Resort 17: Gucci and Dior's love letter to London

It's Cruise/Resort week in London. Christopher Kane and Erdem have both shown their S/S 17 collections but it's the major labels from abroad that have been receiving the most fanfare for showing their collections in the UK as well.

On Tuesday, Dior put on a show at Blenhiem Palace in Oxfordshire for the first time since 1958. The house of Dior has had a long-standing relationship with the English dating back to previous shows at Blenhiem Palace that drew crowds including Princess Margaret. This week's additional hype for the show included the opening of the redesigned Bond Street flagship by the architect Peter Marino, the Audley Pub in Mayfair was fully converted to "The Lady Dior Pub" for the opening night party and transport to the show was provided by The Dior Express trains you've likely seen flooding your Instagram.

The “Anglophile meets fashion” fever continued today with Gucci showing its Cruise 17 collection at Westminster Abbey in the Cloisters. This unprecedented staging was the brainchild of the creative director, Alessandro Michele. Last month, while in conversation with editor Alexandra Shulman at the Vogue 100 Festival, Michele stated that he was surprised the request was approved but chose the location because "if I can dream, I want to dream".

The union jack bomber and embroidered kilt

As Kering, the parent company that owns Gucci, once had its headquarters in London during the Tom Ford days, Michele was too formerly based here. He moved to Rome to take over his new role. Today's show could be imagined as a welcome back of sorts.

Given Michele's track record (this was the man who put the world - men included - in embroidered silk bombers this summer among other items no one dreamt they'd leave the house in let alone find highly desirable), this show was never going to be subtle. It didn't disappoint. It was a riot of colour, print, embellishment and featured some cute nods to the very British location of the show, such as the union jacks on Gucci's signature loafers and, yes, on a bomber jacket.

GG belts cinched waists

With Gucci shows under Michele, it's important not to be overwhelmed by the eccentric styling and, in some respects, the clothes themselves as the accessories and finer details are knockout (and it's the accessories that make Gucci the biggest profit). Embellished GG and "bee" belts cinched waists, loafers came reimagined with multiple ankle straps, cute sandals and pointy flats were realised in bright, shiny emerald green and the embroidered bamboo-handled structured bags were a luxe update on a classic, as were the embellished cross-body bags with sporty-striped straps.

The bomber jacket remains key

However the clothes will sell and will influence a raft of high-street copies. Embellished kilts (indeed tartan in all its guises) look like a commercial winner, as do the patterned footless tights and, yes, the bomber jacket lives on to see another season (and, as the Westminster congregation might say, Amen to that).

Additional show reporting by Lauretta Roberts

Embroidery and sporty straps update classic bags