バーバリーがAゲームを持ち、ロンドンファッションウィークウィメンズウェアからのベストビットを日本にもたらす

On a BBC News segment shown this weekend (February 22), an anchor referred to London Fashion Week as a “fluffy” story. Seemingly, she’d not done her research: LFW and British fashion at large is anything but a bit of fluff – it’s a behemoth industry that bolsters the UK economy, employs millions, and puts London on the map as a hotbed for creativity and culture. The comment did a massive disservice to the designers who showed across the AW25 season – designers like Jawara Alleyne, Aaron Esh, Feben, Olly Shinder, Tolu Coker, Simone Rocha, and loads, loads more, who’ve poured everything into their collections and showed great resilience and ingenuity in the face of adversity, ranging from Brexit, to Tory cuts, to a lack of funding and support. And, beyond all that, there were some really fab clothes. As always, the Dazed Fashion team has rounded up everything you need to see from LFW’s definitively non-fluffy shows.

Burberry is the jewel in the London Fashion Week crown, and while other big British designers have booked themselves a one-way ticket on the Eurostar to start showing in Paris, the very British brand has stayed steadfast in its commitment to keeping it local. A lot of international editors skipped London this season on account of its slimmed down schedule, but none of this was evident as guests entered the Tate Britain, as a mega front row took their seats – among them music legend Lauryn Hill and her daughter Selah Marley, Damon Albarn and daughter his Missy, plus Michael Ward, Thai actor Bright, Orlando Bloom, Skepta, Kim Cattrall, Law Roach, Kano, and Ginger Spice herself Geri Halliwell (all sans daughters).

The guest of honour, however, was the Burberry Knight – a figure emblematic of the house who was recently brought to life in its SS25 campaign. Cueing conversations asking “Who is she?”, the knight jangled around the space looking a little bit lost – which can confirm is a pretty normal feeling at your first ever fashion show – before taking a selfie with Anna Wintour and finally sitting down alongside campaign cast mate and Nosferatu star Nicholas Hoult.

The collection itself took its cues from the Great British Weekend Getaway, with Daniel Lee creating a wardrobe ideal for a couple of days on the Cotswolds – at least if you’re from certain societal circles, anyway. Jason Isaacs and Saltburn star Richard E Grant took the runway in oversized takes on a classic overcoat, the latter with a maniacal smile plastered across his face, while Karen Elson and Naomi Campbell showed up in fluid takes on the classic Burberry trench. Elsewhere, the hot young things of the Burberry new-gen went check-mental with the likes of Lila Moss stepping out in clashing Nova prints, matching thigh-high boots and cunty little stilettos, and models like Wolf Gillespie slipped into 70s-style velvet suits in brilliantly garish oranges and greens.

The whole thing was really good – more refined, a lot more focused, and way, way cooler than recent seasons. The FROW might have been mega, but this season all eyes were on the clothes.

Talia Byre took over a tiny gallery in Marylebone to showcase her AW25 collection salon-style for another season. Perching on a stool, the rising Liverpudlian-born, London-based designer explained her references for the season, explaining she’d been inspired by her Aunt Lily, as well as cult movie Variety (a must-see if you haven’t), and was intent on dressing a cast of characters this season – helped along by the fact her studio is filled with them.

The result was a typically mish-mashed selection of fan faves and new shapes, with Byre dipping into the archives of her great-uncle’s boutique and pulling out reams of muted Prince of Wales checked fabric and transforming it into wide-legged trousers with frayed hems and neat little pencil skirts. Beyond that, she also dipped a toe into denim for the first time, turning out flirty minis and jeans, and mixed it all in with easy bomber jackets and windbreakers, as well as a new tactile take on her signature Bolter bag – this time big enough to fit a water bottle, or, as Byre exclaimed wide-eyed, “A bottle of wine!”

Like loads of young designers this season, Aaron Esh decided to ditch the runway show format and instead invited his friends, family, and a bunch of editors to an intimate dinner in Camden. As guests milled around chatting on arrival, in walked his ‘Esh girls’, among them Lila Moss, Cora Corre, and Camille Charrière, all wearing a series of easy gowns that draped around the body and elaborated on Esh’s existing couture silhouettes.

Explaining ahead of dinner that this time around he’d focused on creating a small capsule line in a bid to raise enough cash to be able to show on the catwalk again come September, Esh highlighted the fact that London designers are really feeling the bite of 14 years of austerity and the current cost of living crisis – in addition to a lack of support – but demonstrated the resilience and ingenuity many are showing in the face of adversity. Not to be a total Debbie Downer, though: the dinner and subsequent chaotic karaoke party – which saw Bobby Gillsepie and iconic stylist and Esh collaborator Katy England pick up mics to duet Elton John and Kiki Dee – was one of the best moments of London Fashion Week.

