8 Reasons To Love London Fashion Week

Words by Emma Davidson

London Fashion Week first found its feet way back in 1984. Long after Paris, Milan, and New York were fully established (but before Copenhagen), LFW came bursting onto the scene – the baby of ‘the big four’, it’s come to be known as the bolshy, scrappy little sibling, whose vibrant subcultures and DIY spirit come to life on the runway. It’s also the place that pretty much turned me on to my career in the industry. Every Sunday night, my fashion-loving mum would plonk me down in front of The Clothes Show, where we’d sit enraptured by catwalk shows and reports on strange trends sweeping the country.

Fast forward to 2022, and LFW is just as exciting. In fact, I’d go as far as to say it’s my favourite city of the four. It’s where I found my feet as a wide-eyed fashion writer without a clue, and where I went to my first ever show (In case you’re wondering, I cried. Lol.) It’s where I grew as an editor, and most importantly, where I became part of a brilliant community of people who love fashion as much as I do. A breeding ground for heavyweight legends like Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Kim Jones – to name but a few – London is also the city that can’t stop turning out rising stars. Just look to the likes of Wales Bonner, MAXIMILIAN, KNWLS, Nensi Dojaka, Bethany Williams, and Ahluwalia if you’re in need of proof.

But it’s not just what’s happening on the runway that makes London Fashion Week so special. As the city kicks off AW22 season, I’ve rounded up eight reasons to love LFW…

Shop The London Fashion Week Edit

Sure, Milan might have Prada and Versace, and Paris might have Chanel, Dior, and… okay, just about every other historic maison you can think of, but London has a bunch of its own heavyweights, too. Burberry, synonymous with British heritage, slices and dices with creative director Riccardo Tisci’s streetwear-inspired flair, reinventing the brand’s iconic check season after season. Simone Rocha and Molly Goddard, once bouncing Fashion East babies, are now revered around the world.

Seriously, we’re still dividing up menswear and womenswear in the year 2022? Not on London Fashion Week’s watch. In response to the global pandemic you *may* have noticed sweeping the world, LFW took stock and decided we’re better together. This means menswear on the women’s schedule, womenswear on the men’s schedule, and a whole lot of collections that blur the lines between the two – or better yet, obliterate the line completely. Looking at you, Stefan Cooke, Saul Nash, and Feng Chen Wang.

Remember that time Mel B stomped down the catwalk at Julien MacDonald’s SS00 show? Nothing short of iconic. Since then, we’ve seen Skepta storm Nasir Mazhar’s runway for SS15, Drag Race superstars Bimini Bon Boulash and Tayce take a turn for Richard Quinn, Lena Dunham make an appearance at 16Arlington, and living London legend Harry Freegard do a lap of Rottingdean Bazaar’s show with a cardboard cut-out of Naomi Campbell tucked under his arm. Does that count? Hedge your bets as to who we’re going to see for AW22 – my money’s going on Julia Fox. Given her penchant for black leather, I can just see her in a MAXIMILIAN lewk. Just as long as it’s not Gillian McKeith again…

What would London Fashion Week be without the likes of Lulu Kennedy? Having founded nonprofit talent incubator Fashion East while everyone was busy worrying about the Millennium bug, in the two decades since she’s turned out some of the most brilliant designers around. Seriously: the list of alumni reads like a who’s who of British fashion (and beyond) – think Martine Rose, yuhan wang, Grace Wales Bonner, Robyn Lynch, and JW Anderson, as well as the busiest man in the biz, Kim Jones. Always the most chaotic, bonkers show on the schedule, it will forever be my fave, and I can’t wait to see what Jawara Alleyne, Chet Lo, and MAXIMILIAN – who after this season flies the nest – come up with for AW22. 

London is home to some of the most hallowed fashion schools on the planet, so it makes sense that the city would go right ahead and dot their graduate shows across the official LFW schedule. Like freshly-hatched chicks blinking into the light, students from Central Saint Martins, London College of Fashion and Westminster University all take a turn at sending their final collections out onto the catwalk each season, before they head out into the big wide world and figure out how to make it in the industry. With creativity running wild sans the realities of commercial constraints, expect to see the unexpected. Past shows have seen students envisage their own funeral, whizz down the runway on scooters, and imagine what a collection might look like were Margaret Thatcher to team up with Katie Price in the design studio (the result of which will remain etched in my memory until the day I myself expire). 

…And I’m not talking about the catwalk this time. Rather, London Fashion Week is the place to see the very best street style. Where Milan’s all about high-octane glam, and Paris is all about polished full looks, LFW has retained the punky, DIY spirit that first permeated its streets when Dame Viv was finding her feet in the 1970s. It’s scrappy, experimental, and a bit messy, and we love it all the more for that. Pitch up outside a café close to fashion week’s Oxford Street hub, or grab a table at Chiltern Firehouse and settle into some excellent people-watching – from the cool kids in Robyn Lynch, Marques’Almeida and Conner Ives’ Frankenstein t-shirt dresses, to the fun-loving fans of 16Arlington and Richard Quinn, to Poster Girl and KNWLS’ cocktail-sipping party people.

Speaking of party people, whether it’s in a grotty little basement bar or a slick destination hotel with champagne a-flowing, you’re pretty much guaranteed a good time at a LFW afterparty, where’s it’s not so much about preening and peacocking as it is about having fun and getting messy… which perhaps us Brits do a little too well. One thing not to love about London Fashion Week? The misery that comes the morning after the night before. A new LFW-themed collab to consider next season? Burberry X Berocca (you heard it here first.)

Gone are the days when editors were locked away in a salon to take in the latest fashions. In 2022, everyone’s invited. With LFW going digital in the midst of the pandemic, it’s stuck to a hybrid format now things are opening back up again. Should your invite have gotten lost in the post, you can watch most of the shows from the comfort of your own sofa. We’re witnessing the democratisation of the fashion industry, baby – and we love it.

Shop The London Fashion Week Edit

Emma Davidson is the Fashion Features Director at Dazed.

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