London Fashion Week: 'The perfect storm'

London Fashion Week had one of its finest moments this season, with a stellar lineup of talent that was dutifully worthy of international attention. Famed for its rising stars, but also its quirky, not always commercial fashion, London's

Autumn Winter 2013 catwalk shows proved the UK has one of the most interesting and important fashion weeks and now firmly imbedded in the global fashion calendar.

Rising stars like Christopher Kane showed the positive results of what an injection of investment can do with a brand, expanding his catwalk collection to 60 looks, all which were beautifully and expertly executed. Kane is no longer a London Fashion Week designer, instead he is on the cusp of building a global brand, with a signature style that is all his own.

But other designers are just as noteworthy. Rising stars like Erdem, Mary Katrantzou, Marios Schwab, Jonathan Saunders showed alongside the established brands Vivienne Westwood, Margaret Howell and Paul Smith. Heritage international brands including Burberry Prorsum, Mulberry and Pringle of Scotland are important brands on the LFW calendar, but newcomers Tom Ford and L'Wren Scott were equal heavyweights with international acclaim.

The British Fashion Council's chief executive Caroline Rush told Vogue online that London Fashion Week was "the perfect storm". Rush stated the autumn/winter 2013-14 schedule was one of the capital's strongest to date - thanks to the timing (following the London 2012 Olympics), its selection of "incredible" diverse talent, and the fresh bout of "energy and enthusiasm" brought by new BFC chairman, Natalie Massenet.

"We've been building on strengthening London Fashion Week over several seasons, but now it's almost the perfect storm," she told us. "It's post-London 2012, where there was a huge amount of attention on the UK. We have incredible designers - not just creatively, but which are now developing sustainable profitable businesses - and the internet now gives immediate access to a global audience."

The BFC's stellar organisation this season not only meant a packed catwalk schedule, but also it's livestreaming and social networking efforts that allowed for London Fashion Week designers to reach a wider and international audience.

The diversity of London Fashion Week was most evident in its last day, with both Tom Ford, who's maximalist high octane glamour collection was in striking contrast to J.W. Anderson, the new LFW darling who's sculpted complex designs proved a talent in the making, as the clothes kept their appeal, never looking conceptually awkward.

British fashion is a thriving business and with 56 catwalk shows and 20 presentation over 5 days, it is easy to see why this is serious business. An estimated 100 million pounds of orders are made during the LFW exhibition and partner showroom sales. Seeing as the value of the British retail industry is worth 21 billion pounds to the UK economy, the figures also highlight the 816,000 people employed in fashion, it being the largest employer of all the creative industries.

Image: Tom Ford AW13