{"id":449006,"date":"2025-09-24T23:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T23:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/449006\/"},"modified":"2025-09-24T23:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T23:00:31","slug":"at-london-fashion-week-designers-differences-became-their-strengths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/449006\/","title":{"rendered":"At London Fashion Week, Designers’ Differences Became Their Strengths"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Saturday night of London Fashion Week and I am sitting by an overflowing trash can, a flyer-plastered wire fence, and a traffic cone. And they said fashion wasn\u2019t glamorous anymore! <\/p>\n

To clarify: it\u2019s the runway set for Skepta\u2019s latest Mains show, in which the British grime artist will explore (in swaggering style) the origins of his love of fashion. Known as one of the country\u2019s biggest grime exports, he took markers of growing up suburban in the UK, (think: the logos of lunchbox classics like Ribena and Wagon Wheels), and made them into tongue-in-cheek parody bomber jackets that Gen-Z will covet. <\/p>\n

In contrast, at the Chancery Rosewood hotel, which recently opened in the former American embassy in Mayfair, Roksanda Ilin\u010di\u0107\u2019s staged an uber-luxe showing for the brand’s 20th anniversary. Her architectural silhouettes, punchy palette\u2014a dramatic cerulean blue cape, billowing with the wearer\u2019s stride, epitomized the mood\u2014unveiled in the suites-only hotel\u2019s ballroom. Roksanda the brand has barely anything in common with Mains. But that tonal shift is part of London\u2019s appeal; not just during fashion week, but always. This is your city, and yours, and yours. It can be whatever you want it to be. <\/p>\n

\"fashionLAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT<\/p>\n

Mains, Roksanda<\/p>\n

This London Fashion Week was being billed as a reset, the first with the new British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir in place. Moves such as waiving fees, loosening entry requirements, and doubling investment in the international guest programme for LFW are part of a panoramic ambition to re-establish the commercial and cultural power of the British fashion industry. \u201cThis season, you can feel a revitalized energy,\u201d Weir explained at the end of the week. \u201cIt has been incredibly motivating, the goodwill towards London is massive, and everyone wants it to succeed. That\u2019s bigger than me, it\u2019s about all of us. I really hope people are leaving feeling inspired by designers\u2019 visions and the future of the British fashion industry moving forward.\u201d <\/p>\n

Much is made about London\u2019s lack of \u2018big\u2019 names, but more than ever, the emerging, independent designers are deserving of buzz. Aaron Esh, Oscar Ouyang, Tolu Coker, Jawara Alleyne, and Johanna Parv were among the other names that kept the week exciting. Fashion East, the non-profit new talent incubator that has launched the careers of Jonathan Anderson (there was no JW Anderson show, but he hosted a dinner at the Ritz), Craig Green, Simone Rocha, and Grace Wales Bonner, and many, many more, this season celebrated turning 25. Crowded with the other guests onto benches in a sweltering ICA, I was moved to see the attention and turnout the platform and its talents still rightfully garner. <\/p>\n

\"fashionLAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT<\/p>\n

Aaron Esh, Tolu Coker, Jawara Alleyne<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s a pertinent time to ask what London, and the UK, stands for right now. Brits are in the midst of a national identity crisis. Days before LFW kicked off, 150,000 people descended on the capital for an anti-immigration march organized by a far-right activist. That\u2019s scary, it\u2019s shocking, and it\u2019s a perfectly valid reason to think, \u201cWho cares about a nice dress?\u201d<\/p>\n

But creativity forces us to ask questions not just of the world but of ourselves. It is a rejection and interrogation of negativity. Ritzy rebel of the moment Conner Ives, whose viral \u2018PROTECT THE DOLLS\u2019 tee has to date raised over $600,000 for Trans Lifeline, played homage to the heyday of Y2K pop music. SS26 was a high-energy blaze of neon, fringing, and cling-to-the-skin silhouettes on a cast that included Iris Law and Alva Claire. It took me right back to Boombox\u2014the free east London club night that ran in the early 2000s and was the epicenter of the \u2018nu rave\u2019 scene, a place where community was found in the purist pursuit of individuality. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Dilara Findikoglu\u2019s Sunday night show may have started over an hour late, but her provocative heroine doesn\u2019t really do punctual. Prowling seductresses, like Naomi Campbell and Amelia Gray, embodied the gothic, decadent sexuality that has made the designer one of London\u2019s most compelling talents. There was a palpable sense of the undone, and an unbridled (dangerous!) sexuality: torn and ravaged dresses, waist-cinching corsetry, and bondage iconography (fetish latex and a horse bit) were mixed with ornate laces, cherries, and Turkish jewelry. Do you want to be that woman? Are you scared of her? Are you in obsessed with her? Findikoglu\u2019s work makes you ask those questions. <\/p>\n

