Whether you are a dedicated fashion follower, a fashion hater or a fashionista in the making it won’t have skipped your attention that this week is London Fashion Week. This is the one week in the year when the entire world and its aunt looks to our small island in the hope of style inspiration, fashion forward thinking and a strong dictation of what to wear in the coming seasons. Stylists, editors, models, journalists and insiders in the know flock from near and far to see what we have to show for a year’s work, state of the art fashion schools and designers that consistently make the tabloids. In to our capital city we squeeze in run ways, makeup artists, models, entourages and egos along with top designers, wannabe’s and, if your part of the McQueen House, sets. As the Claridges Hotel guest list reads like a who’s who of the international fashion world, The Ivy stock up on edamame beans and Victoria Beckham carefully selects 2 month old Harper Seven’s outfits for the week, that cost more than our annual take home salary, the rest of us wait with baited breath to see who’s a fashion hit and who’s a fashion miss this season. For some of us it’s a case of logging on to LFW TV (it is also streamed in to the Living Room, just in case you are worried about missing it!) and for some of us it is a time to hide and avoid the tears and tantrums of fashion diva’s that the delightful British press love to detail every report of. And yet we have some of the biggest fashion houses in the world hear in the UK, we have the quintessential Burberry complete with beauty natural Emma Watson, eccentric Vivienne Westwood, featuring the stunning Charlotte Free and of course the drama and tragedy of the House of McQueen. So as the fashion eyes of the world peer at us through their Chanel glasses and scrutinise our style under their unnerving glare we wait with baited breath for their response. But this all this glamour, excitement and high expectations seem to me to be an awful lot to ask of a country who coined the styling, culture and phrase, of the ‘chav’, a country that celebrates the rise of the Primarni generation and who’s role model is Kate ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ Moss. I’m sure our chic sisters across The Channel en Francais are not tripping over their Chanel pumps to hit Primarni, our stylish state side cousins will not be jumping up and down in the latest DKNY with excitement at the prospect of seeing a real life chav and no Milan mistresses will be swapping Bellini for any type of bean. I am not sure Tyra Banks would say should she ask Kate Moss for a Coke (of the fizzy variety) and received a class A drug!
So how do we do it? How can we be known as one of the fashion capitals of the world when are known for some of the biggest fashion faux pas? Maybe is the bright lights, maybe it’s the beautiful sets with stunning models and clothes that we could only create in our wildest dreams, mixed with the champagne on, no doubt, empty tummies but something makes the likes of Anna Wintour and André Leon Talley gives our little island the big thumbs up. Or maybe the true skill of the British fashion industry is the ability to create the illusion of a silk pure out of a pigs ear........
As I find myself guilty of being a self confessed London Fashion Week addict I found myself reflecting on fashion and its meaning. To me and many others fashion is about art, expression and beauty. A voyeuristic view of what isn’t but of what we would love it to be, maybe it is a touch of escapism that we all need. Fashion and art very rarely have survival value but yet give so much value to our survival. The fashion industry is without doubt fast being one of the UK’s biggest industries and in the current financial climate may be one of our only hopes to a financially stable future. With Samantha Cameron recently stepping forward as an active supporter of both London Fashion Week and the British Fashion Council maybe this is the future, al world where finance and fashion meet as one. Samantha herself was quoted as saying –
“London Fashion Week is extremely important to the fashion industry in the UK and I look forward to being fully involved from next season. We have so much young talent that needs to be supported and nurtured to ensure we are building brands and businesses for the future”
For me one of the most fabulous things about fashion is its ability to continually reinvent itself, to surprise us and delight us. Fashion uses the past to inspire its future, maybe that’s something we could all learn from.
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