BFC and Bafta announce partnership

The British Fashion Council (BFC) today announced a partnership with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) that aims to create and develop links between London’s fashion and film industries. The partnership is announced a week before both London Fashion Week and the Orange British Academy Film Awards take place, when the spotlight is on the capital’s creative talent. This link will form part of a new initiative from the British Fashion Council that will position fashion at the heart of the creative industries by forging partnerships with other organisations in the arts.

  BAFTA has invited the BFC to take a space at its Film Awards’ Style Suites from Friday 19th to Sunday 21st February from which the BFC can stream live shows from London Fashion Week. The BFC will also be working alongside Harper’s Bazaar and Lancôme on a pre-Awards event where young fashion talent will have the opportunity to meet those in film. BAFTA will also be inviting a select group of LFW’s emerging talent to its official Nominees Party on Saturday 20th February. Both these events provide connections that enable two-way support of emerging British talent.

Chairman of the British Fashion Council Harold Tillman said: “This initiative is a fantastic way of forging relationships between our creative industries. The red carpet continues to play an increasingly important role in a designer’s marketing programme, as images are instantly distributed to audiences worldwide. This relationship between the British Fashion Council and BAFTA is an invaluable way of promoting British talent from both industries on an international platform.”

Amanda Berry, CEO of BAFTA, added: “You only have to look at BAFTA’s archive of Awards photographs from the 50s onwards to see the special relationship between fashion and film. The red carpet is the perfect catwalk and this partnership is a wonderful opportunity for our two industries to come together and champion creative talent.”

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, commented: “Cutting-edge fashion and brilliant filmmaking skills are part of what makes London such a global force for creativity. Their success illustrates how our investment and support for the creative sector is paying off. This new link up is a terrific idea - I look forward to it increasing opportunities for the amazing talent working out of the capital and ensuring its high profile on the world stage.”

London Fashion Week is one of the UK’s highest profile events. Organised by the British Fashion Council and funded by sponsors including Canon Europe, which has been headline sponsor for seven consecutive seasons, the event is worth £20 million to the London economy in terms of direct spend and generates orders in the region of £100m. London’s global reputation is a hotbed of world class emerging design talent; the British Fashion Council aims to identify, support and nurture that talent to develop profitable businesses based in London.

Image: BFC/BAFTA