Autumn/Winter 2025 was a quieter season at London Fashion Week (LFW). The schedule was noticeably slimmer as a number of brands cancelled their shows or moved to alternative formats. British designers are still grappling with the closure of Matches, ongoing challenges associated with Brexit and the pandemic, and rising costs — forcing them to rethink how they show up at fashion week. But if there’s one thing London excels at, it’s rising creatively to a challenge.
“It’s been a tough time, not just for fashion but for our economy generally — a combination of a hard Brexit, the pandemic and, frankly speaking, a weak economy,” Mayor of London Sadiq Khan told Vogue Business at the opening of the new London Fashion Week Shop on Saturday. “Each year, fashion contributes more than £32 billion to [the UK] economy, and we have more fashion universities than any city in the world, so it’s really important to celebrate the success but also support some of the designers who are rising and emerging. It’s really important we’re optimistic because when you speak, as I do, to the mayors of Milan, Paris and New York but also the designers from those cities, they look at London with envy.”
Despite the headwinds, there were many highlights this season. Following his womenswear launch last season, SS Daley continued to go from strength to strength, while LFW tentpoles such as Roksanda, Erdem and Simone Rocha all delivered strong collections. Dilara Findikoglu delivered one of the most magical moments of the season so far, a show laden with pearls, shells, hair and a tattooed tan leather dress. Ashish returned to the London runway with a characteristically colourful show. While many of the city’s young designers showed their ability to world build: Completedworks’s live-shopping scenes to Edeline Lee’s martial arts, Labrum’s concert at Abbey Road Studios, Tolu Coker’s immersive presentation that honoured the process of creating collections, Kazna Asker’s souk, ELV Denim’s celebration of circularity and Paolo Carzana’s manifesto of radical hand-madeness (a term bestowed on the collection by Vogue’s Sarah Mower).
As usual, Burberry’s star-studded show on Monday night drew a crowd — this time, members of the public queued along the the blustery banks of the River Thames to watch VIPs arrive at the Tate Britain art gallery. A cast of familiar faces modelled the clothes, from models like Naomi Campbell, Erin O’Connor and Lila Moss to actors including Richard E Grant, Jessica Madsen and Lesley Manville. For the collection, creative director Daniel Lee was inspired by Londoners on a Friday evening exodus to the countryside. “Think of them as weekend escapees,” he said in the show notes. The show drove 773,500 engagements on social media, according to social media management platform Sprout Social.
“I feel that London really showed up this season,” says Bosse Myhr, buying director at Selfridges. “In London, as buyers, we always look for creativity, and I really think Fashion East made a really good start on Friday — Louther was really great. Huishan Zhang has really grown his collection as well. On Saturday, Labrum at Abbey Road Studios was a real highlight — putting fashion and music together was very emotive and moving. Another highlight was the 16Arlington dinner, which was 1980s-inspired — matching a collection I think our customers will really love.”
A mood of uncertainty
Some brands who remained on schedule said they were concerned about the perception of showing on a schedule that was quieter, while others noted it’s been easier to get sponsorship and press attention because of the lack of competition. There’s also been a lot of debate about the future of LFW’s February edition, with some claiming London and New York should scale back and only show in September.
In response, the British Fashion Council’s outgoing CEO Caroline Rush tells Vogue Business that LFW will continue with both the February and September editions. “The suggestion that it should be September only is a clickbait comment,” she says. “What we should be asking and focusing on is how we can lift up our community and support and connect our designers with [resources] that can help their businesses grow and LFW to thrive. [LFW] is a much-needed platform for designers and consistently the source of global innovation and creativity that plays a key part in the success of the UK.”
In her speech at the BFC’s Newgen drinks event, Sarah Mower, who is Vogue’s chief critic and the BFC’s ambassador for emerging talent, spoke to London designers’ creativity and resilience. She called for “non-cynicism” and embracing “creativity”. Stylist, consultant and creative director Karen Binns, who hosted the drinks reception with Mower, added in response to the claim that LFW should scale back: “In every [fashion] house in the world, they pick people from London on their team. That’s why they’re blazing, that’s why they’re on fire, that’s why they’re making money.”
Some designers say the Autumn/Winter shows are more important for their brand, particularly knitwear brands like Chet Lo and Pauline Dujancourt. “Winter is a bigger season for us as the brand is based on knitwear, so I wanted to do something that would have a bigger impact. Perhaps next season I will go back to doing a presentation,” Dujancourt says.