Feben revealed an obsession with the legendary documentary Grey Gardens this season. Namely, it was Little Edie who inspired her, with the faded socialite’s knack for turning everyday odds and ends found around the house into a certified look (like the moment she turns a skirt into a natty little cape and affixes it with a jewelled brooch). Across the collection, the designer’s signature knobbly-bobbly textures had been transformed into corseted dresses and twisted trouser and shirt sets, floor-length gowns came hand-painted, and mega soft faux fur had been used liberally to create scarves and one particularly standout sculptural coat.

The icing on the cake, however, was a starchy, slim-fit white shirt which had the word ‘Staunch’ plastered  across the chest – a reference to Little Edie’s memorable quote about her disposition, but also more personally recalling Feben’s own relationship with her mother and feelings of being trapped. Debuted in a lookbook styled by Phoebe Lettice Thompson and later toasted at a raucous party at the Standard, Feben had also created a custom look for special guest performer (and former Feben runway model) Jorja Smith.

Marie Lueder has had a very busy season. Back in early Feb, the designer debuted her AW25 collection for namesake brand LUEDER, where drones whizzed up and down the Berlin Fashion Week catwalk and a model stomped the runway in a ‘Men are so BACK’ statement tee. Now, cut to late Feb and she’s back at it again, this time with a presentation at London Fashion Week.

In terms of the clothes, part two of AW25 was a continuation from Berlin. Purple-tinged faux fur, ruched velour bombers and swirling, panelled cargos all made a return, plus ‘Men are so BACK’ was also so back. The catwalk, however, had been swapped out for an immersive “club within a club”, in the subterranean bowels of 180 Studios, AKA the BFC’s NEWGEN space. A collaboration with elusive DJs Two Shell, the space was transformed into a thudding rave, with dancers lit by single spotlights performing in LUEDER’s new collection, and the song “Oops…” – exclusively dropped by Two Shell that day – ringing through the speakers. Check out the video above, where we chatted to Lueder backstage about “spiritual” club experiences and casting the OPIA girls in the presentation.

On Friday evening, Foday Dumbaya’s Labrum presentation delivered a lesson in British music history. Hosted inside the legendary Abbey Road studios – known for that image of the Beatles crossing the road outside – the event was more of a gig than a fashion show, featuring performances from London music royalty Akala, Ghetts, Wretch 32, D Double E and Ezra Collective. At Labrum, music has consistently played a pivotal part in Dumbaya’s shows. With every collection, there is an element of performance, whether it’s a gospel choir closing the show or rappers walking the runway.

Titled ‘Designed by Immigrants: Sound of Us’, the show paid tribute to London’s rich musical history, spanning from UK garage to grime. As for the clothes, just 12 looks walked down a short catwalk inside Abbey Road, featuring 80s-style silhouettes, double-breasted tailoring, tonal colours, textured prints and an Adidas collab too.

For Chet Lo, AW25 was a reclamation of sorts. Chinoiserie, a European interior style from the 17th century, imitated traditional Chinese design and sold it back to a Western audience. Lo’s LFW show, Modern Antiquity, was a “bold reinterpretation” of that style from an Asian perspective, as the New York-born, Chinese-American designer sought to confront the “colonialist history of Western interpretations of Asian art, reclaiming and transforming these motifs into something distinctly and authentically Asian.”

On the catwalk, Lo took stereotypical depictions of Asian people – specifically their eyes – and distorted them to create a tiger stripe effect, then used that as print on unbuttoned knitwear, an off the shoulder long sleeve, plus scarves and ties. Using a much more sombre palette than he’s known for – this season opting for greys, maroons and black – Lo continued his Asian reclamation by “exploding” Chinois-style clouds into floral formations, and also brought back his iconic merino wool spikes for another fashion week whirl.

This season, Acuta Sarca named her AW25 offering VERTIGO, which drew inspiration from “the overwhelming sense of instability and disorientation in today’s world,” according to the collection’s notes. “As we navigate through a time of rapid social, political, and cultural shifts,” they continued, “the collection reflects the feeling of vertigo – a disquieting, dizzying sensation that mirrors the uncertainty and turbulence of our current reality.”

