As the youngest of the four major fashion weeks, London has produced a large number of fearless fashion minds in just 35 years. That's how it all started...
From the luxury and sensuality of Milan to the craftsmanship of Paris, each of the "Big Four" fashion capitals exudes a very special vibe. London, on the other hand, is full of bold imagination, with designers specialising in unspoken rebellion, dramatic performance and the blurred line between art and commerce.
Of course, the categories being described don't perfectly capture all the characteristics of any of these cities (which host countless designers during their twice-yearly fashion weeks), because the reality is much more complex. London's fashion history does seem interesting and bold, though.
From the swinging Sixties represented by Mary Quant, Ossie Clark and Barbara Hulanicki's Biba, to the punk of Vivienne Westwood and the dark, dramatic vision of AlexanderMcQueen, London has a long history of creating extraordinary design. Among fashion capitals, London is also the youngest city to have a fashion week, which officially began about 35 years ago.
The start of London Fashion Week
Many people have claimed to have laid the groundwork for London Fashion Week, including fashion publicist Percy Savage. Australian-born Savage, who helped raise the profile of Lanvin and Yves Saint Laurent in Paris before moving to London in 1974, held his first London show, The New Wave, at the Ritz, followed by the London Collection. The main participants included designers such as ZandraRhodes and BruceOldfield, with special invitations for Princess Margaret and Bianca Jagger to sit in the front row.
However, London Fashion Week as we know it today was born in the following decade, with the founding of the British Fashion Council BFC in 1983, followed by the first London Fashion Week officially held in 1984.
The first Designer of the Year award was held in the same year, and the first winner was Katharine Hamnett, who later infamously caused a sensation when she met MargaretThatcher wearing a T-shirt bearing the anti-nuclear message "58% of people are against nuclear weapons".
Hamnett got what she wanted when Thatcher reportedly screamed like a chicken and the photographer captured the moment.
The first show of London Fashion Week was held in a car park. The car park of the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington, to be precise.
For the rest of the 1980s, the venue and Kensington Olympia hosted designers ranging from Ghost and Betty Jackson to Jasper Conran, Then there's the young John Galliano (whose 1989 show saw Kate Moss make her catwalk debut at age 15).
The London fashion scene at the time was heavily influenced by clubs, counterculture and forward-looking design. Fashion brands like BodyMap, with their distinctive looks and diverse models, have paved the way for much-needed change in the industry, which even today some brands have been slow to deliver.
But the establishment embraced the scene, with Princess Diana hosting a reception for a host of designers at Lancaster House in 1985 and often wearing British designer clothes at home and abroad.
The boom and bust of the 1990s
The 1990s were not an easy decade for London Fashion Week. With the recession and waning interest, the event featured only a handful of designers at the Ritz in 1992.
However, it was also during this period that designers such as Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney appeared, making their debuts in 1992 and 1995 respectively.
For the latter, her collection is unlike any ordinary graduate portfolio, and McCartney has also invited supermodel friends Kate Moss, YasminLe Bon and Naomi Campbell to walk for her.
In 1993, Campbell also walked the catwalk topless for PhilipTreacy, which made for a particularly memorable moment at London Fashion Week.
That same year, she crossed the English Channel and fell on VivienneWestwood's vertiginous blue runway at the British export.
In 1993, the BFC's NEWGEN program to support and nurture budding designers was also established. Then in 1994, when it was time to move to a different venue, most of the exhibitions were moved to the Natural History Museum grounds.
Although London has lost some key talent (McQueen left for New York in the late 1990s, while others were hunted away by French design houses in the early 2000s), many brands have flourished, Among them are Matthew Williamson, John Rocha and Julien Macdonald.
Several designers, including Julien Macdonald, fully captured the public's affection for the Spice Girls when he sent Mel B down his runway in 1999 wearing a bright pink belt.
The sky is the limit
As the new millennium approached, Hussein Chalayan (already popular for his avant-garde approach to costume design) put on a show that transformed background furniture into wearable clothing. A model walks into the center of a coffee table, which then shrinks into a triangular dress, and the show culminates in such an incredible sight.
And, like those concentric wood rings that expanded upwards, the next decade was a vast and exciting time for new designers. From Christopher Kane's neon lights to Gareth Pugh's gothic, angular costumes, With a host of new names including Jonathan Saunders, Erdem Moralioglu, Mary Katrantzou and RoksandaIlincic, a new generation of sartorial talent has regained London's reputation.
What's more, in 2009, heritage brand Burberry returned home from Milan and streamed its show to an eager online audience the following February. Other designers returning to London in 2009 include Matthew Williamson, Paul Smith and Luella, and the year Somerset House hosted LFW for the first time, showcasing fashion in its beautiful building. The model's heels clicked on the cobblestones in the courtyard. The move coincided with the rise of the street style, with a handful of wandering photographers rapidly developing into an ever-expanding group in the years that followed.
Since then, LFW has made more than two venue tweaks: first a brief stop in another car park, then on SOHO's Brewer Street, and finally settling in at Store Studios in the Strand.
As with other fashion capitals, however, more and more shows have been taking place off-site in recent years, at venues ranging from the TateModern TateModern to the Royal Courts of Justice to bespoke venues such as the Burberry Craftsmen's House in 2016.
London's amazing design talent continues to flourish, with a host of designers and design features, including Molly Goddard's tulle and pleats, Matty Bovan's imaginative creations and Wales Bonner's masterful tailoring, ensuring that London Fashion Week is a new experience every year.
