The other great news from the awards was that it was the best and strongest wave of women in Awards history. The irony and the pain of having men dominate in an industry fueled by women's desired, needs, dreams — and their money — is slowly being addressed and this can only spell good things for the future.
The big prize of the night — the Designer of the Year 2010 — was won by Phoebe Philo, creative director of Céline, the French ready-to-wear brand.
Model de jour, Lara Stone, wife of British comedian David Walliams, was named 'Model of the Year' and delivered the funniest line of the night when she said something along the lines of 'maybe they won't ask if I am Matt Lucas now'. My mate Alexa Chung, wearing Chanel, received the publicly voted for British Style award and a tearful Naomi Campbell (dressed in McQueen), received an award of special recognition to mark her 25 year-career.
My handbag favourite, Mulberry, whose creative director is another British designer, Emma Hill, took the Designer Brand title — away from Vicky Beckham, and Burberry received a well deserved award for Digital Innovation.
Other awards included the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator to Lady Gaga's stylist, Nicola Formichetti, a menswear win for Patrick Grant of E.Tautz, an accessories prize for cobbler to the stars Nicholas Kirkwood, the prize for Emerging Ready-to-Wear Talent went to Meadham Kirchhoff;and Emerging Accessories Talent to Husam El Odeh.
The Prime Minister's wife and former creative director of Smythson, Samantha Cameron, presented Alexander Lee McQueen with a posthumous award for Outstanding Achievement in Fashion Design, collected by his successor Sarah Burton and cheered on by a very emotional audience.