Today, 16th February 2018, the 67th edition of London Fashion Week (LFW) returns and welcomes some of the most creative and innovative names in the fashion industry. A truly international platform this season’s schedule is filled with over 80 new and returning designer names and welcomes guests from 60 countries; from national and international press and buyers, to government, sponsors, patrons and industry.
The British Fashion Council is delighted to announce new data today:
The fashion industry directly contributed £29.7billion to the UK GDP in 2016 ($41.7billion). Fashion's contribution is on par with other major economic sectors. (Oxford Economics)
POSITIVE FASHION
In 2018 LFW focuses on Positive Fashion, a platform designed to promote and celebrate diversity, sustainability and openness; encouraging fashion to be used as a platform to promote global positive change. In the centenary year of the Women’s Vote campaign, we celebrate the inclusivity of our industry and reaffirm London’s position as an international hub for inclusiveness, openness, creativity, innovation and commerce.
LONDON FASHION WEEK FEBRUARY 2018 SCHEDULE
The LFW catwalk show schedule, Designer Showrooms at 180 Strand and DiscoveryLAB feature the pioneers, the established and the emerging bringing together the creative industries from fashion to music, art and design. LFW is a five-day event running from Friday 16th to Tuesday 20th February 2018 and features a total of 47 catwalk shows, 28 presentations, 32 events.
Over 100 designers will be showing their latest collections in the Designer Showrooms, the carefully curated exhibition of London Fashion Week. On the same floor, after its LFWM success, the DiscoveryLAB returns to LFW, an experiential zone for thinkers, makers, explorers and innovators across the landscape of technology, fashion, art and performance.
JW Anderson, winner of the British Womenswear Designer of the Year at The Fashion Awards 2017 in partnership with Swarovski, will merge womenswear and menswear and show on Saturday morning alongside British Emerging Talent Womenswear winner, Michael Halpern who is showing on Saturday afternoon, followed by Christopher Bailey’s last collection as Chief Creative Officer for Burberry on Saturday evening. During his tenure at Burberry, Christopher Bailey ensured the brand remained exciting, relevant and forward-thinking, and has been a major player in creating London’s position as a global capital for creativity and innovation.
The BFC’s NEWGEN initiative features emerging designers Marta Jakubowski, Paula Knorr, Richard Malone and Sadie Williams. NEWGEN’s One-to-Watch, Richard Quinn will be showing on schedule for the first time on Tuesday afternoon while NEWGEN recent graduate Molly Goddard will present a full catwalk show on Saturday afternoon.
The Central Saint Martins MA show takes place on Friday at the BFC show Space while BFC/Vogue Fashion Fund 2018 shortlisted designers, David Koma, Huishang Zhang, Marques’ Almeida and REJINA PYO will all show on schedule alongside joint 2017 Fund recipients Mother of Pearl and palmer//harding.
New additions to the schedule this season include Josep Font’s Delpozo, showing in London for the first time and British heritage cashmere brand Johnstons of Elgin who will present their latest ready-to-wear collection on Friday.
Returning to London this season is British fashion and leather goods brand Mulberry who will show a see-now-buy-now collection, alongside internationally celebrated designers including Ashley Williams, Ashish, CHALAYAN, Christopher Kane, ERDEM, Emilia Wickstead, Eudon Choi, Fashion East, Faustine Steinmetz, Fyodor Golan, Gareth Pugh, House of Holland, Isa Arfen, Jasper Conran, Lulu Guinness, Margaret Howell, Mary Katrantzou, Matty Bovan, Nicopanda, Osman, Pam Hogg, Peter Pilotto, Preen by Thornton Bregazzi, Pringle of Scotland, Roberta Einer, Roksanda, Roland Mouret, Ryan Lo, Simone Rocha, Shrimps, Sophia Webster, Temperley London
LONDON FASHION WEEK BY NUMBERS
- Mintel estimates that womenswear value sales grew by 2.9% in 2017 to reach £28.1billion and are predicted to rise to reach £28.77billion by 2021 (Mintel, 2017)
- Over £1million worth of pro-bono support provided to BFC designers by BFC Fashion Network partners and mentors with over 10,000 hours of support provided in 2017
- While the menswear sector only accounts for 26% of the total clothing market, it is growing at a faster rate than womenswear, rising by 3.5% in 2017 (Mintel, 2017)
- Online fashion accounts for 24% of total fashion spend (Mintel Sept 2017)
- Fashion remains a major UK employer with 850,000 jobs supported across the industry (this has seen a marginal increase since 2015 re-estimates which are now 847,200*)
- Chinese tourists collectively are the biggest spenders in the UK luxury fashion market taking 23% closely followed by the Americans who take 7%. (Global Blue, 2017)
- Instagram stories on the official London Fashion Week account received 792,696 views in total over LFW September 2017
- 45,000 images shot by Getty photographers on and off the runway over five days
- 32,000 miles driven between shows by a luxurious fleet of fuel efficient chauffeured Mercedes-Benz cars
- 20,000 espressos served and 200kg of Lavazza coffee consumed on-site
- New sponsor Bounce Balls will distribute over 15,000 Bounce Balls on site
- 10,000 bottles of SASSY cider will be distributed on site
- 10,000 LFW tote bags produced by Bags of Ethics in India and sponsored by Lavazza, by a team where 9 out of 10 employees are women, many of whom are the main breadwinners in their families
- LFW account follower number increased by 7,832 increasing the accounts following to 97,527 over LFW September 2017
- 5,000 serves of Scavi & Ray Prosecco consumed by guests at The Store Studios
- Anya Hindmarch celebrates her love for London across 29 iconic London locations with her Chubby Hearts balloons
- 21 shows will be filmed in VR via Digital Domain
- The BFC International Guest programme sees international press attending from 10 countries and international buyers from 13 countries
- 2018 marks the 10-year anniversary of the May Fair as the official LFW partner
The home for London Fashion Week is once again The Store Studios located at 180 Strand, hosting the BFC Show Space, the carefully curated Designer Showrooms, the NEWGEN pop-up showroom and the DiscoveryLAB.
The generosity and commitment of our sponsors is more vital than ever. Please help us by acknowledging their support for London Fashion Week February 2018: Official Sponsors Etihad Airways, Lavazza, London Evening Standard, Maybelline New York, May Fair Hotel, Mercedes-Benz, New Look, The Store Studios and Toni & Guy; Official Suppliers Bags of Ethics, Bounce, DHL, Digital Domain, evian, Fashion and Beauty Monitor, Getty Images, Launchmetrics, Propercorn, Sassy Cider, Scavi&Ray, Triumph, and Verve; Official Funders The European Regional Development Fund and The Mayor of London and Official Supporter The Department for International Trade.