London Fashion Week is one to watch. It may not have the megawatt celebrity appearances of New York, the legacy houses of Milan or the historic maisons of Paris, but who needs that when the city has got the freshest, coolest and rawest of talents? London kickstarted the careers of countless major designers, and it’s here where the future is being designed—literally. So, in typical fashion, this season had CSM-alums like Yaku Stapleton and Luke Derrick , among others, present their sophomore collections for their respective eponymous labels.
Rihanna’s new favourite designer Jawara Alleyne also presented off schedule. The buzziest presentation (so far) has arguably been eBay’s first-ever fashion week show. Secondhand fashion took over the runway, with pieces available for purchase straight off the catwalk.
Models were dressed in combinations of impossible-to-find archival pulls and new fashion, courtesy of some of the Kingdom’s biggest names, from Alexander McQueen to Martine Rose. All that ensued was a perfectly timed, monumental ode to the 40th anniversary of London Fashion Week. As the days progressed, cult-favourite designers Simone Rocha and JW Anderson introduced new collections through their eponymous labels.
Rocha’s hyper-femininity design codes have become quite the sensation every season, drowning audiences in schoolgirl bows , roses and the exaggerated hips she loves to build. And the blockbuster show of the season? Obviously Burberry’s. The British her.