London Fashion Week opens in new Soho setting
Hot on the heels of New York, London Fashion
Week opens Friday with a cohort of young designers hoping to make their mark
— and a new venue to boot.
Leaving behind the institutional luxury of its former Somerset House
setting, this year’s show will be staged in the urban jungle of London’s
famous Soho entertainment district.
The 62nd edition of the world-renowned fashion event will this year bed
down at the uber-trendy exhibition venue of Brewer Street Car Park, in the
British capital’s historic red light district, to showcase spring/summer
2016
collections.
Over five days, in the midst of bustling restaurants, sushi bars and
sex-shops, the 1920s Art Deco building will welcome more than 150 designers,
with dozens of other shows and presentations taking place across the city.
“We just felt it was time for change, something new and exciting,”
Caroline
Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC), told AFP.
“We’re in the fashion industry — it’s all about thinking about the new
and
reinventing what you’re doing.”
“London being the capital of designers who are a bit more edgy and cool,
it’s quite a logical evolution,” said Laetitia Wajnapel, alias “Mademoiselle
Robot”, a Parisian blogger and photographer based in London.
“Among the four big fashion weeks” (New York, London, Milan and Paris),
London is “still the rebellious, avant-garde little sister,” she added.
Like every year, London Fashion Week will offer a platform for young
designers like Molly Goddard, Sadie Williams and Marta Jakubowski.
It is in the DNA of the London scene to innovate, surprise, shock,
anticipate, and invent, believes fashion blogger .
“London is definitely one of the most creative fashion weeks, perhaps
because of all the renowned fashion schools and inspiring hubs in Soho and
east London,” she said.
‘Classic Londoners’
In addition, all eyes will be on established talent such as Jonathan
Anderson, the artistic director of luxury Spanish leather goods brand Loewe.
The 31-year-old, considered one of the most influential designers of the
day, will present on Saturday the new collection of his own brand, J.W.
Anderson.
Also on Saturday, fashionistas will be able to discover the creations of
Anthony Vaccarello, creative director of Versus Versace, while British
fashion
heavyweights Vivienne Westwood Red Label and Burberry Prorsum will present
on
Sunday and Monday respectively.
“The highlights for me are the classic Londoners like Margaret Howell,
Christopher Kane, J.W. Anderson or even Giles and Joseph, who every season
set
the tone of trends to come,” said “Mademoiselle Robot”.
Kristabel Plummer predicted “an evolution of 1970s trends” already seen
last
year.
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Fashion Week will also give prominence to new technologies, with
live-streaming of many of the shows and a new partnership between the
fashion
label Hunter and video service Periscope.
Also riding the social media trend, Burberry said it would hold a
“first-ever Snapchat Show” for the platform’s 100 million users ahead of the
official catwalk on Monday.
The popular social network on Sunday “will reveal the collection looks as
finishing touches are being made” in the fashion house’s design studio.
The posts will then disappear after 24 hours.
There will also be an exhibition dedicated to Minnie Mouse, her influence
on fashion and pop culture, with photos taken by model Georgia May Jagger,
the
daughter of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall.
The BFC said womenswear sales in Britain are expected to climb four
percent
in 2015 to 27 billion pound (42 billion dollars, 37 billion euros).
The figures from market research company Mintel also showed that two
thirds
of women will have made a fashion purchase online this year, while the
figure
is four out of five in the 16-25 age-group.
(Edouard Guihaire, AFP)
Image credit: Getty