Alfa Romeo's two new catwalk queens - the Alfa 159 sedan and the Brera sportscar - took centre stage under the glittering bright lights over the weekend during the London Fashion Week 2006.

Both of Alfa Romeo's sporty new models were closely involved in the glamorous proceedings. A fleet of chauffeur-driven Alfa 159s whisked journalists from a fashion show held at the prestigious Bluebird Restaurant on the King's Road in Chelsea, in style to the unveiling of the Sinha - Stanic Autumn/Winter 2006 collection, which took place on the top story of the Brewer Street NCP multi-story car park, Soho, a very fashionable 'post industrial' setting which is used regularly by many major organisations for important launches. Meanwhile an example of the new Brera, which is scheduled to make its highly anticipated UK debut at the end of March, was positioned next to the fashion show's runway, immersing the stunning Giorgetto Giugiaro-styled coupé in the an event which has true lifestyle synergies with Alfa Romeo's latest potent product.

The Alfa 159 will be officially launched in the UK this coming weekend, and its participation during the hectic schedule of London Fashion Week 2006, gave residents of the capital city a great opportunity to see this exciting car on the public roads first hand. Twelve top fashion journalists were invited to use the Alfa 159 to ferry them in superb comfort and refined luxury between the shows. These included leading fashion journalists from The Observer and The Times national newspapers, as well as those representing an array of important style and fashion magazines: ES, Stella, Style, Grazia, Vogue Fashion and Elle Fashion. With the Brewer Street NCP car park closed for the day and with the fashion show taking place on the top story, the convoy of Alfa 159s were able to race up the car park's winding levels and deposit the guests right into the venue itself.

Sinha - Stanic  Autumn/Winter 2006 - Sharper. Harder. Leaner. Tougher.

Autumn/winter 2006 sees a stylistic departure for design partners Fiona Sinha and Aleksandar Stanic  - gone are the softly draped jerseys of Spring/Summer 2006, only to be replaced a tougher, leaner silhouette that reflects the couple's ongoing fascination for creating clothes with a modern sensibility that simultaneously challenges the wearer without resorting to unnecessary design gimmicks or visual trickery.
 

Key to this new approach is abbreviated dimension: short jackets and shorter skirts worn with vertiginous heels elongate the overall silhouette, by shortening the body, heightening the waist and redirecting the focus on to the leg. Yet this is no attempt at Eighties redux: instead it speaks of power dressing in a contemporary way, by focussing on dynamism rather than dominance, without recourse to the shoulder pads and ostentatious decoration so popular two decades ago.

And yet, there is still an undercurrent of discreet glamour within the range; luxury fabrics including metallic boucle tweeds, camel hair and silk georgette denote the inherent quality of the collection, while many pieces retain raw edges to prevent the overall effect from becoming too bourgeois or overtly polished. Colour too is restrained: over 60 per cent of the collection is black, either in the guise of high twist wool suiting, razored sheepskin or silk jersey, combined with shades of winter white and caramel, or highlights in gold and cyan purple.

As ever, decoration is minimal and never gratuitous. Oxidised glass and metallic thread embroideries, created to emulate crystalline structures, are strategically placed on the body to suggest the wearer's musculature. Similarly, specially created golden prisms of Swarovski crystal contour the silhouette in geometric panels. Acting as a counterpoint to the to the aggressive dynamism of the range, tailoring evokes an earlier couture tradition, as short jackets with bubble cut backs that give a strong nod to the Early Sixties, as do kimono sleeves and subtle draping on pockets and plackets.

Ultimately however, there is little or no room for nostalgia in this collection, and as such, it has been deliberately conceived to echo neither any specific historical period nor prevailing fashion pastiche. Rather, there is a mood to be conveyed: something raw yet polished, luxurious yet discreet, and confident - yet never aggressive.