Henry Conway on... WWW

There are lots of big scary words for the fashion civilian to fret over in sartorial language, but there is be one that sends the chills into even the most determined shopper – online. The concept of buying clothes over the Internet still seems strange to scores of us.  How do you know they will look good when on? Will they fit? Will their unfathomable sizing make me feel like I should be on Supersize vs Superskinny, and not at the good end of the spectrum?  We just can’t shake off the notion that this is catalogue shopping in another form – and everyone knows that catalogues are simply not socially acceptable before the age of 75.

Has online finally made it no longer naff?  With the monumental success of Net-a-Porter and ASOS, fashion is increasingly turning to the web to establish its voice and marketplace. Natalie Massenet, the glam founder of Net-a-Porter, proved what power the web can have, even with luxury goods. Her perfect smile got an estimated £50million more gleaming last year, when she sold her company to luxury giant Richemont, and this year has overseen the business move into menswear with Mr Porter (www.mrporter.com) launching back in February.  The site is slick, and just what I personally have been looking for online. The clothes are well edited, they have magazine-style interest stories (for inspiration whilst you browse), and lots of helpful tips on how to dress – though of course, you will be looking mainly to this column for those I hope, dear reader. This is the future of online retail – part fashion magazine, part boutique.

For girls, you are better serviced on the web with new online platforms for fashion springing up each season. Whilst Fashionair, the online magazine you could shop from and brainchild of the Beckham’s brand svengali Simon Fuller, sadly folded (or was put ‘on hold’) last year, others have picked up from where they left off.  Where Fashionair was fully commercial, in an MTV-does-fashion kind of style, its surviving competitors are a little more like those bi-annual hipster fashion bibles.  As glossy as any Richard Ward Middleton blow-dry, and as sleek as the banquettes at Cecconi’s, new ‘web-zine’ Imagine Fashion is a strong newcomer and relies heavily on fashion videos (www.imaginefashion.com). Rather than the usual eight-page fashion shoot, they present short fashion films directed by renowned fashion photographers.  You can click on icons that pop up on screen, and save or ‘shop’ the items featured, including make up (not many of them do that, a nice touch).  If only this happened when I watch Tom Ford’s film A Single Man, I would buy everything Colin Firth wears.

The net has such a growing hold on planet fashion that bloggers are nearly as important as print critics.  Dolce and Gabbana have long been ahead of this trend in embracing the power of the web, famously devoting coveted front row seats to top bloggers as far back as 2009.  Though some fashion houses are a bit sniffy about our online friends, Dolce and Gabbana went even further by holding a party just for them. I popped along to the London store to see what the young turks would get up to, and I can report it was a riot of energy. Bip Ling, one of the newest of t’internet types was bedecked in balloons, Liberty London Girl added her sparkle, and a host of stars dropped in to get in on the action. Pixie Geldof was tres London in red lace, and Alexandra Burke looked delighted at designer Carrie Cassette Playa’s 90s crazy specs look. I tried to take one of Bip’s balloons, but was quickly distracted by some overly hot canapés that managed to overheat me so hideously (heat + me + silk = nachtmare) I had to go outside and take to twitter to cool off.

I was never so tempted to tweet twitpics every minute than at the Vanessa G fashion show.  The Banqueting House on Whitehall was the scene for, without a doubt, the most extraordinary fashion show I’ve seen in London.  The scale of the launch of this label was immense – the vast classical set was built in Bollywood and shipped to London, the models appeared from moving panels – like a 1950s hollywood epic. I sat next to Sophie Elis Bextor and husband, Sophie in a chic Vanessa G 60s style grey textured matt silk dress, with patterned tights and eye-popping yellow necklace, and Naomi Harris looked summery in a patterned white and floral silk shift. Emilia Fox brought us all back to the London look with a black leather dress and white collar-style necklace. It was the Spartacus of all fashion shows, and attending bloggers were in rapture.  The pictures went round the world in a flash - sketches on stone tablets just won’t cut it any more, we all must take to the WWW (the Wear Well Web).