The leather of vertiginous heels came artfully draped into bows, while most of the offering took cues from sportswear, like the football stud slingbacks Sarca has become increasingly known for. Knee-high lace-up heels also recalled boxing boots, while the shoulder bags seemed as if they’d been constructed from the leather upper of an actual football. Elsewhere, Sarca presented ready-to-wear as well as shoes and accessories, which you could catch a glimpse of if you were lucky enough to visit the BFC’s NEWGEN showcase on the final day of London Fashion Week. From padded nylon hoodies and panelled leather skirts to crimson minis, Sarca knows how to kit out the cool girls, and AW25 was yet another example of that.

Estonian designer Johanna Parv stayed true to her ethos of adaptability for AW25. Presenting her collection via film, her starting point for this season was Norman Parkinson’s 1950s photographs of skiwear – specifically, the women of the slopes and how they were styled. Blending technical fabrics primed for the great outdoors with 90s officewear, slinky skintight shapes and sharp tailoring. The colour palette this season is made up of darker tones – gone are the lilacs and neon greens of SS25, swapped for burgundy, black and brown. According to Parv, the brown colourway is the bestseller, alongside her classic A-line skirt.

Typical of Parv’s work, everything you see is unzippable, adjustable and able to adapt to the wearer, whether she’s zooming through London on a bike or on a stuffy tube at rush hour. Menswear also provided a point of reference, with traditional formal wear such as cummerbunds transformed into bags and worn around the waist. A new venture for AW25 are hoodies. The collection featured Parv’s body-hugging version of the loungewear staple, featuring an extra-long hood that bunched at the neck, reminiscent of Grace Jones in A View to Kill or even Rebecca Ferguson in Dune.

Do Not Disturb was the name of Ukrainian designer Masha Popova’s AW25 collection, who showed her presentation as part of the NEWGEN showcase on the final day of London Fashion Week. While you might associate the title with being offline, it actually references the clothes and the idea of leaving things undone. For instance, do not disturb fabric that naturally falls in an interesting way. Popova was inspired by the allure of missed buttons and clothes slipped off of shoulders, casually thrown on and left unzipped and therefore unrestricted. Outfits that look like they’ve been slept in, as if the wearer just woke up from a nap.

Popova also looked at Sophie Calle’s 1981 photo series The Hotel, when Calle worked as a chambermaid and would secretly photograph guest’s belongings. The clothes themselves consist of short, cascading dresses, shirts open to the naval and off-the shoulder tops. For a deliberately confused collection, it somehow made perfect sense.

On a BBC News segment shown this weekend (February 22), an anchor referred to London Fashion Week as a “fluffy” story. Seemingly, she’d not done her research: LFW and British fashion at large is anything but a bit of fluff – it’s a behemoth industry that bolsters the UK economy, employs millions, and puts London on the map as a hotbed for creativity and culture. The comment did a massive disservice to the designers who showed across the AW25 season – designers like Jawara Alleyne, Aaron Esh, Feben, Olly Shinder, Tolu Coker, Simone Rocha, and loads, loads more, who’ve poured everything into their collections and showed great resilience and ingenuity in the face of adversity, ranging from Brexit, to Tory cuts, to a lack of funding and support. And, beyond all that, there were some really fab clothes. As always, the Dazed Fashion team has rounded up everything you need to see from LFW’s definitively non-fluffy shows.

Burberry is the jewel in the London Fashion Week crown, and while other big British designers have booked themselves a one-way ticket on the Eurostar to start showing in Paris, the very British brand has stayed steadfast in its commitment to keeping it local. A lot of international editors skipped London this season on account of its slimmed down schedule, but none of this was evident as guests entered the Tate Britain, as a mega front row took their seats – among them music legend Lauryn Hill and her daughter Selah Marley, Damon Albarn and daughter his Missy, plus Michael Ward, Thai actor Bright, Orlando Bloom, Skepta, Kim Cattrall, Law Roach, Kano, and Ginger Spice herself Geri Halliwell (all sans daughters).

The guest of honour, however, was the Burberry Knight – a figure emblematic of the house who was recently brought to life in its SS25 campaign. Cueing conversations asking “Who is she?”, the knight jangled around the space looking a little bit lost – which can confirm is a pretty normal feeling at your first ever fashion show – before taking a selfie with Anna Wintour and finally sitting down alongside campaign cast mate and Nosferatu star Nicholas Hoult.

