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Frieze brings a welcome jolt of life to London as the October gloom looms. Over its 22 years in operation, the art fair has arguably become the city’s flagship cultural event — with growing relevance for fashion, too. While there aren’t (usually) any runway shows, the number of branded activations, parties and impeccable dressers dashing about town is increasingly on a par with London Fashion Week.
Comprising two vast tents in Regent’s Park — Frieze London, which focuses on contemporary art, and Frieze Masters, which spotlights the relationship between historical and contemporary art — as well as an ample sculpture area, the fair is a highlight of the global art calendar. Within the tents, over 160 galleries at Frieze London and over 130 at Frieze Masters will present booths to an international audience of art collectors — and on the side, there’ll be more than enough dinners, cocktail soirées and parties to make the trip well worth their while.
Here’s what to expect from this year’s Frieze, which runs from 9 to 13 October.
A tricky financial climate
The market climate in which this year’s edition of the fair is taking place may slightly dampen spirits. The global art market is in a slump at present time, “with auction values considerably down and art fairs quite sluggish so far this year”, observes Melanie Gerlis, art market columnist for the Financial Times and art market editor-at-large for The Art Newspaper. A report produced by Art Basel and UBS documents a 4 per cent fall in the value of the global market in 2023 versus the year prior. “Frieze almost has an extra responsibility to brighten the mood — though there is only so much they can do,” Gerlis says.
Despite the market turbulence, Eva Langret, director of Frieze London, says September fairs like The Armory Show in New York and Frieze Seoul were previously positive. “All signs indicate that demand for high-quality art remains strong,” she notes, underscoring that Europe accounts for a third of the global art market, with the UK representing over half of that at 17 per cent. “These combined factors position us well to sustain strong engagement and sales moving forward, making it an ideal time for international collectors to visit London and Paris.”
Indeed, the impact of the renewed competition posed by the freshly rebranded Art Basel Paris, which opens just a week later on 16 October in the freshly restored Grand Palais, will be closely observed. While there are hopes of a multiplier effect, with international collectors taking the close programming as a reason to stop by — and spend in — both cities, concerns about a split crowd remain. “If there are people who ditch one for the other, that might give a sense of the limits of the art market at the moment,” Gerlis says.
While observing the sales over the course of the week ahead may seem like an intuitive way to get a temperature check, Gerlis notes that “it is always tricky to get a proper insight of the market during a fair. Galleries send out their ‘sales’ thick and fast, but we don’t know all the facts, such as whether or not these were already in the bag (which they often are).” Instead, a key point of observation will be the prices, “which have generally been lower than in the past, with most sales coming in below £100,000. This could be to the benefit of the younger, more cutting-edge art at Frieze London. But as buyers are more risk averse these days, that could go either way.”
The redesign
In an attempt to boost this end of the market, the Frieze London tent has undergone an ambitious redesign, with Focus — a section of the fair dedicated to presentations by emerging galleries like London-based Rose Easton and Athens-based Hot Wheels — repositioned at its heart.
“Visitors to Frieze London this year will discover a reimagined fair with a strong focus on solo presentations and emerging artists,” Langret says. “The decision to increase visibility for younger galleries aligns with Frieze’s founding principles of supporting the entire art ecosystem. By giving emerging voices a prominent platform, we’re doubling down on our dedication to facilitating the future of contemporary art. While major galleries and established artists will always have a central role at Frieze London, this focus on new talent offers collectors a more holistic experience and the chance to discover the next generation of influential artists.”
As well as facilitating discovery, the hope is that this will drive the fair’s very monied footfall towards galleries and artists disproportionately affected by the current market slump, particularly on Wednesday’s crucial VIP preview, when a significant proportion of sales is typically made.
More broadly, Frieze London has worked to cater to the top tier of its clientele with an expanded hospitality offering, including new additions to its tent, such as an outpost of the ritzy Mayfair private members’ club George. “For the first time this year, they are hosting a private dinner inside the Frieze London tent for collectors, which I think adds some glamour to the week,” Gerlis says.
The brand activations
Their status as a hive of high-net-worth individuals is, of course, also a large part of what makes art fairs catnip for fashion, lifestyle and finance brands. Arguably the contemporary blueprint for branded activations within the context of art fairs, this year’s edition of Frieze London is chock full of them.
