Take a glance through this season’s London Fashion Week schedule and you’ll quickly see that some of the capital’s favourite brands are missing: JW Anderson, 16Arlington, Chopova Lowena, Nensi Dojaka, Ahluwalia, Knwls… plus Molly Goddard, who was also absent last season. Some of the most buzzed-about designers in recent seasons aren’t showing, either, including Aaron Esh, Karoline Vitto and Johanna Parv.
The challenging economic landscape is undoubtedly one reason for this. “We’ve decided not to produce a show this season because the market is very uncertain right now, with everything happening in the world,” Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault, co-founders of Knwls, tell Vogue. “We have a lot of exciting things planned for September, so we prefer to focus our energy and resources on building towards that moment, which makes more sense for the company.”
Indeed, the large financial cost of putting on a show – which can be anything northwards of £60,000 – means that an increasing number of designers are opting out of doing one every season. “Several direct and indirect costs of doing a fashion show have gone up recently, so [it] simply doesn’t feel compatible with the reality we have as a small brand at the moment,” says Karoline Vitto, who is releasing a lookbook and video this season, as well as planning a pop-up in spring. “What we realised is that we can also look for other ways of celebrating our community and creating these moments throughout the season without necessarily showing.”
16Arlington, meanwhile, is also exploring a new format this season. “Fashion is about change, and we saw an opportunity to explore how the brand exists beyond the runway,” creative director Marco Capaldo explains. Along with a fashion shoot by photographer Ethan James Green to showcase the collection, the designer will host a dinner for some of the brand’s biggest supporters, who will be wearing his new autumn/winter 2025 creations. “A fashion show lasts 15 minutes, but dinner fosters real connections and offers time to appreciate the collection both through photography, and seeing the clothes in the environment they were designed for,” Capaldo continues.
Aaron Esh, too, is putting on a dinner in lieu of a show to celebrate the brand’s new capsule collection of 10 dresses, which will be available to buy immediately. “It’s launching a different type of business model that runs alongside our wholesale business, so it feels as big a moment as a runway show,” he says. “I think that doing a dinner with the team, friends, press and collaborators feels just as special.”
Indeed, sustainably-minded designer Patrick McDowell was surprised by the response to the dinner he hosted, in partnership with mycelium start-up Evocative, ahead of London Fashion Week. “I was a bit scared that coming away from the traditional format wouldn’t be received well, but in fact it has been the opposite,” the designer reflects. “It seems that people are craving intimate connection. Seeing all of those people having a great time and feeling amazing in our pieces was the tonic I needed this season.”
Beyond exploring new formats, deciding not to show every season also allows young designers to focus on building different areas of their business. Take Chopova Lowena, which has been showing once a year for the past three years, and launched its new fragrance line last month, or Ahluwalia, who has this season partnered with Pandora to create six designs that can be engraved on the brand’s jewellery in-store.
For Karoline Vitto, working out a production strategy has been a key focus for autumn/winter 2025. “I took on a big task last year, which was moving our production to Brazil, where I am from, and finally holding stock,” the designer explains. “Until now we have been solely a made-to-order brand, and everything was made in London by our small team, which is a process that is very dear to me, but it’s not a sustainable one in the long run.”
Similarly, Johanna Parv – who has created a short film this season – also feels there are other priorities for her brand right now. “I think it’s really important as a growing business to think about other areas of the brand to invest in, which enables us to sustain and continue to meet customers and community at different touchpoints that are all as vital as a big fashion week moment,” she says. “This season we were able to hold an intimate showcase for industry at my Paris showroom, where we got that real time interaction with the collection and met with key buyers and media.”
Of course, there will always be a place for a show, with both Conner Ives and Dilara Fındıkoğlu returning to this season’s schedule, after deciding that an annual showcase works best for their eponymous brands. Increasingly, though, young designers are coming to the realisation – as the pandemic made clear – that holding a catwalk presentation every single season isn’t necessarily the best, or the most sustainable, move. The show needn’t always go on.
