London’s turn on the runway after New York

By

Florent Gilles

Published
Feb 13, 2013

London Fashion Week starts this Friday with its usual ambitious and eclectic roadmap. For five days, the British Fashion Council and its partners will spare no efforts to show off London as a world capital of fashion, even if they have recruited talent outside the United Kingdom.

Three Parisian labels — Calla, and Michaela Buerger Lahssan — were invited this year by the BFC to present their next collections to buyers and the press in the Somerset House, the nerve center of London's Fashion Week. All three are represented by the agency M&K, which has been active in promoting French talent for three years now. The initiative is part of The Exhibition showroom, organized by the British Fashion Council from February 15 to 19 and bringing nearly 60 international designers through their agents. Each Other, another brand out of Paris, is also participating and will screen a film of its next autumn-winter collection.

London Fashion Week boasts a retinue of stars like Burberry, Paul Smith and Mulberry as well as newcomers at the top of their craft, such as Christopher Kane (recently acquired by PPR), Jonathan Saunders, J.W. Anderson and Peter Pilotto, to name a few. Several brands have sent themselves off to the grand gala being held in London to follow in the footsteps of Topshop. Such as River Island, which will show its first Rihanna ready-to-wear collection for the press on Saturday. The collaborative creation will be available on River Island's store network and website in March 2013 and will mark the pop star's debut in the world of consumer ready-to-wear.

On the luxury level, Joseph stores will launch their first collection of handbags under their own label. And the premium ready-to-wear line Whistles, now available in France at Printemps Haussmann as of this season, will walk the English runways as the brand Issa has successfully done in recent years. Also highly anticipated is the first presentation of Tom Ford womenswear for the press and photographers on the evening of February 18 in an as yet undisclosed location.