| London Fashion Week | |
| Genre: | Fashion catwalk shows and surrounding events |
| Frequency: | Semi-annually |
| Location: | 180 Strand, London, United Kingdom |
| First: | 1984 (39 years)[1] |
| Attendance: | Over 5,000 press and buyers |
| Organised: | British Fashion Council for the London Development Agency with help from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy |
| Website: | http://londonfashionweek.co.uk/ |
London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London, UK, twice a year, in February and September. The event showcases over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers. It is one of the "Big Five" global fashion weeks alongside Milan, Paris, New York, and Tokyo.[2] [3] [4]
Organized by the British Fashion Council (BFC) for the London Development Agency with help from the Department for Business, Innovation, and Skills, London Fashion Week first took place in February 1984.[1] Lynne Franks had influenced the idea of putting together the London shows into a schedule.[5]
It currently ranks alongside New York, Paris, and Milan as one of the 'Big Four' fashion weeks.[6] It presents itself to funders[7] as a trade event that also attracts significant press attention and benefits taxpayers. Over 5,000 press and buyers, with orders of over £100 million.[8] A retail-focused event, London Fashion Week Festival, takes place immediately afterward at the same venue and is open to the general public.[9]
During SS16 (shown September 2015) and AW16 (shown February 2016), British Fashion Council made the decision to host the designers' showrooms at the 'Vinyl Factory', situated at the active car park in Soho, off Brewer Street.[10]
Following increasing numbers of anti-fur protesters, the London Fashion Week held in September 2018 was the first major fashion week to be fur-free.[11]
Since its inception in 1984, London Fashion Week (LFW) has utilized various official venues. The inaugural event in March 1984 took place in the car park of the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington, featuring 15 catwalk shows from designers such as Vivienne Westwood, David Fielden, Ghost, and Betty Jackson.[12]
In September 1984, LFW moved to the Duke of York’s Barracks on King’s Road, remaining there for three seasons before relocating to Olympia in March 1986.[13] The early 1990s recession prompted another move, this time to The Ritz Hotel in 1992, where Alexander McQueen showcased his work for the first time since his graduate collection.[14]
By 1994, the official venue shifted to the grounds of the Natural History Museum, with marquees set up for runway shows and showrooms. In September 2002, LFW returned to the Duke of York's Headquarters on King’s Road, but due to planning permission issues, it relocated to Battersea Park in February 2005.[15] [16]
In 2009, Somerset House became the new venue, hosting LFW until September 2015, when the event moved to the Brewer Street Car Park in Soho.[17]
The venue was changed again in February 2017 to the Store Studios at 180 Strand, where LFW remained until February 2020.[18]
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of physical shows in September 2020. The first LFW event with a live audience post-pandemic was in June 2021. Since then, the British Fashion Council (BFC) has adopted a hybrid digital-physical approach, resulting in no official LFW venue since February 2020.[19]
In 2009, Burberry returned from showing in Milan to showing in London and the show was live-streamed. This began an era of “see now, buy now” shows. In spring 2010, London Fashion Week became the first of the “Big Four” fashion weeks to offer designers showing collections on the catwalk at Somerset House the opportunity to broadcast their shows live on the Internet.[20]
In June 2012, the British Fashion Council launched London Collections: Men, styled LC:M, which included Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter shows. By June 2015, LC:M had 77 designers showing, a 67% increase since its launch in 2012.[21] The event's name was changed to London Fashion Week Men's for the Autumn/Winter 2017 collections, which launched in January 2017, to better reflect the event's growing consumer focus.[22]
Following London Fashion Week each season, the 4-day London Fashion Week Festival (LFWF), formerly known as London Fashion Weekend, offers a consumer-orientated fashion week experience.[23]
Held at The Store Studios, 180 The Strand, LFWF allows consumers to shop a curated edit of designer collections at show-exclusive prices, sit front row at catwalk shows by London Fashion Week designers, get a head start on the key trends of the coming season and listen to talks by industry experts.[24]