Top Designer Profiles S/S 2013 : The Designers

Every fashion eye in the world is on Hedi Slimane this season. The former creative director at Dior Homme will make his first presentation for the newly baptised Saint Laurent during Paris Fashion Week – and expectations are of seismic proportions. A radical visionary and the reason you are wearing skinny jeans today, Slimane has already renamed and repackaged the hallowed brand, so exactly what he’ll send down the catwalk is anyone’s guess.

When Simons showed his first collection for Dior at Couture Week back in June, the verdict was unanimous that he’d consigned John Galliano to the annals of history. His bold new departure showed a pared back minimalism and elegant levity that brought Dior back to its origins. This will be the first Dior RTW collection for the former menswear designer, and the fashion world is expecting nothing less than a complete overhaul of the way we dress today. 

IMAXTREE

The man who digitalised the trench and pixelated the rain mac is infiltrating the digital sphere on an even greater level this season. Everybody gets a front row ticket to the Burberry show, and this season plans are afoot to make it more exciting and accessible than ever before – we’re bound to secrecy so you’ll just have to wait and see. Remember, Big Burberry is watching you....

The Brit expats responsible for bringing hunting chic to New York (look out for details such as poachers pockets in their famous outerwear) are showing in London for the first time this season. Effectively a satellite show to the main one which will still show in New York, the presentation will be held in the brand’s spanking new Sloane Square store, which co-founders David Neville and Marcus Wainwright see as something of a homecoming. Expect hip downtown separates and borrowed from the boys staples.

The busiest man in shoes during London Fashion Week, Nicholas Kirkwood was last season responsible for the footwear of no less than five designer shows. This year he will be adding Phillip Treacy to his roster as well as creating the shoes for Erdem and Peter Pilotto. As ever, we expect him to reinvent the heel. 

A permanent fixture on our Designers to Know list, the Scottish-born apple of London’s fashion eye is in focus once again due to his BFA nomination for Designer of the Year. The Central Saint Martins alum is up against Stella McCartney and Mary Katrantzou, and will be proving his mettle by working runways across London and Milan, with Versus to create as well as his own label. As ever the only thing we can expect from Kane is the unexpected.