LONDON: It's back to tradition in merry olde England as Fashion Week colours the London scene.

Flat caps, floral prints and riding jackets figured largely in Paul Smith's latest collection inspired by a single tweed jacket from the 1950s.

Rummaging through the Portobello Road second-hand clothes market in west London, Smith found the jacket which had a label inside showing it had been tailor-made for an upper-class woman in 1951.

"I based the entire collection on my imagination of that jacket," Smith told AFP before the show, set amid the old-school glamour of Claridges hotel.

Known for twisting classic styles, Smith's autumn/winter 2010 range at London Fashion Week runs from aristocratic and quite upper-class and very much about the countryside, to the naughty debutante.

"She often borrows her mum's or her granny's rather elegant clothes but mixes them in a way that's very young" is how Smith describes his collection and muse.

The result - pretty rose-print lilac dresses punked up with thick leather belts, a peach blouse tucked into turquoise see-through trousers, and a Barbour waterproof jacket over purple tights and orange boots.

Those in to the outdoors, relish a red riding coat with equestrian scenes on the inside lining, a bright yellow jacket with matching corset worn with tight black trousers, and traditional farmers' tweed flat caps to top off the look.

From the highlands up north, a fresh take on the kilt dominated Pringle of Scotland's catwalk show.

As the loss-making brand tried to shake off its golfing image and join the modern luxury market models slinked down the runway in kilted skirts mixing cashmere and leather, loose knit pleated dresses, alongside wide fisherman's trousers with huge pockets in deep velvet.

In a nod to the finely crafted knits that Pringle has made since 1815, the new line offered a modern take with chunky knitted dresses with extra weaving, sheepskin jacket and pleated tops in earthy tones.

Owned for the past decade by the Hong Kong-based Fang family, Pringle shook off its golf label with actress Tilda Swinton replacing golf pro Nick Faldo as the face of the brand.

"It's been a product that's been very much kept a secret for a long time. It was just a question of figuring out where we needed to go," she told AFP, adding: "We're really just waiting to happen" said Mary-Adair Macaire, Pringle's chief executive who was once Chanel's director of global marketing.

With creative director Clare Waight Keller on her team Macaire said she's confident for the future of the label that claims to have invented the twin-set and the trend for cashmere.

AFP/sf