As New York Fashion Week is closing and the London fashionistas are eagerly awaiting their five minutes of fame on the fashion stage, there has never been a better time to take an interest in the direction our fashion industry is taking.

The publicity created by Mary Portas reminded both consumers and indeed fashion industry buyers that products are still made in the UK despite the severe reduction in the manufacturing sector in the past three decades.

For the last few seasons, designers have dipped and dabbed in their primary coloured paint pots and mixed around with hues and shades until their collections became bright, bubbling specimens of vibrant colour. But now, the Crayola boxes have been stacked away, paint palettes washed and prepped for a new age; the age of the return of monochrome.