"Fashion is not just about shows and clothes. Fashion gives us a preview of society’s next chapter. It’s time to write a new story together," said Laura Weir, the new CEO of the British Fashion Council, at last night's summer party. And with that, she announced a new and particularly exciting action plan to put British fashion—and, importantly, London Fashion Week (LFW)—back on the map.
After all, as any fashion fan will know, LFW has been rapidly losing talent to the likes of Paris and Milan for several seasons now—Victoria Beckham, Stella McCartney and Paul Smith among them.
This, Weir says, is "not because of a lack of creativity, but because of a lack of infrastructure to support our designers to make, create, show and importantly, to scale in this country." So, she has a solution. Designer members will no longer need to pay to showcase at London Fashion Week this September. There will be an increase in scholarship funding for the next generation of designers. The ever-successful BFC NEWGEN programme has secured another three years of funding. And, in a bid to give British designers a global stage, investment in the international LFW guest programme has doubled.
Plus, led by Sarah Mower—one of the world’s most respected fashion critics—we’ll see the pilot of the BFC Fashion Assembly, taking designers back to their former schools across the country to inspire the next generation to consider a career in fashion.
With the key aim of making UK fashion a nationwide mission—not solely focused on London—while creating an environment where designers can truly thrive, we could soon be seeing a British fashion boom. Here’s hoping.