Significant examples include a monumental multi-panel bark installation by artist Naminapu Maymuru-White in collaboration with Swiss watchmaker Breguet; the latest iteration of BMW’s Art Car initiative, painted by South African artist Esther Mahlangu; and a showcase of British artist Rene Matič’s work within the Deutsche Bank Wealth Management Lounge. And over at Frieze Masters, Dunhill has programmed a talk series featuring the likes of Mark Leckey, Jeremy Deller, Lou Stoppard and Nathalie du Pasquier.
“Frieze is uniquely positioned at the intersection of art, creativity and commerce, allowing us to offer a valuable platform for brands seeking to engage with art audiences,” Langret says. “These partnerships are mutually beneficial. For Frieze, it’s a chance to extend our reach beyond the immediate art world, tapping into a broader cultural landscape and connecting with audiences in new and innovative ways. For luxury brands, it’s an opportunity to align with the world of contemporary art and reach new audiences who value both artistic and creative excellence.”
More than marketing exercises geared towards heavy-walleted collectors, increasingly, such partnerships offer lifelines of support to both artists and galleries — which is especially appreciated at a time of market peril.
A particularly noteworthy brand-affiliated action is Stone Island’s ongoing sponsorship of the aforementioned Focus section of the fair, with the Italian brand covering up to 30 per cent of the booth fees for all 34 participating galleries. “Stone Island’s support is really meaningful for the Focus galleries because it actually reduces the fee from the fair — there’s a real-time reduction of thousands of pounds,” says Freddie Powell of Ginny on Frederick, an independent gallery in London’s Clerkenwell.
Beyond the tent
Of course, Frieze London is as much about what goes on beyond Regent’s Park as within it, and this year, there’s enough happening to, well, not quite lift the market gloom, but at least help everyone forget about it for a while.
Given the major international footfall, Frieze Week — and its run-up — are a popular time for institutions and commercial galleries to open their exhibitions, with Tate Modern’s Mike Kelly exhibition and the latest Turbine Hall commission by young Korean sculptor Mire Lee, Soft Opening’s Olivia Erlanger show and Project Native Informant’s Juliana Huxtable show, among the noteworthy recent openings. At No.9 Cork Street — Frieze’s permanent exhibition space in the depths of Mayfair — Marco Capaldo, creative director of British luxury brand 16Arlington, has curated Memories of the Future, an exhibition featuring works by Rhea Dillon, Alexandra Metcalf and George Rouy, in collaboration with Paris-based gallery Almine Rech.
While the exhibition is signed under Capaldo’s name rather than his label’s, it’s nonetheless an apposite reminder of the increasing permeability between the worlds of fashion and art. At 16Arlington’s most recent show, staged during the Spring/Summer 2025 edition of London Fashion Week, the space was punctuated with giant metal flower sculptures by Jesse Pollock, whose work features in the exhibition. It isn’t the first time that Mayfair’s Almine Rech has worked with a fashion designer, either; the gallery released a series of books in collaboration with Paris-based designer Louis Gabriel Nouchi in April this year.
Rather than commercial motivation, though, the exhibition was born out of Capaldo’s passion. “Art is something that I’m very passionate about and that I am drawn to,” he says, “and this is something that happened very naturally. It just organically came to life. I’ve been in constant dialogue with Thibault [Geffrin, Almine Rech’s senior director] for over a year, and he’s been an incredible source of knowledge. The gallery really gave me carte blanche. It’s been an amazing experience.”
More explicitly branded events taking place in town include a talk hosted by Burberry and System Magazine between photographer Gabriel Moses and hip hop artist Loyle Carner, and another by Milan-based brand Del Core in collaboration with Flash Art. In Mayfair, the Mount Street Neighbourhood Arts Festival will play host to a retail pop-up by the Sarabande Foundation and House of Bandits at 5 Carlos Place (the former home of Matches) and will be aiming to incentivise shoppers to stop by local stores, including Erdem, Marni and Dr Barbara Sturm through a specially commissioned map by artist Sainte Maria.
Elsewhere, Paul Smith is opening a virtual reality-enhanced gallery space at its flagship on Albemarle Street, Stone Island will be hosting an official Frieze London dinner on Wednesday evening, and brands big and small — like Loewe and SS Daley — will be throwing parties throughout the week.
And you thought fashion week was busy.
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