A teary Emma Hill was shrouded in hugs backstage by Cara Delevinge, Alexa Chung and Lea Seydoux. 'I'm a little bit overwhelmed,' she said after her final collection for Mulberry. 'I just want to spend time with my team.' Perhaps her finest collection for the house began with Winston Churchill's rousing words ringing out. 'It's the Idea of the house as a brand and the house as a home and doing it with love and passion.' She's always done that. 

Mulberry's show is always hotly anticipated. The celeby front row, the devout loyalty from top editors to fashion students all wanting to witness the brand's next steps. We feel wedded to the brand because we've grown as its grown, from Bayswater manufacturer to global fashion brand. And its monumental growth in recent years is down to the decisions and talent of its creative director Emma Hill. 

Hill has been at the helm since 2007, showing her first full collection the following year. During that time she's been busy, creating the brand's biggest commercial success with the Alexa in 2009, scooping best designer brand at the British Fashion Awards in 2010, reporting a 57% rise in the UK and a 79% increase internationally. The Lana del Rey followed, as did the CBE...

But they have suffered recently, pre-tax profits were down 28% in March this year and there was weaker demand outside Europe. Prices increased by 12% a few months ago, share prices dropped 8% on the announcement of Emma Hill's departure and there have been two profit warnings this year. Rumours abound that Hill disagreed with the direction of new CEO Bruno Guillon who doesn't like celebrity and wants the brand to be bedfellows with the uber luxe Hermès school of branding.

Regardless, this spring 2014 show was lovely. There were no gimmicks, it was less kidult than its spring shows usually  are, it was grown-up, beautifully crafted and expensive. Wide stripes of horsehair and butter-soft leather wrapped around midnight blue boxy tops and stiff, angular coats. White leather buttoned-up shirts and loose culottes could well have been from Christophe Lemaire's Hermès. 

Nobody knows yet where Hill is going to go next and there are rumours that Graeme Fidler and Michael Herz, who recently handed in their resignation at Bally, are going to Mulberry, but nothing is confirmed. All eyes will be on the new direction of the label come February that the new proprietors will no doubt put in place. In the meantime there's 10 months left of Emma Hill's collections in store to buy and score a part of the brand's history. We'll be watching.