As fashion shifts and changes, the fashion weeks have proliferated and, with the help of social media, raised their profiles across the globe; indeed, at almost any given moment, a fashion “week” is happening somewhere.
London has always been about creativity, and Burberry is the only global brand, unlike Milan or Paris, where fashion heritage is of prime importance. We don’t rely on names that stretch back decades as the foundation of our fashion power, and the amazing young debutantes change frequently. Our design course at colleges and universities with their students from across the world are recognised as the birthplace of great originality.
This season, things have shifted and changed once again. It is celebration time as LFW flings us a jammed schedule, the established and the newcomers, the local and the global and brings back the London buzz. Locations from monumental and historical to tiny, off-kilter and weird, models from super to street and clothes from classic to the weird and wonderful. The designers blurred the genders, the seasons and the occasions and flung down a gauntlet to basically say, “we’re here.”
I am going to simply discuss some of the collections which stood out for me, not putting them into categories or trends because London above all is about individuality.
Let’s start with an established name, celebrating twenty years this season, Roksanda, having dropped her surname Ilincic some years ago, like all legends she only needs one. Her clothes are always created as moving works of art, with volumes, lines, silhouettes, and shapes both in construction and in pattern, creating three-dimensional beauty. No Roksanda dress can be viewed simply from one angle, and this season she once again showed she has an individual creative voice which speaks to her clients. The column dress with an asymmetric drape of ribbons, and a huge cape in intense blue were just two examples of how she explores shape and colour, as much as an artist as a fashion designer. Here’s to the next twenty years of creating your individual pieces. I only ask one thing, please commission dance costumes again from her, it is three years since her wonderful work for Prima at the Royal Ballet.
Burberry is a heritage house with a vast archive and heritage surrounding it. The trench and the check the house is renowned for have gone through myriad permutations since they were first introduced. This season neat variations by designer Daniel Lee gave a freshness to the collection, he emphasised the Britishness of spring showers, chilly evenings and the changeable climate from a brisk walk to fireside inside the village pub. The music influence was not overplayed but gave a softer line to coats and suits, a slight 1970’s feel but again not overworked. Simple Sandie Shaw dresses, Mick Jagger suits, or Long John Baldry blousons are actually timeless classic pieces, it’s just for a Brit we can associate them with a particular performer. Colour was very strong with a natural, earthy range and a city pop of colour both offering an optimistic story. The collection felt very controlled with a natural flow of looks, and was exceptionally well edited with only 57 looks for both menswear and womenswear. The collection took us from country to city effortlessly and offered pieces to invest in to buy and wear for years to come; stylish would be my keyword to sum up the story.
Erdem can be influenced by great English figures such as Cecil Beaton or the Mitford’s, there was a different inspiration this season, a French psychic, but what it did was they moved his truly beautiful clothes on, there was an elegant deshabille quality to the collection, less Downton Abbey and more twenty first century, there was a slightly louche boudoir accent with huge, soft bows on the shoes and untied ribbons trailed and wafted. Exquisite yet imperfect embroideries, and amidst all this a black slouchy tuxedo, crushed and crumpled wide white pants and a regency ruffle at the neck. It is this cross referencing in the collection, of muddling genres, eras, and influences, that made it so strong this season
Ashish has always engaged with a joyous multicultural and multi gender celebration of getting dressed. His pieces work on all ages, sizes and with a basic pair of black pants, denim or even a sailor or cargo pant. His pieces work with a white t-shirt, or a vintage pyjama suit, over a straight sexy black office skirt. It is this versatility that offers every customer a potential Ashish piece. The finale, as the entire cast danced, created an up-tempo mood and his vision is always clear, it’s fashion for a broad range of real people. I wanted many pieces, the madly ruffled jacket, the tie dye print top and pants, the geometric sequinned pants, the plaid sequinned shirt, it is a lengthy list, but I suspect many people will be shopping mentally when they see the pictures. Well done as always, Ashish, you offer hope, and fun, plus a very thoughtful back story to your collections, it’s a brilliant balance.
At the catwalk show of Paolo Carzina, it was as though leaves, cobwebs and insect wings had been fashioned by magic into collages around each model’s body. Truly special and different it was a visionary collection formed by a creative eye. Through a fragile lightness of construction and layering of tone on tone shades, he seduced the eye, indeed the colours were hard to identify as mushroom, smoke, ash, taupe, biscuit, fawn, and greige in a palette of nuance and shadow. One dress look was every shade of berries from mulberry through to blackcurrant; there was fragile crochet or knitting and there were collages of exquisite textures.
Edeline Lee has a distinct strictness to it, even if there is volume or softness, there are clean lines, controlled volumes. Its balance between daywear and more special occasions is thoughtfully linked so the handwriting of the label is always consistent. A simple white dress with asymmetric sash to open a pagoda dress in white to close, but the asymmetric sash reappears in other late day looks, the waist makes in almost all silhouettes, but sometimes into a slender or gently a line or into a big or full skirt. High necks, stand collars, and small jabots repeated as a motif. It is designed and tested with expertise and confidence, knowing the clients and your own signature. It takes a few seasons and is part of the problem with the whirligig of fashion. Edeline Lee proves that consistency and experience, and time and patience is rewarded by confidence and this beautifully balanced collection demonstrated this to perfection.
