The future of London Fashion Week Men’s

London – Men’s fashion week has never had it so tough. A shrunken schedule,
the absence of big ticket names, too early on the global fashion calendar
and a dwindling attendance from key international players. One wouldn’t be
entirely wrong to consider closing the event and merging it with women’s
wear in September. The costly event is partially funded by the EU, a
monetary channel that the UK may no longer tap into after official Brexit
in 2019.

Unlike the usual four-day packed schedule, which gave buyers and editors
barely enough time to squeeze in all the on and off calendar shows,
presentations, films, events, press junkets and parties, this felt like an
easy-to-manage two day event stretched over the long weekend. The absence
of Burberry, J.W. Anderson and Craig Green meant magazine advertisers – and
their editors – as well as key international retailers, were missing.

How do we measure success?

But perhaps big ticket brands and major retailers are not the only measure
of success. This season the spotlight shone brighter than ever before on
young talent and emerging brands, who would, in an overly packed weekend of
luxury brand shows, be overshadowed. At LFWM they found not only a platform
but also the visibility to operate outside of commercial constraints. Which
other major fashion week offers designers the ability to be themselves?

In numbers, LFWM is part of a wider industry that directly contributes to
nearly 30 billion pounds to the UK in GDP. It is an also an industry which
employs an extraordinary 850,000 people, a highly significant figure when
we evaluate it in the larger economic labour market.

British fashion is authentic

The takeaways from the LFWM catwalks this season, which saw stellar shows
from Charles Jeffrey Loverboy, Martine Rose, Christopher Raeburn and A Cold
Wall, where that designers were allowed to experiment. The zeitgeist of the
gender neutral conversation is real and happening in London, and on the
BFC’s catwalk fashion, however outré, is authentic, challenging norms and
traditions and above all is fresh and fun. However challenging and
outrageous a design, they are backed by serious talent from the most
revered art schools. These names will be the next generation leading the
international commercial fashion houses. London Fashion Week Men’s is where
it all starts.