The bar is always set higher than usual for any awards to do with the fashion industry. We may be able to forgive a TV starlet turning up to the BAFTAS in badly concocted chiffon, but we want to see fashion’s brightest luminaries in top sartorial form – after all, if they’re designing the clothes, then they should be able to dress themselves, no?

Luckily then, Britain’s both rising and legendary fashion talent turned up in good form for the British Fashion Awards, held at the prodigious Royal Courts of Justice (we’ll leave the jokes about committing fashion crimes, thank you). Admittedly the clothes were mostly moodily black and sultry (where’s the festive spirit?) but there were a few fabulous gems to complement the assortment of awards on offer. The red carpet battle of the night was predicted to be between Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss, but both made rather unsurprising choices – Victoria in a dress from her own collection that was striking but seemed to give a touch of the déjà vu: if we remember correctly she wore something very similar a few months back. Kate did her usual scraped back hair, smoky eyes and ‘jacket chucked over couture’ look, but we’ve seen it all before. Personal favourites from the night were the stunning young models Daisy Lowe and Amber Le Bon, and the ethereal Erin O’Connor, looking beautiful and gothic in a one-shoulder floor length Kate Halfpenny gown.

But back to the awards (easy to get side-tracked with a red carpet full of fashion lovelies in next season’s dresses to pore over) and it was Christopher Bailey who was the true winner of the night, and perhaps the season, winning Designer of the Year, with Burberry collecting the award for Designer Brand of the Year. After a triumphant return to the British catwalks in September, and a brand turnaround over the past ten years that has left the former chav-chic Burberry plaid overload firmly in its wake, Bailey and the brand are one of the biggest fashion pairings of the decade.

Christopher Kane scooped the much-deserved Collection of the Year award: next year we hope he can step into Bailey’s shoes by winning Designer of the Year for himself. The new band of hot, young British designers were also kicking up a fashion storm. Winners of the recently announced NEWGEN sponsorships Holly Fulton and Peter Pilotto were both winners tonight – Fulton winning the Swarovski Award for Emerging Talent in Accessories and Pilotto winning the same for his Ready-to-Wear. He had A-list fashion support on the night in the form of Claudia Schiffer, who was wearing a red dress from his collection.

Other winners included John Galliano, for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design, and Georgia Jagger, who saw off competition from Daisy Lowe and Rosy Huntingdon-Whitely to win Model of Year. American Vogue icon Grace Coddington was also in town, to pick up the Isabella Blow award for Fashion Creator.

The evening went ahead with surprisingly few sidetracks, aside fom Vivienne Westwood’s climate change statements. But then where would we be without Viv’s politics at an awards event? There was a slight ripple of shock when beautiful Karen Elson, in a sweeping Alexander McQueen dress, literally fell off the stage into the orchestra pit. A fashion trooper if ever there was, she got straight back up from her prone position on the floor to present Grace Coddington with her award, and soldiered on with the evening until reportedly making a trip to A&E for a dislocated thumb. Ouch!

Finally, drum-roll please….the most exciting news of the night came courtesy of fashion It boy Christopher Bailey, who announced that Burberry would be showing in London again in February – and we’ll be there to report the best of British right back to you! Ahh, London fashion, how do we love thee? Let us count the ways….