London fashion week
A fashion week is a week of events, shows and runways put up by the fashion industry in order to enable top designers to showcase their designs for the coming season. Traditionally, only buyers were admitted to the fashion week but lately, it has become a major media event with live music, celebrities, press and charity events. Well known fashion design schools also participate in the fashion week. There are also exhibitions displaying accessories and cosmetics.
The first fashion week was held in New York in 1943 at a time when Paris, the fashion capital of the world was immersed in World War 2. Eleanor Lamber, a fashion publicist, organised a Press Week event for the purpose of showcasing American fashion for the media. This turned out to be a big success and has been continued in the various fashion capitals of the world. Since the 2000's, fashion weeks have been held in various parts of the globe. There are also genre-specific fashion weeks for swimwear, ready-to-wear, couture, bridal wear and so on.
Last year, the London Fashion Week was scheduled for 16-23 September 2007 and was followed by the London Fashion Weekend where collections from more than 130 designers were put up on sale at highly reduced prices.
This year, the London Fashion Week sponsored by the British Fashion Council, was held from 11-16 February 2007 and was a huge success with orders worth 40 million and media coverage worth 24 million. The event brought more than 100 million worth of business to London. With 49 designers showcasing their models on the catwalk and over 200 designers in the exhibition, the London Fashion Week proved beyond doubt the talent of London fashion designers. The event was a huge media success with the mixture of traditional, innovative and unique designs. Compared to September 2006, the buyers increased by 20% and the media coverage by 10%. The exhibition was held from Monday to Thursday and consisted of ready to wear, bags, belts, hats, scarves, shoes, jewelry and other fashion accessories by top designers. The catwalk shows were held from Sunday to Friday.
The events within the event were also successful. The New Generation sponsorship, established in 1993, acts as a launching pad for budding fashion designers by helping them to showcase their talent and attract the attention of the fashion media. NewGen has been instrumental in making the careers of such designers as Anonio Berardi, Julien Macdonald and Sophia Kokosalaki. This year Osman Yousefzada, Meadham Kirhoff, Ginta, Jojo & Malou, Todd Lynn, Richard Nicoll, Roksanda Ilinic, Husam el Odeh, Erdem, Swash and Modernist were the designers exhibiting in NewGen, which was sponsored by Topshop. Fashion East is another such program that was set up in 2000 to help new designers to showcase their talent on the runway.
Another event that made the news was Fashion Forward which was established in September 2006 to give support to British designers who have made their debut in the NewGen program. The support is mainly in the form of cash to fund catwalk shows. Sponsored by Westfield, a retail property group, Fashion Forward sponsored the designers Giles Deacon, Jonathan Saunders and Sinha-Stanic this season.
Designers and Agents (D&A) was started by Barbara Kramer and Ed Mandelbaum in order to showcase America ?s finest accessory designers. The designers featured at the D&A in the London Fashion Week were Enshallah, French Sole, Soixante Neuf, Julie Brown, Marika Charles, Robin ?s Jeans, Tai Rittichai, Julieri, S-Sung, Podoll, Her Look Enterprises, June, Raven Denim and Melissa Joy Manning.
Esthetica, established last year is an ethical place and aims to showcase eco-friendly high fashion labels. Esthetica exhibitions are for brands that follow the ethics of fair trade, organic production and recycling. Held in the Natural History Museum and co-curated by From Somewhere, Esthetica sponsored designers such as From Somewhere, Ethical Fashion Forum, Wildlife Works, Enamore, Davina Hawthorne, Gary Harvey Creative, Terra Plana, Katherine E Hamnet, Junky Styling, Makepiece, Charmone, Ciel, Fifi Bijoux, THTC, Mumo, Again NYC, Maria, Entermodal, Unicorn Design and Element 23. Esthetica comes with The Ecologist\'s guide to ethical fashion which is sponsored by Marks & Spencer\'s and answers questions in the fashion world related to ethics, quality, prices and ecology.
According to the British Fashion Council, the exhibition this season photographed by Chris Moore attracted more first timers, more green labels and more American and international designers.
Other initiatives were the inaugral London Preview, the Letter from London, a mail sent to top international buyers and press, and the international guest program. All these along with the main events and the special events made the London Fashion Week a success for both established and emerging designers, buyers, media, and the general public and customers. And last but not the least, other events concurring with the London Fashion Week were BAFTA, BRIT presenting the Best International Artists, The Face of Fashion exhibition for fashion photographers, etc.
All this has made London a fashion hotspot and proved that the city can hold its own in competition with major fashion capitals like Paris, Milan and New York. The number of designers supported, the huge media hype and the amount of revenues generated proves that the London Fashion Week is good for fashion designers, good for fashion and good for London.
Other Articles
