“These are challenging times for British fashion,” said Caroline Rush, the British Fashion Council’s (BFC) outgoing CEO, during London Fashion Week’s opening event on February 21. “Although we’d prefer the landscape to be different, one thing I know is that this community is resilient and creativity is heightened further when facing adversity.” It was a somber yet hopeful start to what was a shortened version of the biannual event, haunted by the ghosts of absent regulars yet uplifted by creative up-and-comers that have taken their place.
It’s no secret by now that participating in a fashion week is a costly venture. Though a select number of designers under the BFC’s NewGen initiative receive financial aid, and therefore take up many of the runway slots, others rely on sponsorships or must otherwise reconsider their priorities–whether that is to move to the more abundantly platformed Milan or Paris, or to skip out on shows altogether. For the autumn/winter 2025 season, it appeared that the latter took precedence.
Meaningful conversation at intimate dinners take precedence over costly runways
Some brands like Marques Almeida and Carlota Barrera were initially on the schedule and dropped out. Former mainstays, like Molly Goddard, Ahluwalia and Nensi Dojaka, were missing in their entirety. Others, meanwhile, chose to host dinner events in place of runway shows. Former NewGen participants 16Arlington, Feben and Aaron Esh were among those names, as was Patrick McDowell, who held his own intimate dinner in partnership with mycelium fibre company Ecovative, with which he celebrated the launch of a collaboration with biotech firm Huue.
In a press release, McDowell had said that this exit from a traditional format intended to “create a space for meaningful conversations”, adding that fashion was “as much about the people who wear it as it is about the garments themselves”. In a statement to Glossy, however, the designer also admitted to the heightened financial burden that comes with showing, particularly as “sponsorships just aren’t there like they used to be”. “A lot of marketing budgets have been reallocated, and that’s made it harder for smaller brands to justify the cost,” he told the publication.
Alternatively, what LFW does seem to be leaning into is its position almost as a breeding ground for new, high quality talent, many of whom go on to achieve global recognition before returning to the capital when the time is right. Harry Styles-backed S.S.Daley is a good example of such.
The LVMH Prize winner had last year shown in the prestigious guest designer spot at Florentine menswear fair Pitti Uomo, and this season made the last minute decision to return to London. Here, the designer, Steven Stokey-Daley, celebrated British heritage, drawing on inspiration from Scottish painter Francis Cadell–slogan knits, for example, which fell alongside quilted jackets and a trench-mac hybrid.
Ireland’s Simone Rocha is another to have already garnered acclaim on disparate stages, having taken to Haute Couture Week as the guest designer to Jean Paul Gaultier. This season, she reinstated her commitment to London in what was a celebration of the brand’s 15 years of life. For the collection, Rocha aptly looked back over this period to inform on her designs, many reminiscent of iconic looks from her past that were brought into the present day. Ribbon-adorned, lace up dresses were the cornerstone of the line, and conflicted with heavier leather bomber jackets and more tailored suiting seen elsewhere.
Despite being among the more established designers at London, Rocha also recognised the challenges faced by the industry today when speaking to Elle prior to the event. The designer touched on how participants could reframe the current landscape to their benefit, commenting: “Even though London is a smaller season, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be as strong. Nor does it mean that you can’t put your best foot forward. Fashion is a reflection of the times, and we are in challenging times. I think what’s necessary is figuring out how you navigate it and being willing to take risks, interpret things in different ways and take your time and do things that are right for yourself.”
Star power and theatrics inject freshness into stagnant surroundings
It could be that London designers are taking notes from Paris and Milan, where star power helps to uplift exposure and draw in fans beyond fashion itself. Rocha, for example, tapped Alexa Chung and Fiona Shaw, among others, as models for her show, whereas Harris Reed–who also serves as the creative director to Nina Ricci–turned to Florence Pugh for his own runway, held in Tate Britain. Pugh’s poignant opening monologue ushered in a string of designs evoking Reed’s now synonymous drama, with deadstock tailoring wool incorporated into 3D structures and etched gold details standing starkly among dark but fluid chiffon and tulle.
Ireland’s Simone Rocha is another to have already garnered acclaim on disparate stages, having taken to Haute Couture Week as the guest designer to Jean Paul Gaultier. This season, she reinstated her commitment to London in what was a celebration of the brand’s 15 years of life. For the collection, Rocha aptly looked back over this period to inform on her designs, many reminiscent of iconic looks from her past that were brought into the present day. Ribbon-adorned, lace up dresses were the cornerstone of the line, and conflicted with heavier leather bomber jackets and more tailored suiting seen elsewhere.
Theatrics played a part elsewhere in London. Fashion week regular Richard Quinn staged his collection of couture-like pieces within a snow-clad, Kensington-esque backdrop. Mermaid silhouettes and fluffy tiered gowns traversed the runway, framed as a love letter to the city itself. Jewellery brand Completedworks, meanwhile, relied on Debi Mazar to play a shopping channel host in the midst of a breakdown in a theatre production alternative to a fashion show. Such formats brought much needed change to a schedule that otherwise remained fairly stagnated compared to the escalating scales of shows elsewhere.
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