Acknowledging the challenges of the current climate, the BFC was intentional about creating commercial opportunities like the aforementioned LFW Shop for designers this season. “[The LFW Shop was] about supporting the young designers and giving them another outlet, getting them in front of the public who might not be aware of them,” says Ida Petersson, former Browns buying director and co-founder of brand strategy and creative agency Good Eggs, who curated the shop with Lewis Bloyce, creative consultant and former menswear buyer at Hypebeast. “It’s a great way to get people to touch and feel and try things on.”
The challenges have also sparked debate about how to support the next generation of talent. Olly Shinder, who returned for an unprecedented fourth edition at Fashion East, told Vogue Runway that overhead costs (like paying rent, staff and factories) are the biggest challenge and that Fashion East’s Raphaelle Moore suggested if the BFC were to create a factory, it could help young designers to produce their pieces. “This [collection] is a fantasy. I’m showing and saying this is what I could do. But the reality is, am I really going to be able to produce it? Probably not,” Shinder said.
Designers re-imagine formats to cut costs
In the shadow of these challenging times, designers did things their own way this season, putting on dinners, unique performances and presentations in lieu of traditional fashion shows. Not only were the alternative formats entertaining, but they were a positive sign that London designers are putting their business first rather than sticking to a traditional model that may not be working for them.
“It is no secret that it is a challenging environment for designers with constantly increasing costs and logistical challenges at play. In response to that, we have seen how truly dynamic the LFW platform is, with designers embracing new showcasing formats,” says Rush. “With so many moving parts and obstacles at play, designers need to be dynamic and incredibly strategic in their choices on how, when and where to focus budget and present their collections. It is important that we support designers in making the right choices for them and that we continue to provide options for showcasing and connecting with the UK and international media and retailers while thinking about opportunities for businesses to diversify revenue streams.”
“Fashion week is like fly fishing. You have to keep throwing your rod in, and you might not always get a bite, but you might eventually if you keep trying,” London Fashion Week veteran Paul Costelloe, who has managed to keep going through various periods of socio-economic headwinds for more than 40 years, told Vogue Business after his show.
ELV Denim’s presentation featured each step of its circular supply chain, from sourcing, washing and grading to pairing, cutting and sewing. Founder and creative director Anna Foster says her aim was to create “a fully transparent presentation, to prove that beautiful luxury fashion can be produced at scale from post-consumer garments and textiles”. Likewise, Tolu Coker transformed the BFC show space into a pop-up atelier complete with toiles, sewing machines and rolls of deadstock fabric. By the entrance, attendees were asked to consider: “What if we honoured the process as much as the final piece?”
Other designers used unique presentation formats to celebrate their culture and community. Kazna Asker’s presentation transported guests to the souks of the Middle East and corner shops of Britain, and featured books from independent stores, traditional Yemeni silver jewellery, drums, chai, Arabic coffee and dates. “I really enjoy creating a world in which the garments exist and allowing the audience to directly engage with the people who inspire me every day,” says Asker. Labrum London’s presentation was a concert featuring British grime veterans Akala and Ghetts, hosted at Abbey Road Studios. “Music plays a crucial role in shaping style across generations, influencing how we dress, express, and celebrate our identity. The sounds of reggae, grime, Afrobeats and more ripple through the streets of London, tremendously impacting the fashion scene,” Labrum founder and designer Foday Dumbuya says.
Instead of hosting a show, rising star Talia Byre presented a lookbook for AW25 alongside a presentation, which was hosted in an intimate space in Marylebone. That allowed the brand to invest more money into creating more elevated lookbook imagery. “We would rather reduce the output and make the imagery more elevated,” the designer tells Vogue Business after her presentation. “For me, it’s also important to connect with people — I don’t think you can just shoot a lookbook and put it out into the world; it’s important to still meet with people and show people the collection in real life.”
Performance brand Alo staged a huge wellness activation at the One Hotel Mayfair throughout the week, providing facials, IV drips, massages and healthy food for showgoers, heavily attended by influencers and editors.
