LONDON (AFP) – Irish clothes designer Paul Costelloe opened London Fashion Week with a collection of pastel creations inspired by the Hollywood movie “Far From Paradise.”

He said his new lines were based on the film starring Julianne Moore because of its 1950s feminity and pretty colours.

Some 50 designers, from Katherine Hamnett and Paul Smith to a posse of up-and-coming talent, are sending out their new pret-a-porter collections at the London event.

Over five days, top names like Pringle, Nicole Fahri, Jasper Conran and Betty Jackson will be showing alongside smaller houses including Ghost, John Rocha, Gibo, Sophia Kokosalaki, Preen and Eley Kashimoto.

Husband-and-wife team Suzanne Clements and Inacio Ribeiro, who did much to revive the Paris fashion house Cacharel, will present their own collection under the name Clements Ribeiro.

London has a reputation for turning out highly creative designers, and fashion week — which is set to pull in 4,000 buyers and journalists — is meant to provide a platform for fresh talent.

No-shows include Burberry, which is taking its trendy tartan-trademark trenchcoat variations to Milan, and French expat Roland Mouret, who lives in London but opted to show his spring-summer collection in New York.