London Fashion Week marches on, despite Brexit cracks

London – It is always reassuring to see Anna Wintour on the front row
at London fashion week. Irregular attendance from the grande dame of
fashion publishing gets negative tongues wagging when she is not present,
questioning the global relevance of LFW.

But true to form, and perhaps in support of the State of British Fashion in
the Era of Brexit, Wintour, and team Vogue USA, was seen on the front row
at a plethora of shows, including at Victoria Beckham and Burberry.

No political outing at Burberry

At Burberry designer Ricardo Tisci has largely steered clear of politics
and the Brexit debate, despite showing a collection of over 100 looks
ranging from streetwear to tailoring and everything in between. Whilst the
company said a no deal Brexit could cost it tens of millions of pounds in
tariffs, there were no references to future uncertainty on his catwalk.

The same could be said for Victoria Beckham, Simone Rocha, Margaret Howell,
Roland Mouret and Mary Katrantzou and the majority of designers who went
about their collections without punching politics. In times of
unfamiliarity, creativity soars, as it has so far at London Fashion.

Other topics concern the industry, beside Brexit

And just as the shows must go on, other issues at the heart of the fashion
industry were highlighted, such as as the Positive Fashion cocktail party
on the LFW weekend. Here the focus of talks was centered on the impact the
fashion industry has on the planet while highlighting positive
opportunities for sustainable fashion choices.

Brexit isn’t the first crisis the UK fashion industry has weathered.
Remember the banking crisis and the Leyman Brothers collapse? That was only
a decade ago, and London’s designers didn’t bow down to design pessimist
fashion then. Or how about the recession in the early nineties when
interest rates soared and the housing bubble burst? It didn’t stop
Alexander McQueen and John Galliano from being the creative forces they
were, leaving their indelible marks on LFW and beyond.

We need practical wardrobes as much as we need inspiration and a raison
d’être to buy into brands and designers these days. At Victoria Beckham, a
wardrobe was presented as the A-Z of a woman’s life, clothes are that
wearable but still inspire us to dream. The opening look of a silk
scarf-neck blouse in candy apple red, windowpane skirt suit and leopard
boots, echoed that we all need a little colour in our lives, EU divorce and
all.

Photo credit: Burberry AW19, Catwalkpictures.com