Jonathan Anderson is skipping the Autumn/Winter 2025 season: his eponymous brand JW Anderson is missing from the London Fashion Week (LFW) schedule, while Loewe, of which he is creative director, sat out from the Paris Men’s schedule in January. For the upcoming Paris womenswear season, the brand will host a co-ed presentation, rather than a runway show, on 10 March.
Aside from sparking speculation about Anderson’s next moves, his absence raises the question: which London designers have what it takes to reach the level of Anderson one day?
“The great thing about fashion is that we all go out of fashion,” Anderson said when accepting the Designer of the Year Award at the British Fashion Council’s Fashion Awards in December. “There are loads of jobs to be taken downstairs, so come and get them.”
We spoke to industry insiders about the qualities Anderson displayed in his early years that pointed to his potential, how the landscape has changed since then and which London designers could be the next big thing.
Seeds of success
Anderson grew up in Northern Ireland and moved to the US as a teenager to pursue acting, but fell in love with costume design instead. He returned to Ireland and began working at department store Brown Thomas, then moved to London to attend the London College of Fashion. After graduating in 2005, he was hired to work as a visual merchandiser for Prada. In 2008, he launched JW Anderson.
His early collections were immediately met with critical acclaim: in an early review for Vogue Runway, Tim Blanks called his designs “twisted and clever”, while The New York Times’s T Magazine said one of his collections had “raw energy but was well developed and produced”. Anderson took part in Lulu Kennedy’s talent incubator Fashion East for SS09 and AW09, before joining the British Fashion Council’s (BFC) incubator Newgen in 2010 and 2011. Soon after, he caught the eyes of Pierre-Yves Roussel (CEO of LVMH Fashion Group at the time), who tapped him to lead Loewe as creative director in 2013 while buying a minority stake in JW Anderson. Since then, Anderson has completely revamped Loewe, once a small leather goods label that lacked direction, into one of LVMH’s fastest-growing labels, all while continuing to develop his own house — a feat few designers have successfully managed.
The reality is that there will never be another Jonathan Anderson — the great talents of the future will be equally unique. But Anderson displayed early signs of potential that critics still look for in up-and-coming talent today. “It was really obvious from the beginning,” says Sarah Mower, Vogue’s chief fashion critic and the British Fashion Council’s ambassador for emerging talent, who played a key role in helping Anderson launch his career. “He had a strong instinct for clarity. He made really desirable clothes that were easy to understand and not overcomplicated, but had a layer of context on top. A lot of people have great concepts, but they can’t do the other bit — making an amazing shirt or a simple merchandised series.”
Kennedy says Anderson’s “ambition and self-belief” set him apart when he was starting out. These are traits she also saw in Kim Jones (previously Dior Men) and Maximilian Davis (currently Ferragamo), too. “It was clear to me from the very start their innate love and feel for fashion — coupled with strong work ethic and building loyal teams around them — would see them go far with their own brands. When designers like that step in their roles at luxury houses, they make respecting and reinterpreting house codes seem effortless.”
Anderson was always self-assured, adds Mandi Lennard, brand strategist and founder of creative agency Mandi’s Basement. “With Jonathan, he never pandered to the industry, he was creating his own ideas,” she says. “Jonathan knows who he is and he knows what he likes, as opposed to following and looking at what everybody else is doing,” adds stylist, creative director and consultant Karen Binns. “His first show did not look like a student show. He wasn’t overexcited about what other students were doing, he wasn’t trying to build a community, he never worried about what’s going on in the club. Whatever he did was him, and it was presented in the cleanest and most precise form.”
In addition to his design capabilities and clarity of vision, critics say Anderson’s clothes are connected with art and culture — and it’s that context that gives even the simplest of clothes depth. “Jonathan talked about his grandfather, who was in textile manufacturing in Northern Ireland, so he would go to factories, and his grandfather would also take him to antiques markets, so he was just drinking in all this information about history and art as a kid,” says Mower, adding that he was the first designer she came across who was active on Instagram.
Binns says it’s important to note that not every designer can be a creative director. “For me, a creative director is well rounded on how to sell something with the full story, and a creative director has knowledge. A creative director should have already changed your mind about how to wear clothes,” she says. “With Jonathan, you knew if you gave him a chance, he’s smart enough. When you saw Jonathan’s shows you knew he read books, he understood art, he had depth, he was intelligent and had something to offer.”
Have times changed?
Kennedy says that for designers these days, it is important to market yourself and court the industry while also being open to new ways of operating. “A product that visually pops on social is important, as well as one that can be manufactured and sold fast before it’s copied. The old fashion calendar is losing some of its relevance — more and more we’re seeing designers selling out styles on their own e-commerce in less seasonal, more specific drops,” she adds.