Boue Soeurs was a great fashion house whose curving dresses were also seen at the house of Jeanne Lanvin as portrait dresses. This romantic background of couture past encapsulates how Simone Rocha offers a modern look at romantic style, always with a personal interpretation and eccentricity that dilutes the sweetness and prettiness. She offers a slightly “punkish” for want of a better word, edge to her clothes, and she always offers us a surprise in the total look, a seam extended, a hem asymmetrical or a sleeve seemingly at odds with the expected. It’s called being a designer, and one whose eye and talent have endeared her to clients who are often collectors of her work. It’s not pretentious or over worked even in complex pieces, there’s a rationale and an original creative impulse at work.
I declare before I write one more word, Marquès’Almeida are a favourite of mine. Their original creative drive and ability to work through a collection which always feels exciting and new. They have been big names at times but it’s their consistency which I love, whenever and whenever they show I am excited before I sit down for the show and intrigued as I watch, and I find myself thinking about the collection afterwards. This season stand outs for me were as sour leaf green layered and draped dress, the same colour for a tunic and impossibly wide pants, a pale lavender knitted top to toe look with soft rosettes, a rose ruffled fluttering top with damask rose patterned trousers and , well I’ll stop because otherwise I will note every look of the collection. I think they’re underestimated in the history of London designers, and I think their work is beautiful and special and their signature remains totally individual, and I love them.
Tove is established as a name, and especially for an approach to clothes which I will shorthand as “grown up.” The pieces aren’t, however, classic and dull; they’re not minimal, and they’re certainly not conservative. The huge curved belt, the shoestring shoulder straps, the drapery, and soft separates are all designed to appeal to an attitude and approach to getting dressed that is more elegant and confident. There is no power dressing or hard edged tailoring. The ivory embossed crocodile leather coat just wrapped and was worn with a neat black pant, the neutral sleeveless slub weave top was shown with black leather pants, and the French navy top and pants had a white lining peeping out at the neck and hem of the top. Some beautiful, sexier dresses in drape or slender lines, the odd statement piece such as the sugar pink dress or the totally fringed pieces and you have designers, Holly Wright and Camille Perry, showing they know exactly how to create, balance, and edit a beautiful collection.
Sometimes the mood of a collection is all-important to reviewers; it establishes the clothes and the designer’s narrative, why and how it looks like this or that. Pauline Dujancourt had several narratives, both creative and personal but for me the clothes stood up without knowing any of this. They are beautiful, intensely worked with tulle, mousseline and fragility written across the collection. It had a slightly balletic feeling and softness, and movement was important even in the most heavily constructed pieces. Using white and black, along with some intense lies from vibrant azure to hyacinth held the collection together strongly. Or me the final three looks, with the most examples of Dujancourt’s knitwear skills on display were the star looks. Fragile and yet sculptural that had a Midsummer Nights Dream feeling as though glimpsed in an imagined world, fragments of different techniques were collaged into these looks and they had an intensity to them that was truly special.
Toga – An established name on the London schedule Toga has the ability to make a piece look different with a twist or an embellishment often in unexpected ways. Ever since their first season they’ve demonstrated an ability to offer great clothes, original ideas without resorting to overstatement or ostentation. This season they again sent seemingly conventional, or classic looks down the catwalk which held surprises but without exaggeration. Proportions were played with, trailing spirals of fabric, sleeveless but with twisted fabric around the armhole, belted waist and hips in the same look, a long shirt over an even deeper basque. A slender red knitted sweater was worn with a hipster flared scroll print skirt, a fitted black zip front bodice had a white handkerchief ruffle bursting from the top, a narrow classic shirt expanded into wide folded pleat trousers. It’s a game of design ingenuity and its clever because it’s wearable and not aimed at fashion trends, it’s Toga.
Patrick McDowell is couturier, but it seems this was ready to wear, anyway the finish is exquisite. The black embroidery appeared to float above and around the fabric on several white pieces, but it was the way he used white in so many looks. A slender single buttoned shirt jacket with white embroidery discretely placed, worn with a blurred flower print skirt, the same print as a sleeveless jacket worn with a white tulle many layered ballet,, in this case Giselle, skirt, a single buttoned shaped jacket worn with white trousers with a glimpse of ruffled under panniers, white with black tulle encasing it where the folding of the tulle created “stripes” and a white full skirted suit with a single black rose embroidered. In a beautiful collection this transformation of a classic colour into something special was terrific.