Several of the city’s most promising talents, including 16Arlington, Aaron Esh and Feben, opted to do brand dinners for press, buyers and their celebrity brand communities this season in lieu of runway shows. Feben’s dinner, held at The Standard, was inspired by her Grey Gardens-inspired AW25 collection, and guests were treated to a performance from long-time brand fan Jorja Smith. “Times are hard right now for everyone,” the designer said the following day at her presentation, “It was a nice change to have a dinner. I can’t afford to do both a show and a lookbook shoot, so this season, we prioritised a shoot.”
From sombre to sassy: The trends to note
Perhaps reflecting the challenges London’s design community is facing, there was a sombre mood felt across many of the AW25 shows this season, even from designers who typically favour bright colours. Sinead O’Dwyer replaced her usual neon palette in favour of burgundy, black and white, Chet Lo’s show featured a lot of black and dark jewel tones, and three of the Fashion East cohort presented more pared-back, austere collections. It’s also partly a commercial play: O’Dwyer says she was intentionally thinking about “colours and materials that could be integrated into the wardrobe with more ease”. Elsewhere, Ashish’s show might have been technicolour and sequins, but his signature slogan T-shirts, which this time read “what a shitshow”, “pig” and “not in the mood”, also reflected the mood.
In terms of product trends, designers played with layering and volume this season, with bubble skirts at Keburia and SS Daley, maribou and frill trims at Conner Ives and slashed, striped polos and hoodies layered atop one another at Jaware Alleyne. Paolo Carzana’s show, which took place in a London pub, featured heavy, intricate layering in a range of colours. Fur continues to dominate the season, spotted at Simone Rocha, Conner Ives and Roksanda. And culottes, cropped trousers and breeches were another key trend, spotted at Denzilpatrick, Keburia, Chet Lo and Conner Ives.
Other designers re-imagined Britishness and riffed on their heritage. SS Daley’s show opened with a clip about London style from the 1981 documentary This is London before models walked to a soundtrack of The Smiths and Siouxsie Sioux. “I wanted to do the show today to celebrate London,” founder Steven Stokey-Daley said backstage. The collection reinterpreted British suiting and outerwear archetypes. “This season, we started with a desire to investigate the archetypes that carved out the idea of a very British wardrobe, so taking the donkey jacket or the duffel coat or the trench coat and creating our very core everyday version of those,” he said.
Byre’s collection was inspired by the British schoolgirl, featuring check print shirts, skirts and a tweed jacket. Fashion East’s Louther and Labrum London also presented strong outerwear with nods to British heritage (such as duffle closures), in line with the outdoorsy mood we saw across the AW25 menswear shows.
Striving for a more responsible and inclusive LFW
For Labrum London’s Dumbuya, reimagining Britishness requires an acknowledgement of multiculturalism and the value immigrant populations have brought to the UK. “It’s about honoring heritage while embracing the ever-evolving identity of the UK — a kaleidoscope of influences brought forth by the vibrant tapestry of immigrants who have made this land their home,” he says. “[Immigrants] bring traditional textiles that tell stories of distant lands, layering them with the craftsmanship that British tailoring is renowned for.”
In January, the BFC announced its plans to adopt Copenhagen Fashion Week’s mandatory sustainability requirements for brands showing on schedule, albeit only for Newgen designers. Rush says the BFC has received a positive response about the sustainability requirements.
However, emerging brands have mixed feelings about the change. “It was a reminder to slow down and make fewer pieces because you have to meet the sustainability standards,” says Lueder founder and creative director Marie Lueder. “The sustainability issue feels very overwhelming and makes you feel quite guilty. It’s a lot of bureaucratic work when young brands are often just one or two people.”
Several Newgen designers say they would like to see the requirements rolled out to larger brands. “It’s a really positive step forward, but I also think we need to do better,” says Coker. “A lot of emerging designers are already creating with sustainability at the forefront, either because of our values or out of necessity and a lack of resources. I would love to see bigger brands with bigger footprints held to the same standard. When young designers try to design against the tide of the industry they have inherited, it causes more challenges.”
While we’re seeing a general backslide in inclusive casting, some designers prioritised inclusivity this season. Sinead O’Dwyer, who recently became an LVMH Prize 2025 semifinalist, characteristically featured mid-size, plus-size and disabled models. Meanwhile, Chet Lo, SS Daley and Roksanda partnered with non-profit Hair Care to make their shows accessible to blind and visually impaired guests.
As Rush leaves her post as CEO, she says she is “confident that the BFC will continue to drive innovation, diversity, and sustainability, further solidifying London s reputation as the capital of creativity”.
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