As our sleek black van pulled away from Roksanda's Monday morning London Fashion Week presentation, Olivia Kim did something I don't always see her do; she took out a notebook and pen started writing.

Metallics at Roksanda (first image) and Christopher Kane (this image); all images by Portia Hunt

I asked her what she was up to and she said she wanted to better track what she was seeing, in real time, this season. To help you better track what you've been seeing, we're looking at the Roksanda show alongside Christopher Kane, which we saw later that same day. Because as it turns out, those two otherwise unrelated SPACE brands provide good context for how spring '17 is shaping up.

What stood out most for Olivia from creative director Roksanda Illncic's collection were washed metallics and hammered silks -fine materials made both more special and more approachable with treatment and texture.

Those tones and surfaces resonated for Olivia not just because they literally dazzled on the Serbian-born Londoner's runway, but because they shimmered throughout NYFW, too-from Phelan to Marc Jacobs to DKNY and more.

Olivia and her team, Raul Becerra and Sarah Anderson, also noted Roksanda's use of saffrons and other golden, orange and yellow tones. It's not always a color family known for being easy to wear, but they say when you see those shades in surface-altered fabrications, "the depth of color changes and it becomes a whole new game."

Roksanda also showed pieces that connected to the sporting life -unexpected for her, but completely in line with one of the most widespread themes back in New York.

Christopher Kane, meanwhile, really gave us a NYFW flashback with his 3-D embellishments (especially notable at Altuzarra) arts-and-crafts details and hardware accents (see Phelan's grommets.) And, what do you know, his "Make-Do and Mend"-themed tenth anniversary collection included metallics, too.

Ruffles were beautifully pervasive in New York, too, and until Christopher showed his take on them, we hadn't really seen that thread pick back up here in London. The flag-like variation, running the length of this white dress (below), was cool and captivating.

But the Scottish Brit managed to be quite singular too. As far as our memories serve, we haven't seen anyone anywhere do plastic clogs on the runway. But, then again, those are really another twist on the multi-dimensional ornamentation wave, right?

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-Laura Cassidy