Every designer starts a collection from an idea or a concept. Either its past trends, a movie, a trend, a movement or a personality, every season we’re amused or pleasantly surprised by designer’s choice of inspiration.

Focusing only on London Fashion Week, we classified the most commonly met themes for this fall. Here’s what got designers up and running this season:

Clements Ribeiro and Emilio de la Morena choose the Victorian style

Suzzane Clements & Inacio Ribeiro and Emilio de la Morena turned to Victorian women, with elegant silhouettes. The predominant elements were the high collars, and the colors ranged from severe gray and black to red and blue. Noticeable are the cardigans from Clements Ribeiro and the transparent dresses of la Morena.

Saloni likes Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s Earth from above

Never imagined Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s Earth from above to inspire fashion, but Saloni’s rich in prints collection is the perfect proof for this. The main focus here is on prints, imitating patterns from aerial photography. However, I find it a bit overwhelming.

Maria Grachvogel gets inspired by Grimm Brothers

The dark and sober collection of Maria Grachvogel has been inspired by the tales of the Grimm Brothers. She focused on drapped silhouettes, fur, and prints that imitated ink. Like the simplicity of the outfits that imposes a sumptuous air.

Charles Anastase and Vivienne Westwood choose Alice in Wonderland

The “Alice in Wonderland” theme was greatly appreciated this year, due to Vivienne Westwood’s collection, which also explored the idea of britishness.

This was honestly one of the collections which despite its weirdness and somehow surreal element really caught my attention. The detail with the crown imitating the one of the evil queen from Alice in Wonderland is very effective.

Charles Anastase’s collection explored the aspect of dimensionality, the clothes looking as if Alice has shrank or grown too tall.

Hollywood’s Golden Age is inspiration for Unique

Dalmatian spots, fur, velvet dresses, sophisticated ladies,and mysterious models with a gangster look revived the Hollywood golden age in Unique’s collection.

Harry Potter charms Meadham Kirchhoff

Harry Potter inspiring fashion? It seems like Hogwarts was on the catwalk in Meadham Kirchhoff’s show.

If you run out of inspiration for Halloween, this collection is the perfect source of inspiration.

Classic Coco Chanel reinvented by Holly Fulton

Coco Chanel is still inspiring designers even nowadays. The art-nouveau oriented collection of Holly Fulton brought a fragment of one of the most influential personalities in fashion back to life. The glam and luxury of the clothes created an elegant collection with accents on fur, gowns and mini dresses.

60s never die – Mullbery and Burberry prove it

At the beginning of this fall’s fashion shows we had a hunch that autumn/winter 2011 will mean the Sixties revived. It seems like we were right.

Either it’s the Mad Men Effect, or a huge crush on this era, Burberry and Mullbery showed that the Sixties are always wearable with their street collection. Bags matched to coats, trenches, jacquard, belts, corduroy, tweed are the main elements describing these wonderful collections.

This season is Alice in Wonderland, the Sixties, Harry Potter and Victorian all over again.

What other sources of inspiration have you noticed this fall? Which approach on implementing ideas do you find most interesting?

My votes go to Vivienne Westwood and Burberry. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Photo courtesy to Giovanni Giannoni