IT’S nice to stay in London this winter because everything is lit – from the London Eye to the Westminster Bridge and even the Buckingham Palace. And while Christmas is already in full swing with the coming of Boxer’s Day on December 26, there were already hundreds of events in London that had been unfolding. Take for instance the Chanel catwalk fashion show in London just recently. It was the very first ever Chanel fashion show in London and it was marred with certain roads leading to the event site closed but Londoners have nothing to worry about as this was the most relevant and awaited show in London all year long. Imagine, this was the very first Chanel show in London.

There were lots of celebrities in the front row such as Mission Impossible 2 babe Thandie Newton, female rocker Lilly Allen and the daughter of Monaco’s Princess Caroline, Charlotte Casiraghi. Audiences such as these normally convene in such places as Milan and Paris but London was transformed instantly into a fashion and social haven overnight. All the clothes posed had a British theme. Never mind the fear of the Londoners that thunderstorms would visit the area during the Christmas season, everybody outsmarted their fears and went to the fashion show. At least those who were invited I mean.

But for the unsung Londoners who were never invited, they are still proud though that their beloved city was chosen as the site for this year’s Chanel fashion show. Some of the apparel that were sported included those bordering on the minimal such as knee-length simple blouses and skirts as well as those daring ones like thick black tights. Other than that, there were also tweed jackets as well as simple pea coats patterned after what London high school girls are wearing. In other words, everything was down-to-earth and Chanel wanted their spring collection in London to look more casual and for the masses. It was actually tailor-made for the 30-40 demographic and a radical disembarkation from the usual hard-to-reach allure that Chanel has been known for throughout the world. Well, maybe that would be the theme for 2008 – minimalism.

In other updates about London, comedian Jerry Seinfeld who has been known on the tube at least in the United States for two decades during the 1990s and earlier this one is planning to have London as his next base. Wow, this is indeed a great development for fans of his show who are from England. Even though Jerry Seinfeld is American, he surely has lots of fans in the Isle of Man, in the Island of Great Britain and throughout Cardiff and the whole of Wales as well as Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland going north to Dublin and everywhere else in between. What Jerry Seinfeld is planning is actually to conduct a one-man comedy.

That is the spirit prevailing in London nowadays – the spirit of resilience. As Christmas for Christians come and Ed ul-Adha for Muslims is near, Londoners are getting more prepared every day to welcome the first day of 2008.