The mood backstage at on Sunday afternoon was on. As I entered through the crew door, models ready in their first looks were dancing and goofing on a white backdrop for a line-up of photographers. Girls like Binx, Bella Hadid and Sam Rollinson twirled through the dressers and makeup artists to kiss one another on each cheek and admire their pencil skirts, polka dots, open-weave knits and stripy, furry, bow-detailed heels. It felt like Saturday night.

"British style is eclectic; it's about personality and being an individual," Topshop creative director Kate Phelan told me as we watched the girls mug for the cameras.

"When I get inspired by fashion it's about seeing people wear fashion in their own way. "

And really, what's more fun than that? Okay-maybe a runway show. Between the front-of-house and the back-of-house, the Topshop Unique presentation was a good old-fashioned good time. Turns out that had something to do with Phelan's inspiration, too.

Phelan is a major industry fashion powerhouse who's earned her British racing stripes and then some. Even within the changing ways of fashion, she's positively rooted to the heritage of the UK. She's always after the pieces that define the quintessential English experience: midday tea, shopping on Savile Row, Wedgewood pottery.

"We take the very traditional elements and give them a modern spin," Phelan said about the collection. Translation: Spring is about tough textiles in classic shapes; soft, fluid menswear; draped accessories; cinched waists; and cool-girl florals.

It's about checking out how Bella, Binx and Sam were styled for the runway, and then rocking your inner Londoner with moves that are yours alone-whether that means adding high tops or swapping in a pair of frayed-edge jeans.

You do you-with the spirit of heritage, history and culture behind you because as Phelan says, originality is "a very British sensibility."

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-Laura Cassidy