"No idea, it was an amazing surprise," she told Reuters Television before the show.

The designer has been swamped with calls from international press all vying for an interview and trying to unlock the secrets of her relationship to Middleton but Helayel remained mostly tight-lipped, saying only "I'm very flattered at all the attention and I think one of the reasons you're here now is because of that. So it's all been very good, amazing, no complaints."

Helayel delved into her decade-long archive to show a collection full of celebration of colour and prints.

"It's ten years since I did my first print so we're going to have an Issa celebration. We're going to look at archives and get the best of all those years and transform them into something. So there's one print that has an explosion that has little symbols from every single collection I did into one. So it's recycled," she said.

Fluidity was a feature on the catwalk with long-sleeved evening gowns gathered at the waist, as well as printed sheer flirty dresses in sapphire red and cobalt blue.

Hats in pillbox shapes or Russian "babushka" added to the fun and upbeat tone of the collection.

Helayel said she was inspired by the power of the woman across time and fittingly included 1980s supermodel Yasmin Le Bon, whose husband Duran Duran frontman Simon Le Bon sat front row, and former Brazilian model Andrea Dellal at the finale.

London Fashion Week ends on February 23