The collection itself took its cues from the Great British Weekend Getaway, with Daniel Lee creating a wardrobe ideal for a couple of days on the Cotswolds – at least if you’re from certain societal circles, anyway. Jason Isaacs and Saltburn star Richard E Grant took the runway in oversized takes on a classic overcoat, the latter with a maniacal smile plastered across his face, while Karen Elson and Naomi Campbell showed up in fluid takes on the classic Burberry trench. Elsewhere, the hot young things of the Burberry new-gen went check-mental with the likes of Lila Moss stepping out in clashing Nova prints, matching thigh-high boots and cunty little stilettos, and models like Wolf Gillespie slipped into 70s-style velvet suits in brilliantly garish oranges and greens.

The whole thing was really good – more refined, a lot more focused, and way, way cooler than recent seasons. The FROW might have been mega, but this season all eyes were on the clothes.

Talia Byre took over a tiny gallery in Marylebone to showcase her AW25 collection salon-style for another season. Perching on a stool, the rising Liverpudlian-born, London-based designer explained her references for the season, explaining she’d been inspired by her Aunt Lily, as well as cult movie Variety (a must-see if you haven’t), and was intent on dressing a cast of characters this season – helped along by the fact her studio is filled with them.

The result was a typically mish-mashed selection of fan faves and new shapes, with Byre dipping into the archives of her great-uncle’s boutique and pulling out reams of muted Prince of Wales checked fabric and transforming it into wide-legged trousers with frayed hems and neat little pencil skirts. Beyond that, she also dipped a toe into denim for the first time, turning out flirty minis and jeans, and mixed it all in with easy bomber jackets and windbreakers, as well as a new tactile take on her signature Bolter bag – this time big enough to fit a water bottle, or, as Byre exclaimed wide-eyed, “A bottle of wine!”

Like loads of young designers this season, Aaron Esh decided to ditch the runway show format and instead invited his friends, family, and a bunch of editors to an intimate dinner in Camden. As guests milled around chatting on arrival, in walked his ‘Esh girls’, among them Lila Moss, Cora Corre, and Camille Charrière, all wearing a series of easy gowns that draped around the body and elaborated on Esh’s existing couture silhouettes.

Explaining ahead of dinner that this time around he’d focused on creating a small capsule line in a bid to raise enough cash to be able to show on the catwalk again come September, Esh highlighted the fact that London designers are really feeling the bite of 14 years of austerity and the current cost of living crisis – in addition to a lack of support – but demonstrated the resilience and ingenuity many are showing in the face of adversity. Not to be a total Debbie Downer, though: the dinner and subsequent chaotic karaoke party – which saw Bobby Gillsepie and iconic stylist and Esh collaborator Katy England pick up mics to duet Elton John and Kiki Dee – was one of the best moments of London Fashion Week.

Feben revealed an obsession with the legendary documentary Grey Gardens this season. Namely, it was Little Edie who inspired her, with the faded socialite’s knack for turning everyday odds and ends found around the house into a certified look (like the moment she turns a skirt into a natty little cape and affixes it with a jewelled brooch). Across the collection, the designer’s signature knobbly-bobbly textures had been transformed into corseted dresses and twisted trouser and shirt sets, floor-length gowns came hand-painted, and mega soft faux fur had been used liberally to create scarves and one particularly standout sculptural coat.

The icing on the cake, however, was a starchy, slim-fit white shirt which had the word ‘Staunch’ plastered  across the chest – a reference to Little Edie’s memorable quote about her disposition, but also more personally recalling Feben’s own relationship with her mother and feelings of being trapped. Debuted in a lookbook styled by Phoebe Lettice Thompson and later toasted at a raucous party at the Standard, Feben had also created a custom look for special guest performer (and former Feben runway model) Jorja Smith.

Marie Lueder has had a very busy season. Back in early Feb, the designer debuted her AW25 collection for namesake brand LUEDER, where drones whizzed up and down the Berlin Fashion Week catwalk and a model stomped the runway in a ‘Men are so BACK’ statement tee. Now, cut to late Feb and she’s back at it again, this time with a presentation at London Fashion Week.

In terms of the clothes, part two of AW25 was a continuation from Berlin. Purple-tinged faux fur, ruched velour bombers and swirling, panelled cargos all made a return, plus ‘Men are so BACK’ was also so back. The catwalk, however, had been swapped out for an immersive “club within a club”, in the subterranean bowels of 180 Studios, AKA the BFC’s NEWGEN space. A collaboration with elusive DJs Two Shell, the space was transformed into a thudding rave, with dancers lit by single spotlights performing in LUEDER’s new collection, and the song “Oops…” – exclusively dropped by Two Shell that day – ringing through the speakers. Check out the video above, where we chatted to Lueder backstage about “spiritual” club experiences and casting the OPIA girls in the presentation.