The expectation for creative directors has also changed. “When Jonathan was hired at Loewe, he was very young and he was given the chance to grow and stretch his wings, and for his plans to be executed at Loewe, which wasn’t a big brand at the time,” says Mower. “That’s something we don’t see anymore — the time, the scope and the responsibility.” Most of the recent hires at established houses are of an older generation than Anderson was, she notes.
In order to allow designers to reach a certain level of success, investment and industry support is needed — perhaps more than ever. “The on-going and quite frankly outmoded idea of a creative director living on Pot Noodle in Dalston [London] is tired and does not really support working-class talent,” says Tamara Cincik, founder and CEO of industry think tank Fashion Roundtable.
There are also trade challenges that need to be addressed to support British talent. “Outside the EU it is challenging for brands to sell there and with the US tariff wars on top, we are facing the real challenge of losing these markets. So we need the government to work with the sector to act on our behalf against these penalties and also invest in incentivising UK-made-for-UK markets,” says Cincik, adding that the tax-free shopping scheme should also be reintroduced.
Next in line
In addition to new talent, critics and insiders say there are a number of independent designers who have what it takes to be successful as a creative director (if that’s what they want) and who haven’t been given the chance yet.
“I feel Roksanda [Ilinčić] should already be a creative director of a brand — she has more than enough receipts and professionalism and she’s dressed more than enough women, so I think she should be given a chance,” says Binns.
“Martine Rose has proven to have that inside magic when it comes to design and channelling everything that’s cool and subversive. It’s mysterious to me why she hasn’t been appointed somewhere,” says Mower. “What people have in London is individuality and communities that stretch beyond the micro, they have cultural equity. Same with Grace Wales Bonner — she’s embraced as an insider in the art world, she’s literate across academia. She can bring so much in a way that’s parallel to Jonathan, because it comes down to attractive, detailed, real clothes.”
Along with Rose, Bonner and Ilinčić, Kennedy also highlights Craig Green, Knwls, Stefan Cooke and Simone Rocha. “There was always a clear, precise aesthetic vision in their work from the start, and they’ve built strong foundations and real, relevant customer bases without gimmicks,” she says. “Despite being established, they should continue to be nurtured — thinking not just about showcasing, but about real long-term funding, subsidised studio space, retailers committed to the journey, investors looking beyond quick returns.”
In terms of newer talent, Binns and Cincik see potential in Paolo Carzana. “His use of natural dyes is excellent and with work on silhouettes has a Romeo Gigli feel, which is something I think in challenging times we could all do with more of, to feel cocooned and nurtured,” Cincik says. She also highlights Charles Jeffrey, whose “magical eccentricity makes you think and is core to strong British talent”. Lennard points to Marco Capaldo’s 16Arlington for his strong commercial capabilities and Tolu Coker for her solid brand narrative. Binns also adds that she has seen great potential in Maximilian Raynor, who showed off-schedule this season, and has been particularly impressed by his professionalism — a trait that many underestimate.
Mower says she can see SS Daley being co-opted to a big brand one day if that’s what he wants. “Steven Stokey-Daley speaks Britishness in a way that’s attractive internationally. He intersects with the LGBTQ+ community, his work is light hearted and real, and it’s intergenerational. He has that understandable language that travels: it comes down to an amazing pair of trousers and a jumper with a couple of accents on it,” she says. Because his label was launched during lockdown, he has an innate understanding of how to sell direct-to-consumer, she adds.
There are a number of designers working with new business models: Mower points to 2025 LVMH Prize nominee Steve O Smith, whose clothes are based on drawings, as well as Michael Stewart of Standing Ground, who is known for his sculptural jersey gowns. “They don’t want to sell to stores because the margins are not working for this generation, but there are wealthy customers all around the world who are ordering in-person from Steve and Michael,” she says.
Mower also says Yaku Stapleton, who debuted at LFW last season, represents the ability to “create a universe”, which she looks for in designers with the strongest potential. “His last presentation — being able to do a theatrical performance, a serial story involving lots of people and elements — was astonishing as someone who’s just come out the gate [he graduated Central Saint Martins with an MA in menswear in 2023],” says Mower.
Designers who are adept at building brand universes are able to future-proof their careers. “The thing British-art-school-educated designers have is their ability to create entire worlds with meaning and a purpose behind them — and, given time, to manifest that image-making into tangible product,” Mower says. This ability also allows designers to pivot to other forms of entertainment, whether it’s film or computer games.
Mower urges fashion week attendees to engage with new talent. “If people aren’t doing the groundwork and finding out about young people’s potential — if they’ve given up on that — then they’re not going to see the future coming.”
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