City-wide London Fashion Week marks 40th anniversary in style

As London Fashion Week turns 40, London showcased its position as a global cultural capital and home to a world-leading creative community through a week-long programme celebrating fashion creativity.

The LFW40 celebrations included a 'Love Letter to London' film from Femi Koleoso of Mercury Prize winner (2023) Ezra Collective. Launched on Valentine's Day, the short film featured participation from iconic London’s creatives including Allan Mustafa, Bimini Bon Boulash, Clara Amfo, Foday Dumbuya, Grace Carter, Headie One, Kojey Radical, Kosar Ali, Mahalia, Saul Nash, Sebastian Croft, Tan France and Victor Kunda. (Watch it below)

The schedule for the week featured more than 60 schedule designers, 40-plus catwalk shows, 14 presentations, 45 events and 18 digital activations available on the official Digital Hub, londonfashionweek.co.uk. This season included eight designers activating as part of the DiscoveryLAB which was established in 2018 to support very emerging designers who do not yet meet the main schedule criteria.  Participating designers included ALA TIANAN, Amber W.Smith, DENIS HOWLHITA, KYLE HO, LAURA PITHARAS, Nyland Studio, Rhyzem and Savvas Alexander.

Newcomers to the LFW schedule included dunhill and COLVILLE. The schedule welcomed back Dilara Findikoglu and Marques'Almeida. BFC NEWGEN designer DERRICK made his catwalk debut having presented his collections digitally on schedule in the past. The BFC NEWGEN Show Space returned to The Old Selfridges Hotel, thanks to the generous support of Selfridges.

As part of the BFC’s ongoing support for emerging design talent and Ukrainian Fashion Week, LFW presented three Ukrainian designers; J’AMEMME, GASANOVA and TAMAR KEBURIA. This initiative was launched by Ukrainian Fashion Week to support designers in Ukraine following the war.

During the week, LFW also opened the London Stock Exchange on Thursday 15th February to underline the significant economic impact of the creative industries. Recent figures from Mintel show that UK womenswear sales were estimated to be worth £31.9 billion in 2023. Mintel valued UK menswear sales at an estimated £15.6 billion in the same year.

To celebrate and raise awareness of LFW40, some of London’s most iconic landmarks (including the Covent Garden, London Eye and Royal Opera House) were also lit up green.

A programme of events and activities open to the public ran alongside the LFW schedule. This season, the programme consisted of 500 activations across 180 brands - these included exclusive panel discussions, pop-ups, DJ sets, discounts, designer Q&A sessions, personalised gifts, collection launches and creative workshops.

More details here.

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