London Fashion Week turns 40 this year. Since 1984, it's been the definitive platform for fashion in the United Kingdom, garnering an enduring reputation for being the world's most dynamic style capital and the most steadfast incubator for emerging design talent.
The British Fashion Council also turns 40 in 2024, and though its plans are said to pull focus to the anniversaries in September for the spring/summer 2025 shows, there's much to consider, anticipate and no doubt applaud coming our way at the autumn/winter 2024 shows, running from Friday 16 to Monday 19, February.
Saturday feels especially prodigious. The day begins with Marco Capaldo's 16Arlington at 11, before moving through the likes of Roksanda, Molly Goddard, Simone Rocha, Labrum, Erdem and Ahluwalia, all of whom are amongst those making it worthwhile for the fashion set to come into town on a Saturday, and then some.
'This season is going to look particularly exciting because of the lineup of shows,' says Caroline Rush, chief executive of The British Fashion Council. 'We continue to be this creative capital and a hotbed of innovation. Last year we celebrated 30 years of New Gen and I think its legacy has put it even higher on everybody's agenda in terms of new talent to watch.’
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Many of those designers that receive the New Gen bursary, including the opportunity for a free show venue at The Old Selfridges Hotel, will show on Friday, making for a dynamic line-up of emerging designers including Chet Lo, Sinead O’Dwyer, Fashion East and Tolu Coker.
Coker’s collections have fast become of note on the London scene, known for her ability to weave storytelling into pieces that are particularly strong on silhouette.
‘When I create, I think about the connection people have to the clothes,’ the designer tells ELLE UK ahead of her Friday evening show. ‘From the quality of it, through to the story behind it. There's a connection beyond just the physical garment itself. Every collection is an extension of a story I’m trying to tell, based on experiences I’ve had or people who I’ve been able to spend time with.’
As one of the city’s most talked about new talents, Coker admits that it’s the diversity of the capital that makes it especially exciting creatively. ‘I think London just has a fearlessness,’ she adds. ‘You can never really cite a specific style to London as it’s so diverse. There are people from all cultures, all groups of life [existing together], you have the people who work in the city and people who squat getting on the same train. So, the energy in the city impacts what I birth creatively.’
Showing on Sunday, another name to watch is Aaron Esh. The designer’s breakout collection last season was a highlight for many to offer him top-tier stockists including Selfridges and plenty of press real estate. As is so often the case with London designers, he speaks of the collection as entirely a team effort, assembled from the contributions of a select group of his close collaborators.
‘I feel incredibly fortunate to have such an amazing group of people surrounding me,’ Esh tells ELLE UK a few days ahead of the show. ‘From my studio team to my stylist Jack Collins, art director Jamie Reid, hairstylist John Allen and Rokas Roach from Gainsbury and Whiting on production. I feel like these collections are so authentically collaborative. This has been six months of working together as a team and we’re all really excited to present our sophomore collection together.’
‘Here in London there’s a huge emphasis on emerging brands and giving them a platform to show their work to the world,’ he adds. This season Esh will show at The Sarabande Foundation. ‘It was set up by Lee McQueen to support young talent. We will be inviting our guests to see the collection in an intimate and honest way.’
Another designer who continues to lead London’s new generation of designers is New Yorker Conner Ives. Having benefited from New Gen support and its venues for the last few years, this season marks his first stand-alone show, set to take place at The Savoy.
‘I’m most excited about the scale of this show,’ Ives tells ELLE UK. ‘I was insistent this season on doing a show I used to dream of. We have been given the honour of showing in The Lancaster Ballroom at The Savoy, which is crazy really. I feel honoured to show on that scale.’
‘London for me has always represented the concept that no matter your size, I think you can do a special show here. I’ve always said that London is really good at blurring the lines between friend groups, and social classes. It feels like you can really make anything happen in this city if you dream it up.’
While Ives allows his creativity to roam free, he remains frank on the realities of being a young designer working in the UK in 2024. ‘I think we all (meaning the fashion industry in its entirety) are still romanticising a fashion industry that doesn’t exist anymore,’ he says. ‘I’m still a proponent of fashion weeks, but I don’t think we need four to 12 destination shows a year. I think there’s a way of keeping the magic of fashion alive, while still realising that our surroundings are looking much different than they did 20 to 30 years ago.’
Ives has long been a leader in proving sustainability can go hand-in-hand with innovative design that’s covetable and wearable. A feat that many often struggle with. Ives says he's come to understand that it’s: ‘the most important thing.’
'I’ve always said it but I work in this way to encourage others to join in,’ he says. ‘I would love to see more designers working more responsibly [and] more creatively to curb the inherent waste and excess fashion creates. I would love for my legacy to be one of someone trying to see the change they want in the industry.’
On the same note, Rush shares how the London fashion community has shifted. It’s not only the big-name designers offering advice and expertise to the newer labels, but the opposite is often true. ‘Where it used to be very much established businesses mentoring young designers, we see it being a real knowledge share from established businesses to young designers, sort of almost co-challenging each other in the way the industry is changing and adapting to that.’ Rush also notes that these creative practices and new ways of working can have a direct impact on the business operations side of things for these brands. ‘Creativity and design quite often leads to creativity in business models,’ says Rush. ‘And with that comes a certain resilience to the economic backdrop that people are grappling with at the moment.’
So, it’s curtains up on another London Fashion Week. All eyes turn to the capital to discover the new and the next; from what’s sure to be a stellar show from Burberry, filled with star power and style clout, through to the unbridled creativity from the emerging names, and new visions for how we’ll dress next season from established brands such as Emilia Wickstead and JW Anderson. But, underneath the great dresses and must-have handbags, there’s sure to be respect and resilience beyond the design that speaks to an understanding of what it will have taken each brand to get to that point of sending models down the catwalk. With the UK officially in a recession once again, the climate has perhaps never been trickier and yet, in London, as ever, creativity promises to thrive.
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