\"dilaraCourtesy of Dilara Findikoglu<\/p>\n

Dilara Findikoglu<\/p>\n

In a week where women shined, design duo TOVE echoed the sentiment of showcasing powerful and talented females. \u201cThe narrative of our collection is rooted in the intuitive sense of female confidence\u2014a sentiment that feels so aligned with the spirit of the city and LFW right now,\u201d TOVE co-founder Camille Perry said. Perry and co-founder Holly Wright\u2019s sensuous yet straightforward brand has captured the hearts, and wallets, of many of the millennial guests who sat front row. <\/p>\n

By amplifying femininity rather than shying away from it, designers found strength. Pauline Dujancourt\u2019s soulful Chekhovian heroines, Lucila Safdie\u2019s melancholy Tumblr-Romanovs, Ashley Williams\u2019 uniformed ladies powered on E-numbers: all of them know exactly who they are. <\/p>\n

\"fashionLAUNCHMETRICS SPOTLIGHT<\/p>\n

Pauline Dujancourt, Ashley Williams, Lucila Safdie,<\/p>\n

One of London\u2019s biggest stars, Simone Rocha, presented a collection of off-kilter debutantes (think wonky crinoline skirts, sparkly bras with straps slipping off the shoulders, and hold-me-close pillow bags) that will resonate with the devoted friends and fans who filled the front row in the naughty-but-nice get-ups of previous seasons. You always know when you\u2019ve made it to the Chopova Lowena show venue, too; such is the spot-a-mile-off cultish devotion that Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena-Irons’s carabiner-clip kilts and kooky-cool pieces attract. Over in west London, they put cheerleader culture through their exuberant lens this season. You could almost hear the whooping in their show notes: \u2018It\u2019s a rallying cry for the weird girls everywhere\u2014we are rooting for you!\u2019. <\/p>\n

\"modellaunchmetrics.com\/spotlight<\/p>\n

Simone Rocha<\/p>\n

At Completedworks, Anna Jewsbury recruited Jerry Hall to play the part of a shopping channel psychic. \u201cIt really revels in this kind of freakish weirdness of treating objects as both sacred relics and everyday commodities,\u201d Jewsbury tells me of her motivation for the presentation. <\/p>\n

\"fashionlaunchmetrics.com\/spotlight<\/p>\n

Erdem<\/p>\n

Meanwhile Erdem, London\u2019s most evocative storyteller, took inspiration from He\u0301le\u0300ne Smith, the late 19th-century Swiss medium who variously claimed to be a reincarnated Indian princess, a member of Marie-Antoinette\u2019s court, and a confidante of Martians. Characters from her Martian alphabet were embroidered on sculpted dresses, while embroidered cottons, frank tailoring, and blasts of hot pink and absinthe green amplified the can\u2019t-be-contained look and mood. <\/p>\n

\"burberry\"Daniele Oberrauch<\/p>\n

Burberry<\/p>\n

Under the blue-sky painted tent\u2014and in front of a guest list that spanned it-girls (Alexa Chung, Lila Moss), icons (Elton John, Joanna Lumley), actors (Jonathan Bailey), sportspeople (tennis player Jack Draper, Arsenal legend Ian Wright), models (Rosie Huntington-Whitely) and more\u2014Burberry explored the intersection of music and fashion. The skinny suits, liquid check-chain dresses, trailing scarves, and satin bombers skewed more glamping than portapotty, but it\u2019s an eclecticism that feels so right for now. Burberry\u2019s bread-and-butter trenches were made of sumptuous laser-cut suede and vibrant fringe-trimmed leather. Some were spliced with crochet panels. Expertly, intricately executed investment pieces all, though given the notoriously volatile British weather, will anyone dare to wear these show coats to an actual festival next summer? It would be silly, it would be rebellious, it would be optimistic\u2014and such a bloody British thing to do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s Saturday night of London Fashion Week and I am sitting by an overflowing trash can, a flyer-plastered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,1329,151106,151105,1331,393,4884,1381,257,151104,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-449006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-content-type-feature","10":"tag-contentid-3def7db3-d00d-4e8a-b9ab-39837e2dd07e","11":"tag-difference-is-strength","12":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-locale-us","16":"tag-london","17":"tag-shorttitle-at-london-fashion-week","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115261764406216600","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}