On Friday evening, Foday Dumbaya’s Labrum presentation delivered a lesson in British music history. Hosted inside the legendary Abbey Road studios – known for that image of the Beatles crossing the road outside – the event was more of a gig than a fashion show, featuring performances from London music royalty Akala, Ghetts, Wretch 32, D Double E and Ezra Collective. At Labrum, music has consistently played a pivotal part in Dumbaya’s shows. With every collection, there is an element of performance, whether it’s a gospel choir closing the show or rappers walking the runway.

Titled ‘Designed by Immigrants: Sound of Us’, the show paid tribute to London’s rich musical history, spanning from UK garage to grime. As for the clothes, just 12 looks walked down a short catwalk inside Abbey Road, featuring 80s-style silhouettes, double-breasted tailoring, tonal colours, textured prints and an Adidas collab too.

For Chet Lo, AW25 was a reclamation of sorts. Chinoiserie, a European interior style from the 17th century, imitated traditional Chinese design and sold it back to a Western audience. Lo’s LFW show, Modern Antiquity, was a “bold reinterpretation” of that style from an Asian perspective, as the New York-born, Chinese-American designer sought to confront the “colonialist history of Western interpretations of Asian art, reclaiming and transforming these motifs into something distinctly and authentically Asian.”

On the catwalk, Lo took stereotypical depictions of Asian people – specifically their eyes – and distorted them to create a tiger stripe effect, then used that as print on unbuttoned knitwear, an off the shoulder long sleeve, plus scarves and ties. Using a much more sombre palette than he’s known for – this season opting for greys, maroons and black – Lo continued his Asian reclamation by “exploding” Chinois-style clouds into floral formations, and also brought back his iconic merino wool spikes for another fashion week whirl.

This season, Acuta Sarca named her AW25 offering VERTIGO, which drew inspiration from “the overwhelming sense of instability and disorientation in today’s world,” according to the collection’s notes. “As we navigate through a time of rapid social, political, and cultural shifts,” they continued, “the collection reflects the feeling of vertigo – a disquieting, dizzying sensation that mirrors the uncertainty and turbulence of our current reality.”

The leather of vertiginous heels came artfully draped into bows, while most of the offering took cues from sportswear, like the football stud slingbacks Sarca has become increasingly known for. Knee-high lace-up heels also recalled boxing boots, while the shoulder bags seemed as if they’d been constructed from the leather upper of an actual football. Elsewhere, Sarca presented ready-to-wear as well as shoes and accessories, which you could catch a glimpse of if you were lucky enough to visit the BFC’s NEWGEN showcase on the final day of London Fashion Week. From padded nylon hoodies and panelled leather skirts to crimson minis, Sarca knows how to kit out the cool girls, and AW25 was yet another example of that.

Estonian designer Johanna Parv stayed true to her ethos of adaptability for AW25. Presenting her collection via film, her starting point for this season was Norman Parkinson’s 1950s photographs of skiwear – specifically, the women of the slopes and how they were styled. Blending technical fabrics primed for the great outdoors with 90s officewear, slinky skintight shapes and sharp tailoring. The colour palette this season is made up of darker tones – gone are the lilacs and neon greens of SS25, swapped for burgundy, black and brown. According to Parv, the brown colourway is the bestseller, alongside her classic A-line skirt.

Typical of Parv’s work, everything you see is unzippable, adjustable and able to adapt to the wearer, whether she’s zooming through London on a bike or on a stuffy tube at rush hour. Menswear also provided a point of reference, with traditional formal wear such as cummerbunds transformed into bags and worn around the waist. A new venture for AW25 are hoodies. The collection featured Parv’s body-hugging version of the loungewear staple, featuring an extra-long hood that bunched at the neck, reminiscent of Grace Jones in A View to Kill or even Rebecca Ferguson in Dune.

Do Not Disturb was the name of Ukrainian designer Masha Popova’s AW25 collection, who showed her presentation as part of the NEWGEN showcase on the final day of London Fashion Week. While you might associate the title with being offline, it actually references the clothes and the idea of leaving things undone. For instance, do not disturb fabric that naturally falls in an interesting way. Popova was inspired by the allure of missed buttons and clothes slipped off of shoulders, casually thrown on and left unzipped and therefore unrestricted. Outfits that look like they’ve been slept in, as if the wearer just woke up from a nap.

Popova also looked at Sophie Calle’s 1981 photo series The Hotel, when Calle worked as a chambermaid and would secretly photograph guest’s belongings. The clothes themselves consist of short, cascading dresses, shirts open to the naval and off-the shoulder tops. For a deliberately confused collection, it somehow made perfect sense.