London Fashion Week hopes to usher in a new era with leadership change

London Fashion Week, under new leadership after 16 years, opens on Thursday with hopes of reinvigorating its runway schedule and alleviating the financial woes of its young designers.

“This season marks… the beginning of a new era for British fashion,” said Laura Weir, former creative director of luxury department store Selfridges, who replaced Caroline Rush as the head of the British Fashion Council (BFC) in April.

Weir faces an uphill battle to allay concerns about the relevance and international standing of the fashion week, given the recent departures of major fashion names to its star-studded counterparts in Milan, Paris, and New York.

“My main objective is to ensure London Fashion Week remains the ultimate platform to showcase and celebrate the very best of British creativity while continuing to support designers who have built the foundations of British fashion and forged paths internationally,” Weir told AFP ahead of LFW.

LFW’s June edition, initially launched to focus on menswear, was cancelled this year and replaced by a simple commercial showroom in Paris.

Following a lackluster schedule in February, marked by several absences as some designers opted to stage just one show a year due to the high costs, the BFC is hoping for a more exciting program this time.

To ease the financial burden, “we have waived membership fees to make the platform more accessible to designers,” said Weir.

The former Vogue journalist said the BFC had also “curated a schedule that speaks to London’s cultural relevance” and “doubled our investment in our international guest program to ensure heavyweight buyers, media and cultural voices are here in London.”

Since taking the helm, Weir has increased scholarship funding and secured a three-year funding commitment for the NewGen program, which supports emerging young designers, according to British Vogue.

Fabric scraps, crinolines

Despite its recent woes, LFW has remained a hub for discovering new and exciting fashion talent, partly thanks to the NewGen incubator.

Several designers have launched successful fashion careers off its back, like Irish designer Simone Rocha, known for her Victorian-style dresses adorned with lace and crinoline, or London-based Richard Quinn, whose elegant designs received a nod from the late Queen Elizabeth II.

LFW kicks off Thursday with up-and-coming British designer Maximilian Raynor, who has been recognized for his commitment to sustainable fashion, with his designs often featuring fabric scraps.

That runway will be followed by Harris Reed, the young British-American designer and creative director at Nina Ricci, whose gender-fluid designs have bewitched LFW attendees since he burst onto the scene five years ago.

In other good news for LFW, JW Anderson will return to the schedule after skipping the February edition.

However, the label will forego the runway in favor of a scaled-down dinner this year, as this summer Dior entrusted the artistic direction of all its collections — including men’s, women’s, and haute couture — to the prodigal son, Jonathan Anderson.

After stepping down as creative director of Spanish brand Loewe earlier this year, the Northern Irish designer has refocused his own label on a “lifestyle” concept, incorporating furniture, tableware, craft objects, and even honey.

Also presenting their spring/summer collections will be British fashion icons such as Paul Costelloe and Burberry, which weathered the storm of a difficult year for luxury fashion and US tariffs, as well as London catwalk regulars Roksanda and Dilara Findikoglu.