London Fashion Week, the bi-annual showcase where the country’s top fashion designers present their latest seasonal collections, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. The schedule this September is jam-packed with buzzy events, from eBay’s first-ever runway show — a testament to second-hand fashion’s increasing influence — to H&M’s party with Charlie XCX to demi-couturier Harris Reed’s first on-calendar catwalk. LFW has always been at the forefront of innovation and diversity, and this milestone is a perfect time to celebrate all that its talents have achieved.
“For me, showing at LFW is such an honour. Before I launched my brand and was assisting at other shows, it was one of my wildest dreams to show at LFW,” says Priya Ahluwalia, founder and creative director of her namesake label best known for her upcycled denim designs. “To think that I have now joined a cohort of some of the best designers in the world is really special and meaningful to me.”
New York Fashion Week is best known for its slick streetwear and Americana brands like Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors; Milan for its flamboyant Italian labels like Gucci and Fendi and Paris for the historic French maisons like Chanel and Dior – but London has always been the rebellious little sister, renowned for being a playground for budding designers to be discovered and nurtured. “The number of brands showing has really grown, and we’ve been great at opening up the door to external talent like those from Ukraine or China,” says Ida Petersson, former head buyer at Browns and co-founder of brand strategy and creative agency Good Eggs.
But this meaningful milestone also presents an opportunity for us to take stock and see just how far LFW has come and where it needs to go. It’s no secret that the economy is in a bad state, and British designers have not been immune to its effects. “Coming into 40 years, I feel like London fashion really needed to come together,” says Harris Reed, who, after seven seasons presenting his extravagant designs off-schedule is now opening this season with his first on-calendar show at the Tate Modern. “I felt it was my responsibility, especially with the state of London at the moment, to bring a kind of artistry and theatricality, for us to come together and make our presence known.”
The shock of luxury e-commerce giant Matches Fashion going under earlier this year rippled across the industry. Many brands were left out of pocket, with unfulfilled orders worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, causing some – including cult brand The Vampire’s Wife – to shut its doors.
LFW itself has not had an easy few years. The maelstrom caused by the pandemic and Brexit has left brands big and small reeling from their combined economic impact, forcing several to either downsize or pivot to create more commercial (read: sellable) pieces to meet the bottom line. “Some of the bright stars have had to scale down – or in some cases like Christopher Kane, had to take the hard decision to close its doors,” says Ida. “The change happened so quickly that the next best generation hasn’t quite had the opportunity to build up the same level of hype and loyalty. If you combine this with retailers reducing budgets and trimming down the number of brands they are buying into, it leaves the less established brands incredibly vulnerable.”
It’s no secret that LFW has lost its mojo, losing great British talents like Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney to Paris Fashion Week for many years. Where once names like Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood drew international stars to their FROWs in the 90s, their continued absence has led top editors, buyers and celebs to skip over London Fashion Week –according to Anna Brennan, founder of AB Comms, the company that has traditionally staged shows for LFW mainstays like Bora Aksu and Eudon Choi. Other PRs have lamented that ticket requests used to far outnumber available seats, and while celebs once clamoured to be front and centre, many now request to be paid to attend shows.
Meanwhile, New York Fashion Week, which went through a similar hype drought pre-pandemic, (several publications even proclaimed the ‘Death of NYFW’) has seemingly bounced back this season, drawing industry giants like Alaia and Off-White (who traditionally showed in Paris) to the Big Apple, with splashy front row attendees like Rihanna and Jade Thirlwall to match.
The main challenge young British brands face today is funding. “Between the ever-rising cost of materials, the ever-lowering budgets of wholesalers, and the decrease in commercial consumerism from society, young designers are placed in a really hard spot,” says designer Chet Lo, a Central Saint Martin’s graduate who has become one of the most exciting names on the LFW calendar. “Funding is needed to fill that gap and keep companies stable until consumer attitudes and the current economy improves.” Echoing Chet’s call for greater financial support, fellow LFW mainstay Bora Aksu cites sustainability as another added pressure brands have to juggle: “I feel more challenged to balance my creativity and business, while striving to be more sustainable, using fewer resources, and producing less."
So what will it take for London to regain its cool factor? There is, of course, not one perfect answer, but a myriad of factors that could help restore LFW to its former glory. In fact, according to these industry insiders, the solution comes from mining what made London special in the first place.
“I think bringing back this idea of theatricality like what Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood used to do is so important,” says Harris. “When I talk to VICs, these billionaire clients go to those Paris couture shows because they get transported into a world. London for me has the full capability of doing that tenfold.” Harris, also a proud Central Saint Martins graduate, credits the illustrious fashion college for its broad education, which allows aspiring designers to think outside the box, versus the more ‘transactional’ or ‘business-oriented’ methods of its American counterparts like the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Indeed, the fashion students flocking to London from around the world have historically been the key to LFW’s vibrant crowds and eccentric identity. “London has the capacity to immerse its audience beyond the fashion bubble; a lot of the creative energy comes from the many amazing students we have in this city but they are not generally able to access the events,” says Ida. “I recently had the pleasure of participating in a MA scholarship fund that the BFC and Chanel give out each year – and it made me think why there aren't more brands who give back? It’s a tax write off, and if the BFC had more funds to invest in the new generation then they would have more headspace to be creative. I also think there’s an opportunity to play with the format in general, include more panels, workshops and open events similar to Frieze.”
London, once fashion's most outré city, needs to reclaim its throne as the home of experimentation and diversity, says Harris. He praises Copenhagen Fashion Week for its inclusive approach to fashion, where the first blind model recently walked the Sinéad O'Dwyer's spring/summer 2025 show. “These are incredible things that show fashion has purpose and meaning, and London needs to show what it stands for by supporting designers who are inclusive and who move the needle.”
And last but not least, an essential part of fashion month, especially in the age of social media, is of course, celeb-spotting. NYFW has Hollywood stars at their fingertips, and Paris' brands need no help attracting A-listers, but London (while we do love the Kate Mosses and Sienna Millers) once has and should continue to be the place where up-and-comers shine. We need the full cast of Bridgerton to be showing up at Erdem! Manifesting this now.
Then again, maybe the future of LFW may not include fashion shows at all. Ida goes on to envision a time in the next 40 years where designers are free to present their worlds outside the traditional constraints of a catwalk. “The idea of runway shows for the sake of it doesn’t feel right anymore and in a way I think it sometimes restricts creatives from being truly creative,” she says. “I would love for designers to be encouraged to think and create freely instead of being pressured into having shows. Many who have started feel that if they changed formats it would reflect badly on their brand, which really is no longer the case.”
But for now, we still have a calendar full of talent to look forward to. We can't wait to see what Michael Stewart has in store for us after a few seasons of building buzz around his label Standing Ground, and Simone Rocha is sure to dazzle us as she always does.
“I sometimes think as a society we get very obsessed with nostalgia and the ‘heydays’,” says Priya. “Of course, there are brands that emotionally we all miss from the schedule, but to say that there is no vibrancy when fellow designers such as 16Arlington, Simone Rocha and Martine Rose show in London is crazy to me. There is so much talent and so much unique personality at London shows, it is still unlike any other city.”
