London Fashion Week cheat sheet: Spring/Summer 2025
“This season, the schedule is jam-packed,” says Rush. “I always look forward to Burberry and to see designers such as 16Arlington, Ahluwalia, Chopova Lowena, Erdem, KNWLS, Richard Quinn, Roksanda and Simone Rocha.”
There are also a swath of newcomers this season. Fashion East graduates Standing Ground (who won the first-ever Savoir-Faire LVMH Prize on Tuesday) and Parv are putting on their first solo shows. Vitto’s London debut will also be highly anticipated; the Brazilian designer skipped AW24, but the memory of her SS24 collection still holds strong (she presented her first solo show in Milan under Dolce & Gabbana, and tapped Ashley Graham to walk).
Other newcomers include artist-turned-designer Steve O Smith, French knitwear designer Pauline Dujancourt (who was a finalist in this year’s LVMH Prize) and menswear designer Yaku Stapleton (who nabbed the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award at Central Saint Martins).
New York darling Puppets and Puppets will host its debut London presentation. The brand made headlines after founder Carly Mark announced earlier this year that she would halt ready-to-wear and move operations to London.
For Lueder, it’s a homecoming as well as a debut. The Royal Academy of Arts graduate showed digitally at LFW in 2020 under DiscoveryLab, but recently showed her SS25 collection at Berlin Fashion Week. “I got accepted for Newgen five days before I got accepted for Berlin, so I knew from early on that I would be doing two shows,” she tells Vogue Business from her East London studio. Her show on Saturday will be an “evolution” of the Berlin collection, she says. “London gives a more commercial platform. Berlin felt more like being an artist who works in fashion.”
“The BFC Newgen designers always blow me away,” says Rush. She notes that the Newgen criteria has changed, which may be why there are “quite a few debuts” this season. “This year, we have moved away from standard criteria, such as minimum stockists, as a way to ensure that creative businesses with varied business models can showcase at London Fashion Week,” she explains. The shift is notable given that many London brands are still struggling following the closure of Matches. In October, the BFC will publish a report, titled ‘Commercialising Creativity’, to encourage new business models, particularly when it comes to building out a direct-to-consumer channel.
“The industry is rapidly changing, and criteria that were once relevant no longer reflect new ways that designers show and sell their collections,” Rush says. “It felt important to us that the schedule reflects the current environment, supports designers and different stages of business, and continues to showcase the best of fashion talent to an international audience.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
New York Fashion Week cheat sheet: Spring/Summer 2025
Related
Five British fashion brands taking the US by storm
Like the Beatles before them, a slew of British brands are taking the US by storm with their whimsical dresses and cosy knitwear.The Guardian’s journalism is
