The whirlwind that was Spring 2013 New York Fashion Week has come and gone, and that can only mean one thing: London Fashion Week, here we come. Our first day was off to a roaring good start, with a jam-packed schedule that included a peek at Topshop's NewGen designers, the Todd Lynn show, a chat with Scott Schuman of The Sartorialist, the Antipodium show, and plenty of that famous London Fashion Week street style. Along the way, we also spotted some of our favorite fashion faces: The Kills's Alison Mosshart, Kate Lanphear, Derek Blasberg, and Leigh Lezark.

And what better end to a perfect, nonstop day than this: Issa's gorgeous Spring 2013 show, which we were lucky enough to snap from the front row. An inside look at all that and more, right here, in the first installment of our Spring 2013 London Fashion Week diary.

Rossella Jardini could have found subtler ways to announce the '70s inspiration behind her Spring 2013 collection for Moschino Cheap & Chic than by affixing a purple peace sign to the front of a maxi dress, but they wouldn't have been nearly as fun. In fact, this entire offering is fun: fun to look at and probably even more fun to wear. How could one possibly feel unhappy and uninspired wearing an orange neon suit with crystal-studded lapels, or a dip-dyed green-and-black shirtdress worn with a purse shaped like a pineapple? Pineapples showed up elsewhere as a print, in one case on one of the collection's many pairs of bell-bottoms. Mesh shirts and shiny coats in red and blue were equally irreverent — and so were a few sweet printed cocktail dresses shown with Moschino's answer to Saucony sneakers.

For Spring 2013, Daniella Helayel's Issa line is headed to paradise in the form of botanical prints, floral embroidery, and vibrant sunset hues. According to the show's notes, the designer was inspired by "the all-encompassing tropical leaves and plants" that one might see on an exotic beach holiday, and thus this season's batch of dresses came in breezy silhouettes so romantic they were just begging to be taken on a seaside stroll. But don't let the "Garden of Eden" theme scare you: Issa has made a name for itself by creating pieces that are feminine and pretty, yes, but also utterly wearable — and there's plenty of those options here. One mixed-print pants look in vibrant fuchsia, for example, would work just fine on any city street, while a series of embellished-hem fit-and-flare dresses in solid hues could easily go from day to night anywhere — and are sure to tempt Issa's biggest fan, Kate Middleton. And what about those knotted and draped jersey gowns in vivid hues that turned up midway through the show? Well, those are so sexy it's pretty easy to imagine them turning up on a red carpet sometime in the near future, too.

Henry Holland was clearly thinking about the '90s when he designed his Spring 2013 collection. The spirit of that decade was present in everything from his liberal use of tie-dye, small-scale florals, and checkered prints to the shapes sent down the runway. A slip dress in a brown-and-purple brocade featured a crossbody spaghetti strap that was a timely update of the '90s classic, while peplums on midriff tops and dresses pointed to the baby-doll dress. The season's requisite neon colors and sheer fabrics were there, too, brightening and lightening up the gentle hints of grunge spotted on oversize shirts and motorcycle jackets.