangly gold jewelry and long suede gloves. The models wore long, dramatically shaped hair extensions that billowed behind them as they strode the catwalk.

Vivienne Westwood

The nearly 70-year-old woman who decades ago was the high priestess of punk now talks about how much she admires the royal family - and feels they help uphold British values - but still brings an outlandish, colorful perspective to her designs.

Westwood, like other star designers at fashion week, refused to be drawn on the issue of who has gotten the plum assignment of designing Kate Middleton's wedding dress, which is regarded as top secret in the trade. But the one-time rebel made clear she is a big fan of Prince Charles because of his environmental activism and said the royal family provides some inspiration for her Red Label collection for autumn and winter.

She said longtime collaborator Murray Blewett came up with the theme for the show based on his trips to London's Portobello Road market, with its mixture of many cultures, including influences from the Caribbean and also from the hippie era.

Then there was the multicolored makeup, including some placed on models' shoulders and necks, that gave the show an unworldly aura.

Some of it was beautiful - turning models' faces into an Impressionists' palette - while some was off-putting, including a model whose makeup made it look as if her lip had been bloodied.

The clothes were beautifully crafted and fitted, and some models sported hairstyles that made it seem as if they were wearing crowns. The black-skinned models looked particularly striking, with their black hair tinted gold, and one wearing what looked to be heavy gold metallic makeup or a gold mask that set off her outfit.

"The idea is that the royal family seems to be seen in this Alice in Wonderland way," Westwood said about the collection.

Westwood, long one of Britain's most celebrated designers, has made waves in recent years by complaining about rampant consumerism and advising her legions of fans to stop buying so many clothes, a novel approach as her popular Red Label brand continues to move into new markets.

The one-time punk rebel whose clothes were designed to shock has become more mainstream in recent years, even working on projects based on historical dress designs from earlier eras, when women were corseted and laced up by highly structured clothes rather than set free by loose, flouncy designs.

The Westwood look is unpredictable, but the clothes are always well-crafted and enticing. She seems to decry capitalism and its excesses, but has built an enduring business.

Westwood's approach to life is unlike other fashion week designers. She would rather tell reporters about the Greek philosopher Aristotle than about hemline lengths.

She said retiring is a constant temptation - she would have more time to read that way, to really get things done - but she feels she has to provide impetus to her design team.

She also takes a dim view of the future, blaming the gripping financial crisis on environmental problems.

"Everything is breaking down," she said.

Paul Smith

Paul Smith stuck to his signature pinstriped suits and mannish dress coats in his new womenswear collection, dressing his models in skinny cropped pants, flat patent loafers, waistcoats and school ties.

The look was "Annie Hall" and Patti Smith-inspired, the silhouette was unapologetically androgynous, the attitude was nonchalant and urban. In fact, with those large black-framed glasses and disheveled hair, the models look much like the hipsters that roam the trendy areas of cities such as London and New York.

"This was a pure Paul Smith show," the designer said after the collection was showcased at the revamped Savoy Hotel. "I wanted this to be totally focused."

There was nary a skirt in sight, although coats and jodhpurs in juicy, warm tones of orange and magenta, as well as a couple of delicate see-through silk blouses in burgundy and violet, injected some traditional femininity.

Burberry

The models on the stage of Burberry were, of course, kept dry by a modern variation of the formidable Burberry raincoat, in this case reduced to a jacket-sized transparent piece with black detailing that allowed the models' outfits to show through.

Once again, Burberry design czar Christopher Bailey wowed a celebrity-laden crowd with his dresses, coats, flared pantsuits and other ensembles that played with the traditional Burberry style without seeking to replicate it in every outfit.

The company's military heritage was evident in the epaulettes, buckles and braiding on many of the coats and dresses, but the clothes were soft, feminine and witty.

The Burberry show has been a centerpiece of fashion week in recent seasons as Bailey has helped revitalize the brand after years of drift.

Bailey dipped into the Burberry archives for his inspiration for the Autumn Winter 2011 collection, inspired by images of swinging '60s icon Jean Shrimpton.

He married that vision of wide-eyed English chic with his musing on the weather. He played on the theme of coat dressing, combining different textures - fur with tweed or knits with leather trim.

"I loved the idea of playing with all these textures. I loved the idea of playing with cashmeres, with fur, with wools, with silks with jerseys," he said after the show. "For me it was about the combination of everything that made things feel new."

Coats came in mustard or black or red - some with voluminous sleeves. One take on the classic trench came in white wool knit - a combination that nodded to its popular design while adding a chunky "Let's warm the toes around the fire" feel.

"The great thing about Burberry is that Bailey can take the traditional Burberry aesthetic and evolve it into something that is new or a trend," said Katharine Zarella, who writes for Interview and Dossier magazines.

Bailey, 39, tried to set a mood he described as light and fun, starting with a visual display of a snowstorm - as if anyone in dark gray London needed extra help in imaging inclement weather - and then using a snow machine during the finale. The audience seemed intrigued as guests in the front row reached forward to try to see what the falling flakes were made of.