Chopova Lowena – flounced and frilled, twirl and twist, this collection exemplified happiness and a kind of folklorique exuberance that for many women is missing from what one might call mainstream fashion. It felt intense and wonderful; each piece must take hours of work to assemble all the rows, layers, and pieces. I hope some of it is from deadstock or limited runs since I’m sure each piece might be embellished differently. Festival dressing might be one tag to hang onto these pieces, but I felt collectables, one off and special was how I viewed it. It’s for a specific customer; it is a touch eccentric and yet it’s timeless.
Mark Fast – his knitwear and extraordinary inventions remain at the heart of his work and craft is the key. There have always been three key areas for British fashion; tailoring, ball gowns, and knitwear. Mark is of course Canadian, but he trained in London, and his combination of tradition and experiment brings a real verve to his work, I first discovered his work as he graduated and have never lost sight of his career. Although he uses other fabrics and offers a complete collection, for me it is his extraordinary inventiveness in knitwear that constantly excites and impresses. The black knitted bra top shown with a black pants suit was sexy goth as was the black top and trousers with wild fringes. The neat little dresses in lemon fizz or shell pink were lovely and the use of the rib lines on tops and trousers were simply effective. But then Mark has always taken knitwear away from safe and cosy into special and seductive.
Mithridate – when a designer has a great pedigree of past work, it’s always exciting, if nerve-racking, to watch their next step. Fortunately, Daniel Fletcher is a designer with a sharp editorial eye. It’s all in the perfectly cut and proportioned pieces, real fashion clothes assembled into top to toe looks but easily adsorbed into an existing wardrobe, styled by the customer and never with exaggerations to build in seasonal obsolescence. This was his second full season at the label Mithridate.the colours were truly lovely in the balance and proportion; lemon, chocolate, rose and pistachio in one look is just an example. The shirts in pale city stripes peeping out from underneath a layer, the tones of the bags just slightly chalky or off classic, the use of shimmer with matt and the slightly Public-School pieces like rugby shirts and blazers mixed with a blouson. Surprises included a beautiful puffball skirted dress and a fringe tie short work with damask shorts! It offered a confident designers view of how one might get dressed, how to look stylish but not overworked, and how in 2025 understatement is anything but boring. Congratulations.
Kyle Ho– in all the discussions on masculinity and gender we sometimes forget the dandy heritage, be it Elizabethan or Regency. Although Kyle Ho showed a collection of modernity he also took in the bow, ruffles, and frills against strict tailoring of so much dandy dressing. The perfect shirt or the best cut trousers is as much a part of a beautiful wardrobe as the basic white t-shirt. This collection exuded rigour and a strict attention to both the edit of pieces and the finish. Savile Row standards and couture quality such as the huge taffeta bow at the back of a look or the plumes quivering on a tailored jacket. Congratulations.
I was blown away by the collection of Jawara Alleyne, apparently “inspired by the carnivals he grew up attending in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.” The joyous uptempo feeling in the current world global and political situation was a tonic, plus this isn’t just runway tricks, there’s a real fashion designer’s mind behind the looks and pieces. Firstly, the colour sense is dramatic and eccentric with some combinations veering towards the expected but others swerving into the mad. The layering and the shredding into “fringe” is over almost overloaded but as you take time to inspect the top to toe look it becomes clear that it’s possible to extract pieces and place them with basics, classic or vintage to personalise the designer’s vision. The black, white and yellow madras check pants attached to a turquoise yoke, with a matching shirt jacket worn with a t shirt embroidered with ribbon strips into a flower, or the T-shirt reconstructed with a sheer front and an overlayered vintage print panel, plus wide pants and white fringe tassels were simply great. But each look grabbed one’s attention, and the black bodiced dress with lime green ruffles cascading down plus a throw of lime and white was a look simply asking to be taken partying and dancing.
Mentions must be made of Maximilian Raynor, whose collection was exciting and interesting with the fringe element, so strong this season both in the classic sense and in ribbons of cut fabric, was strongly personalised. The collection looked vibrant, alive, and offered potential for the future. S’raniour offered a thoughtful and brilliantly conceived collection where the story and intellectual process was one hundred percent relevant to understanding the clothes. Made as adaptable to many sizes, ages, shapes, and genders, using carefully sourced fabrics this was fashion for the future, fashion as a a laboratory. It is almost toiles but elevated. Hengdi Wang offered a futuristic view of fashion but with her own individual creative flair. The collection managed beautifully to combine armour, futures and special, with beautiful, elegant looks, great finish and construction so balancing the story between pieces for models, performers and influencers, and fashion for special occasions. It was magically presented and thought through, a strong collection with future promise.
Finally, we must mention the arrival of Laura Weir as Chief Executive of the British Fashion Council. Laura has been out and about, talking, watching and attending as much as is humanly possible. Her knowledge and understanding of fashion from high street to couture, and her experience of the British fashion industry means she can be more than a figurehead or a representative, she is part of the business. Welcome Laura to your first hectic season, and welcome London Fashion Week to a brilliant “comeback” with full on fabulousness of variety; collections, events, on schedule, off schedule and day and night activity.
