Long ago, in a far-off land called the 1970s, the fashion spreads in magazines for young teens utilized to be drawn, not photographed. I loved those drawings, of tall, slender, elegant creatures, all with precisely the same faces, figures and hair, in absolutely fitting, perfectly draping clothes.

At the time, I thought extends were drawn because the women they depicted were too unfeasibly idealized to exist in real life. Last Saturday, the vastly rated stylist Katie Grand recreated those 70s drawings precisely, using real women, and real clothes, for London Fashion Week’s Topshop Unique catwalk show. I’d forgotten the drawings until I saw them brought to life, similar to weird magic, like amazing out of the Nutcracker.

Now I appreciate that the 70s presentation of teenage fashion was now a much cheaper and less labour-intensive way of doing things, back when fashion wasn’t fairly the huge British industry it is now.

In 1970, Grand could incredibly well have been drawing clothes manufactured in Britain. In 2010, she commands a massive budget and loads of staff, to show clothes manufactured abroad to an audience of writers and photographers employed to clarify them. Forty years of profound economic shift, all summarized on one catwalk.

Designer Paul Costelloe kicked off London Fashion Week on Friday by breaking with his old-school traditions, offering a brash, eye-catching show filled with little, flouncy dresses in soft colors.

Abstract checks and some diamond-shaped art deco styles finished the look.

Costelloe was the first to present his vision for the spring and summer 2011 collections as fashionistas descended on Somerset House next to the River Thames for London’s five-day, champagne-fueled extravaganza.

Costelloe typically opens fashion week with a rather sedate show emphasizing cut and quality, but he kicked it up Friday with a display described as “Tinkerbell-turned-party girl.”

The short dresses included metallic weaves and twills that indeed twinkled in the spotlights, a lot of featuring high waists and subtle pleats. A handful of floor-length dresses were topped by silvery metallic-style jackets by a space age look.