Designer knitwear that won't keep you warm

KNITWEAR designer Lainey Keogh showed her third collection at London Fashion Week yesterday. It was an opulent affair that owed as much to her Irish roots as it did to flights of fantasy in Tibet, India, ancient Egypt and Rome, and Morocco.

Keogh's creations are hardly recognisable as traditional knitwear; there are no jumpers, woolly hats and scarves; instead Keogh takes the most unusual yarns and transforms them into haute couture.

Filigree gold ropes, strips of linen, cashmere, steel and even hair were knitted, crocheted and woven into opulent belted robes in rich colours, and a back-lift, ostrich-feathered trimmed dress, together with other variations on dresses that resembled fishing nets.

The clothes were worn by some of the world's top models. Sophie Dahl also put in an appearance. Keogh's clothes are certainly beautiful, but limited in scope because of their price - pounds 315 for a simple jumper and up to pounds 5,000 for a crocheted dress. For this reason most of her fans are celebrities, including Demi Moore, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, and they are sure to love all the mossy soft cardigans extravagant shawls and gold linen "chainmail" dresses.

As for the rest of us, we'll have to save up for a ostrich-trimmed cardigan by the time autumn comes around.

Photograph: Ben Elwes