With a public jewellery showcase and a Pandora collaboration on the programme, London’s latest fashion week offers plenty of reasons to pay attention to the smaller details.

London Fashion Week opens on 17 September, and the clothes have competition. Running until 21 September, the event includes a Patrick McDowell collaboration with Pandora and a British Fashion Council jewellery showcase at Dover Street Market. There will be plenty to look at beyond the hemlines.

According to the British Fashion Council’s opening announcement, McDowell’s partnership will incorporate jewellery into garment designs and styling. That gives accessories a role in shaping the look from the outset. The earrings, necklace or ring needn’t be the thing you remember just before leaving the house.

For those following from a considerably less glamorous location than the front row, this is also the useful part. A dramatic runway silhouette might require a special occasion, a generous budget and exceptionally cooperative weather. Jewellery can bring a little of that visual energy to clothes already hanging in the wardrobe.

Colour offers a particularly interesting starting point. Beyond the shows, Lily Arkwright’s fancy-coloured lab diamond engagement rings include pink, yellow, blue and green options, bringing a different palette to a familiar piece of jewellery. It’s an appealing proposition for anyone whose everyday style has rather more personality than their bridal mood board suggests.

Your ideal engagement ring, after all, has to get along with much more than a wedding outfit. There are work shirts, battered denim, favourite jumpers and that jacket which somehow makes everything look better. Choosing a colour you enjoy wearing makes sense long before anyone mentions a trend.

London’s programme gives jewellery lovers something tangible to explore, too. The BFC Jewellery Showcase at Dover Street Market brings together pieces from BFC Foundation designers and BFC Designer Members, with public access advertised daily from 11am to 7pm. No elaborate strategy for acquiring a front-row invitation required.

The showcase is an opportunity to look closely at the decisions that can disappear in a fast-moving runway photograph: proportion, surface, setting and how a piece sits against the body. Those details determine whether jewellery feels delicate, graphic, playful or gloriously excessive.

For anyone experimenting with coloured jewellery, the easiest place to begin is their existing wardrobe. A pink lab-grown diamond alongside a sharp charcoal jacket creates a different effect from pink worn with cream silk. Blue can sit comfortably with denim, while yellow brings a warm point of contrast to a crisp white shirt.

These are styling possibilities rather than rules. Matching every accessory is one approach; letting a single piece interrupt the outfit is another. A small flash of unexpected colour can be enough to make an otherwise familiar combination feel considered.

Scale matters just as much as shade. A coloured centre stone in a simple setting can hold its own without a supporting cast of bracelets and rings. A more elaborate design might look best given a little space. Try the piece with the jewellery you actually wear, rather than judging it in isolation against a pristine display tray.

That is especially useful when considering an engagement ring. Think about the height of the setting, how it feels on the hand and whether its proportions suit your daily routine. A design can look wonderful in a close-up photograph and still feel quite different when you reach for a coffee or pull on a sleeve.

It is also too early to declare a winning jewellery colour for London’s September shows. The week has only just begun. A confirmed collaboration and a dedicated showcase establish jewellery’s place on the programme; they do not establish that every designer is backing the same stone, shade or silhouette.

What they do provide is a welcome invitation to look beyond the clothes. As the collections unfold, pay attention to where jewellery sits, what it picks up in an outfit and when it deliberately breaks the rhythm.

The best idea to take home might be surprisingly small: a colour you had overlooked, a different proportion, or a favourite ring worn with something unexpected. Fashion week supplies the spectacle. Your wardrobe gets the final say.