In London, an Emphasis on the Ordinary After the blitz of New York Fashion Week, London seems positively ordinary. I mean only that the show spaces are small, the guests aren't dressed in their back-to-school best, and the runway fashion gives a big payoff. Amanda Harlech, the former British editor who has worked for years with Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, came into the J.W. Anderson show on Saturday dressed in a layered pink tulle skirt over (I think) pants and a rough-looking leather jacket. She's a friend and a fan of Jonathan Anderson's. In fact, Mr. Anderson's collection emphasized the ordinary, or what his press notes called "avant-garde bland." Plain, classical columns were done in an accordion-creased material that looked like leather but could have been its fake cousin; he used both. The front of a plain shell and skirt might have a folded front panel or one covered with a grid of tiny folded fabric boxes - miniatures of restaurant takeaway boxes. Shoes were essentially house slippers. He had a trio of gorgeous skirts in Lifesaver orange, green and yellow sequins, arranged in a flat honeycomb pattern. The candy colors were effective, but the shapes - achieved by simple folding techniques - had swing when the models walked. The other pieces in this fascinating collection were dresses in white, black or pinkish beige with bias panels of sheer fabric filled in with strands of fringe. Obviously the collection owed a lot to the designs of Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake; the opening outfits, with just a bare patch of tulle covering the breasts, recalled a well-known Kawakubo show. But Mr. Anderson was in control of everything here, and he properly sounded a note of boredom with an over-designed world. At the same time, the clothes were compelling and wearable.