The British Fashion Council announces the (provisional) return of LFW
Today, the British Fashion Council (BFC) announced the provisional schedule for London Fashion Week (LFW) September 2020. The gender neutral showcase will run from Thursday 17th to Tuesday 22nd September 2020 and include both digital activations on their website and physical events, adhering to Government guidelines on social distancing.
The proposed schedule will host over 80 designers in a mix of digital and physical activations including 40 womenswear, 15 menswear, 20 menswear & womenswear and 5 accessories brands. There will be a total of 50 digital only activations, 21 physical and digital, 7 physical only and 3 designers who will activate through a physical evening event only.
The LFW digital platform, launched in June, will continue to serve as the Official Digital Hub and will be freely accessible to everyone, industry professionals and global fashion consumers alike. The platform will host exclusive multimedia content from designers and brand partners, enabling collaboration and bringing together fashion, culture and technology.
LFW is one of the few global fashion events still operating, proving the industry’s resilience, creativity, and innovation in difficult times. Now more than ever, the BFC acknowledges the necessity to look at the future of LFW and the opportunity to drive change, collaborate and innovate in ways that will establish long-term benefits, develop new sustainable business models and boost the industry’s economic and social power.
The British Fashion Industry faces enormous challenges due to the impact of COVID-19 and the BFC is working closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to mitigate these challenges and support a sector which in 2019 contributed £35 billion to the UK economy and employs over 890,000 people (Oxford Economics, 2020).
THE LFW DESIGNER SCHEDULE
This season, the schedule has been split into three sections and includes brands showing digitally, physically or both. All digital activations, will be accessible here
The BFC worked very closely with DCMS to establish guidelines on social distancing to guarantee the safety of both the guests and those working at the physical events.
LFW September 2020 will kick off with Burberry, hosting a livestream on Thursday 17th September.
Brands showing with both a digital and physical presence are Bethany Williams, Bora Aksu, Christopher Kane, David Koma, Edeline Lee, Emilia Wickstead, Emilio de la Morena, ERDEM, Eudon Choi, Fashion East, Halpern, Kaushik Velendra, Mark Fast, Molly Goddard, Osman, Paul Costelloe, PREEN by Thornton Bregazzi, PRONOUNCE, Temperley London, TOGA and Victoria Beckham.
Physical events this season will include a hybrid of appointments, exhibitions, presentations, and socially distanced catwalk shows. Internationally celebrated brands Eudon Choi, Molly Goddard and Victoria Beckham will return to the schedule with salon shows/presentations while brands including Christopher Kane, David Koma, Edeline Lee, Emilia Wickstead, ERDEM, Halpern, Margaret Howell, Paul Costelloe, PREEN by Thornton Bregazzi, ROKSANDA, Sharon Wauchob, Simone Rocha, Supriya Lele, Temperley London and TOGA will present their new collections by invitation-only appointments.Bora Aksu, Mark Fast and PRONOUNCE will be hosting socially distanced catwalk shows. Bethany Williams, Emilio de la Morena, paria /FARZANEH, Osman, University of Westminster MA Menswear are also planning physical activations on-schedule. Agne Kuzmickaite, Cyberdog X Kappa, Ingrid Kraftchenko and Kaushik Velendra, will activate through physical evening events.
Designers with a digital only presence include 16ARLINGTON, 1×1 Studio, 8ON8, ACCIDENTAL CUTTING, ART SCHOOL, BIANCA SAUNDERS, Burberry, Charlotte Knowles, Choose Love, CONSTANÇA ENTRUDO, DANSHAN, Edward Crutchley, EFTYCHIA, Feng Chen Wang, FYODOR GOLAN, Hill & Friends, Hillier Bartley, Jamie Wei Huang, JORDANLUCA, JW Anderson, KIKIITO, Liam Hodges, Luna Del Pinal, Lupe Gajardo, L.Y.P.H., Marques’ Almeida, MARRKNULL, Matty Bovan, MAXXIJ, Misa Harada, Natasha Zinko x DUOLtd X G-Shock, NAYAL, On|Off Presents…, palmer//harding, Per Götesson, Phoebe English, QASIMI, RÆBURN, Richard Malone, Richard Quinn, RIXO, Robyn Lynch, SONIA CARRASACO, Stephen Jones Millinery, Susan Fang, Typical Freaks, Vinti Andrews, Vivienne Westwood and Xander Zhou.
One thing is for certain, this LFW will prove to be one of the most exciting to date – and will undoubtedly usher in a new era for fashion in the UK and around the world.
UP NEXT: The museum with X-ray Vision…