Colin D Gordon

“The fashion industry’s reckoning has arrived. With concerns surrounding waste,ethical treatment of workers and inclusivity, the status quo is no longer sustainable”. This declaration by the Huffington Post’s lifestyle commentator, Jennifer Barton, in September 2020 and her prediction that the brands would need to “pivot quickly” to stay relevant and desirable accurately anticipated the changing attitudes of consumers regarding how they shop and the clothing they buy.

The British Fashion Council (BFC) in particular and the sector in general has taken due note of the fact that “more of the same” is no longer enough. As the Guardian correspondent, Lauren Cochrane, observed on the first day of LFW SS24 (15-19 September), attendees at the shows “should expect to see something different from the familiar format of models walking down a catwalk”. Ballet dancers, live musical performances and artistic extravaganzas, she pointed out, this time would feature prominently in the schedule of 111 physical and 36 digital activations, along with the participation of 82 designers and 137 brands.

What the BFC depicted in its advance press release as “a festival of creativity and innovation” certainly confirmed that this was a fundamentally different occasion from the first LFW in 1984, held in tents in a car park outside the Commonwealth Institute in Kensington, West London. Who could have foreseen then that, in September 2023, a Spanish inventor of an experimental pattern cutting method, Eva Iszoro, would be presenting a collection using artificial intelligence (AI) in combination with virtual reality?

Or

that a nightclub opposite the River Thames, “Proud Embankment”, would be the 

location on Sunday 17th September for a three-hour showcase and panel discussion on sustainability (“Green is Gold”) organised by the environmental group “London Organic”? Their objective, they emphasise, is to make fashion more ethical, inclusive and diverse, hence their 

events reflect their values by including wheelchair-bound, transgender, disfigured, plus-size and able-bodied models from every race, gender and religious belief. Among the six panelists was Karen Gray, the managing editor of Atmos magazine, which is “devoted to ecological and social justice” and Laura Vehanen, the Brazilian co-founder of “Bearth Solutions”, whose mission is “empowering consumers to assess the environmental impact of the choices they make”.

Similarly, the “Latin Notes” Show at the “Crypt On The Green” in Clerkenwell on Monday 18^th September presented by “Anciela”, whose creative director is Jennifer Droguett Espinosa , from Medellin in Colombia, addressed themes like immigration,identity and “our shared responsibility towards the environment”. This event was concluded by one of the models giving a rendering of a Colombian song accompanied by a trumpet.

That same day, the Evening Standard’s Fashion Director, Victoria Moss, urged the newspaper’s readers not to forget that the “rampant churn of fashion production” comprises 10% of total world carbon emissions, that 85% of all textiles go to dumps each year and that in Chile, “there’s a pile of discarded clothes so big that it can be seen from space”. In her view, overproduction is one of the most insidious parts of the fast fashion industry, but that “thankfully, the new crop of London designers have one thing in their sights – reducing the environmental impact of their creations”.

Meanwhile,the cost of living crisis, high rents in London and the impact of Brexit on supply chains are all, in the opinion of Jonathan Anderson (the Northern Irish owner of the JW Anderson label, quoted by the Evening Standard columnist, Alexandra Jones on 18^th September) making running a fashion business in Britain quite complicated. He considers that, with so much “red tape”, it’s an almost impossible situation for young designers who want to 

become famous quickly. A major  factor, according to both Paul Souber of the property consultancy Colliers and the independent designer Edeline Lee in the ES Journal

on 13^th September, is that the removal in 2021 of VAT-free shopping has made purchases in the UK 20% more expensive for international visitors and so put London at a competitive disadvantage with other European cities.

None of this, of course, deters the most dedicated fashion aficionados from trying to get access to as many catwalks as possible. Obtaining a ticket or invitation, however, is difficult without a connection to the fashion industry, though if you’re a blogger or influencer you can try to convince the designer’s press contact that you should be     allowed to attend.

Another option, suggests fstoppers.com, is to make friends with someone already in the queue and so get in with them on their ticket. The only problem with that is, once a venue’s capacity is full, those still waiting outside are refused entry, as happened with the Prophetik catwalk at the Burlington Arcade W1 on 14^th September.

Stevie Rowley, a contributor to the the French fashion magazine “L’Officiel”, noted on 7^th May that the invitations themselves can often be quite glamorous and elaborate because they play an integral role in expressing the theme of the show.

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