London emerging as fashion establishment

With London Fashion Week now at a close, talk amongst the flood of British contingents, international buyers and press who keep on flocking to our shores to see the turnover of creative brilliance and talent, and the fashion loving public,

is the run for money, our small, homegrown industry is giving the larger and more established fashion capitals.

As insiders are well noting, London Fashion Week’s inherent sense of natural cool; nothing too overdone, shows starting promptly, filled seats and sports stars rather than trash celebrity taking front rows. London is getting it more and more right to the point where the city is now beginning to edge towards becoming a fashion establishment all of its own. As Mulberry creative director, Emma Hill put it, London fashion week has "a sense of humour. You don't need to tamper with things too much. Our natural style is very cool."

And of course leading, playful, pop colour fun and creative brilliance keeps leading the show schedule. Highlights include Christopher Kane, Erdem, Jonathan Saunders, with Preen making a hugely anticipated return from a long absence in New York.

We seem to be finding our own niche fashion spot based on a fashion curiosity, where New York is often viewed as rigid and creatively constrained, and Milan and Paris so steeped in their own sense of fashion elitism, they both lack the good old sense of British patriotism. And of course, a seemingly new recognition from the country for those doing big things in the industry – as Ambassador for Emerging Talent, Sarah Mower’s recent MBE ‘for services to the fashion industry’ proves.

Another season down, another London Fashion Week to note.

Davina Catt