Will Spring/Summer 2023 mark a turning point for London Fashion Week? With grown up talent and titans like JW Anderson and
Since its inception in 1984, LFW has earned a strong reputation for incubating emerging designers, providing a creative platform for established brands. To this day, London differs from Milan, Paris and New York (which all came before LFW), as other cities become home to the crème de la crème of fashion editors, influencers and designers. London, on the other hand, maintains its momentum and irreverence, seeking to use smaller names and give them a platform compared to the old and hierarchical schedules of similar fashion weeks. Almost 40 years later, London’s reputation for originality is something that has transcended decades, and many are hoping that energy will return for SS23.
“Seeing this season’s lineup made me think back to when I was 21 and just starting at Central Saint Martins,” Daniel W. Fletcher recalled to Hypebeast. “They made us go out and try to get into the show. There was so much buzz and energy at the time.”
The birth of LFW saw fashion activists jump onto an international platform. Names like Vivienne Westwood and Katherine Hamnett – the latter the designer who debuted the slanderous anti-nuclear war t-shirt “58% DON’T WANT PERSHING” which, as Guardian reported, “made Margaret Thatcher squawk like a chicken” – set the tone for many years to come and paved the way for some of the most prominent aesthetic anarchists. Perhaps the most famous of these was Lee Alexander McQueen, whose shows in the 90s and early aughts became the stuff of industry legends.
Until his death in 2010, McQueen’s shows would seasonly tear up the rule book of what can and can’t be done on a catwalk. FW97’s ‘It’s a Jungle Out There’, which took place at Borough Market, caught the eye for all the wrong reasons – it featured punk ravers The Prodigy and a car accidentally set on fire inside, while an iron backdrop was equipped with fake bullets commented on the area where this show took place, being a far cry from the sophisticated spaces that LFW had since called home. SS99 “No. 13” saw Shalom Harlow twirl as robots splashed her white dress with black ink, descending as “the one [show] which he actually did [McQueen] cry.”
As Susannah Frankel wrote Another in 2016, “It’s no news that London Fashion Week in the mid-90s was home to fashion shows more akin to performance art than any traditional runway presentation.” Likewise, in 1998 The runway of Vogue announced, “It was not a fashion show. It was performance art… When it was over, Harlow practically crashed into the audience. Powerful stuff.” In short, McQueen respected and at the same time updated LFW’s anarchist roots, exemplifying the creativity we’ve come to expect from the capital’s talent.
Since then, emerging designers like Christopher Kane held well-attended high-fashion inaugural shows, while names like Gareth Pugh – who echoed McQueen’s penchant for performance – continued to rise. And since then, the British Fashion Council’s NewGen talents (an initiative that nurtures emerging designers and aims to create global brands) such as JW Anderson, Craig Green, Molly Goddard and Stefan Cooke have become mainstays at London Fashion Week.
But everything went south once the pandemic hit. A sharp turn to digital has led many to find new ways to display collections. But despite their best efforts, few online moments made it into the circus that is a physical fashion week. As designer Chet Lo put it simply, “London has had it pretty tough for the last couple of seasons.”
Since the return of LFW IRL last September, the capital has struggled to capture the spirit we speak of above. Big names opted for glitzy shows in Paris or topsy-turvy shows in Milan (like Bianca Saunders and JW Anderson, respectively) and even emerging designers earned a spot on other fashion week schedules, despite the houses’ often traditional representation. of inheritance. But with 110 names set to light up the September programme, it looks like LFW is finally returning to its former glory.
“London Fashion Week has always been the epicenter of creativity, highlighting the best of emerging designers who will become fashion’s future powerhouses. But what happens when the powerhouses of fashion choose to show during LFW?” asks Machine-A founder and buying director Stavros Karelis. For him, it is a unique chance for new and familiar names to sit side by side. “The debut of Raf Simons is an unprecedented moment to highlight the best of London, its culture and, of course, its vast amount of creative talent. Simons has always championed subcultures, independent spirits and pushed fashion in ways that very few have. In that sense, his presence can only create a unique stage that will celebrate the best of London and bring this energy to a global level.”
Daniel W. Fletcher Fall 2022.Isidore Montag/Gorunway.com
Chet Lo Fall/Winter 2022.John Phillips/Bfc/Getty Images For Bfc
Stefan Cooke Fall 2022.Isidore Montag/Gorunway.com
Menswear designers Stefan Cooke and Jake Burt echo Karelis’ sentiment. “We definitely feel positive about the LFW lineup in September, especially Raf Simons as his collections are mainly menswear as well. With strong designers adding weight to the line for LFW, it will reposition London as the home of the avant-garde.”
Designer Chet Lo points out that with big designer names come big-name buyers—resulting in better visibility for lesser-known names. “It’s so exciting to have such amazing brands behind us,” adds Lo. “They’re really going to help newer brands, like us, gain a foothold and help new brands get noticed. Having editors and buyers physically in London will [also] It really helps a lot of new brands.”
As well as being a huge draw for everyone involved in this season’s fashion week, Simons’ participation in September is also a momentous occasion for the designer himself. “It’s been a dream for a while to show in London – a city where fashion and creativity are omnipresent on the streets and where I see incredible people with a strong unique style,” he said in a statement.
Ultimately, SS23 shows the promise of rekindling the same excitement Fletcher remembers from around 10 years ago – a time in which LFW had the unique ability to celebrate everything and everyone. “This season looks like [that energy’s] it’s really back,” he adds. “London’s emerging talent scene is really strong, but bringing back some of the big names will really help bring the focus back to London as a serious fashion capital.”
