London Fashion Week launches with ode to gender-fluid designs

London Fashion Week (LFW) opens on Thursday with designer Harris Reed’s striking silhouettes celebrating gender-fluid fashion, kicking off a slimmed-down schedule with several absentees.

The LGBTQ British-American designer and creative director at Nina Ricci
will showcase designs from his eponymous label, which he describes as
“Romanticism Gone Nonbinary”, in one of the most electrifying shows of the LFW
autumn/winter 2025 calendar.

Reed’s distinctive, theatrical designs, often involving wallpaper panels
and even vintage upholstery, are set to descend on the runway at London’s
iconic Tate Britain art gallery.

The 28-year-old designer behind the tulle skirt worn by Harry Styles on the
groundbreaking Vogue US cover in 2020 has caught the eye of celebrities from
Lil Nas X to Adele and Beyonce. His fan base grew further last year when he styled actor Lily Collins in a
viral black-and-white striped catsuit for the popular Netflix show “Emily in
Paris”.

From Friday morning, regulars of the event organised by the British Fashion
Council (BFC) will take over the runways, including Erdem, Simone Rocha,
Richard Quinn and Roksanda, before closing with the Burberry show on Monday
evening.

The brand with its iconic tartan print, which is going through a difficult
period, is the subject of rumours about the departure of its creative director
Daniel Lee, who arrived a little over two years ago and has struggled to
modernise the house.

Lee could be replaced by English designer Kim Jones, who left Dior Men at
the end of January after seven years, according to several media reports.

One confirmed absence from London’s runways will be JW Anderson, the label
by Northern Irish designer Jonathan Anderson, who is also the creative
director at the Spanish fashion house Loewe.

The timing is likely not a coincidence, with the designer, named the 2024
Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards, reportedly poised to take
the reins at Dior.

‘Challenging time’

For the first time, this year young designers who are part of the BFC’s
NEWGEN programme will have to describe how their collections comply with
minimum sustainability standards.

The BFC, which funds this incubator for emerging talent, is following in
the footsteps of the smaller, eco-conscious Copenhagen Fashion Week, which has
adopted the policy since 2023.

This new framework is due to be eventually rolled out across all LFW
brands. The BFC also announced in November it was banning the use of wild animal
skins, such as alligator or snake, following its ban on fur in 2023. However, the move was largely symbolic since none of those showing at LFW
used exotic skins.

Luxury brands which still use snake or crocodile skin leather like Hermes,
LVMH and Prada do not show at LFW, which has seen an exodus of big-name brands
to Paris, Milan and New York in the last decade.

This edition of LFW has been shortened by one day compared to the 2024
Autumn-Winter collections, marked by the absence of young designers like Molly
Goddard and Sinead O’Dwyer.

Independent designers Dilara Findikoglu and Conner Ives, on the programme
this time, have limited themselves to one show a year, while others like
16Arlington and Tolu Coker have opted for a dinner party or presentation
instead of a pricier runway.

BFC director Caroline Rush acknowledged it was “a particularly challenging
time” for British brands, which have been dealt several blows following the
pandemic, such as Brexit and last year’s closure of the global luxury online
platform Matches Fashion.

“We have been working very closely with those businesses and many more to
help get them through this challenging period,” she told AFP.

Diversity

Rush, who is organising her last London Fashion Week, said London Fashion
Week remains “so relevant because … we have so many small independent
businesses, they need a platform to be able to show to reach global audiences”.

She will be replaced by Laura Weir, creative director of British department
store Selfridges and a former journalist with British Vogue.

The UK fashion industry directly employs 800,000 people and contributes
almost £30 billion ($38 billion) to the economy, according to the Fashion
Council’s figures. And Rush also praised London Fashion Week for always “pushing the
boundaries”.

“I am sure the inclusivity and diversity that we see on the catwalk is here
to stay,” she added.