Celebrity cameos. Drinking backstage. Fight for the front row… LYNNE FRANKS on how she started London Fashion Week in a tent 40 years ago

Months of planning had led to this moment. Months in which designers, models, sponsors and style watchers were persuaded to lend their support – and money – to a previously unconsidered venture: showcasing the best of British fashion under one roof.

Or better said: one piece of canvas. As I watched the finishing touches being put on the giant tent that would host the first ever London Fashion Week, I felt a surge of pride and pure excitement.

I knew some were skeptical, but as I stood at the back of this amazing new space, I hoped that this would be the start of something incredible.

Now, 40 years later, my wish has come true. London Fashion Week is an institution that many take for granted. Yet at the time it felt like a dream to have one central catwalk location where young British designers could showcase their innovative collections and unleash the waves of creativity from the streets of London.

Buyers from New York's best stores have been coming to London for years to buy pieces from our more mature designers, such as the elegant Jean Muir, Bill Gibb and the brilliant Zandra Rhodes.

There were high end groups exhibiting at various hotels in Park Lane, doing collective catwalk shows during the day and a few standalone salon events with gold chairs.

Yet nothing had the charm of Paris or Milan, then the two fashion capitals of the world, both of which had been hosting shows for decades.

Yes, we have organized one-off events for individual designers; Wendy Dagworthy, a former customer, reminded me how we had chosen the Playboy Club in Park Lane as a special venue for her first show in 1979, where the bunnies served breakfast. A real one-off!

But I wanted to showcase so much more of the design talent that London was buzzing with.

I felt that if Paris could attract the international media with their new catwalk tent outside the Louvre, so could we.

Together with fashion show producer Mikel Rosen I walked through the streets looking for the right location for a tent. Ultimately we decided that the large green lawn in front of the Commonwealth Institute in Holland Park (now the Design Museum) would be a great location, with some extra space inside for the smaller shows. But where would we find the money?

The newly formed British Fashion Council, made up of the great and good men in suits who run the industry, was still in its infancy and so did not have a budget to speak of.

Instead, I convinced my client Mohan Murjani, the Hong Kong jeans magnate behind Tommy Hilfiger and Gloria Vanderbilt, to give me £20,000 for what became known as the Murjani Tent during London Fashion Week.

The young designers, now icons, who chose to show at that exciting first Fashion Week included Wendy, Jasper Conran, Sheridan Barnett, Betty Jackson, Katharine Hamnett and BodyMap.

There were about 25 shows planned, and the only problem came when every designer jostled for the same prime locations. Eventually they calmed down and agreed to work together, realizing that just participating was a thrill.

When the big day finally arrived, the international fashion media were fighting for seats. We knew we had succeeded when I had to weed out pushy Italian buyers from the front row seats reserved for important figures like the elegant Grace Coddington of Vogue and Anna Harvey, Princess Diana's favorite stylist.

Backstage was hectic, with models arriving late from one show to another and having to be transformed within minutes. I felt like everyone's mother, cackling and putting on a new outfit for each of my clients' shows.

My team and I had to make sure the previous designers packed up quickly to let the next one in on time, and that was always a challenge because the champagne was opened as soon as each show ended. But we didn't really party until the end of that first week, because everyone was way too tired. I remember falling asleep at the table in Langan's Brasserie after a few glasses of wine.

After our first few successful catwalk seasons, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher agreed to host regular cocktail parties for the overseas buyers and press at Number 10. I remember her husband Denis once got into a heated argument with designer Jeff Banks. It must have been about politics!

The iconic photo of Katharine Hamnett surprising Mrs Thatcher in her protest T-shirt reading '58% Don't Want Pershing' (a reference to basing US missiles in Britain) became one of the most widely used news photos of the decade.

Princess Diana also led the way; after all, she was the foremost ambassador of British fashion, usually wearing the latest looks from her favorite designers Catherine Walker, Bruce Oldfield and my beloved friend Jasper Conran.

She even threw her own Fashion Week party at Lancaster House in March 1985. We were quite intimidated as we queued up to shake hands with her and, to our surprise, the hand of young Prince William, who looked as if he had just woken up. and brought downstairs to say hello to our unruly bunch of fashionistas.

Unfortunately, after a few seasons the lawn of the Commonwealth Institute began to collapse, so we moved to the grounds of the Duke of York Barracks on Sloane Square, now home to the Saatchi Gallery, which had space for two huge tents, a cafe and indoor rooms for smaller shows.

By now the paparazzi were fighting to photograph the front row, which had become the place where new young celebrities could be seen. We were all thrilled when we heard that Madonna would be appearing for the Joseph Show in 1986. She was almost an hour late, throwing the entire Fashion Week schedule out of sync, but there was no way we could start without her.

Katharine Hamnett's 1986 show was pure entertainment, with singer Sarah Jane Morris performing her hit with the Communards, Don't Leave Me This Way, alongside model Marie Helvin, Buddhist monks and African drummers. Roxy Music wore Wendy Dagworthy's menswear collection and Jerry Hall always modeled for her good friend Antony Price. Boy George was a regular customer at BodyMap.

Yasmin Le Bon and her friend Gayle Elliott were everyone's favorite models and the pretty American girls of the time, Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn and Billie Blair, stopped by to appear on the catwalk, but also to party on their way to Paris.

London Fashion Week was exciting, thriving and loud. The tents in King's Road were about to explode with all the excitement.

Unfortunately, the magic was doomed not to last long. In October 1986, after five seasons and almost a hundred shows, industry policy meant that the catwalk tents were forced to move to the Olympia car park, where the sales exhibition for the rest of the fashion world took place.

Despite Vivienne Westwood and Zandra Rhodes already holding their shows at Olympia's beautiful Pillar Hall, availability was limited and many designers were upset about the move.

As time went on, some of our biggest names, including Vivienne and Katharine, started showing in Paris; Ghost went to New York; John Rocha to Milan. But new names emerged such as Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney.

Now brands from Alexander McQueen to Burberry and homegrown modeling talent like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss are proving what I knew: that there's nothing quite like British fashion.

Compared to the behemoth that London Fashion Week has become, the marquee shows of the 1980s may seem small. But what a glorious time we had in those first early, but unforgettable years.