The June Edition of London Fashion Week Was Brief, but Packed a Punch

LONDON — The hybrid London Fashion Week that wrapped on Monday was a blink-and-you-miss-it showcase with few designers showing their wares, but the ones who did take part, including Martine Rose and Priya Ahluwalia, made a big impression.

Rose attracted a big crowd for her first physical show after the COVID-19 pandemic on Sunday in Vauxhall, south of the Thames.

She offered elevated everyday clothing with silly details, such as key chains dangling on trousers and bags, or untucked pockets, unzipped trousers and models wearing earrings with the packaging.

Her women’s looks were surprisingly sexy — especially those dresses with a broken zip design at the back.

“Moving on from the past two years, I realized how my focus has become really detailed,” Rose said after the show.

“I was actually really worried because I became so micro-focused. It was all about flies pulling open and jackets ill-fitted and I was thinking: ‘Is that going to translate? It’s not a big silhouette.’

“Then, of course, there’s always the subtext of sex. I wanted it to feel really sexy, and I think it did,” she added.

The designer used the occasion to debut her new sneaker collaboration with Nike, a hybrid of Nike’s iconic Shox model and her own mule design, inspired by the concept of smart shoes.

Post-show, Stavros Karelis, founder and buying director of multibrand retailer Machine-A, said he believes Rose deserves a “global” position.

He praised the designer’s ability “to create collections that are incredibly influential and commercially so accessible and successful. That makes her a leader of the game.”

According to industry sources, Rose is being considered for the top creative post at Louis Vuitton menswear. She has declined to comment on the speculation.

But Rose shouldn’t sit on her laurels for long because London’s new generation is catching up quickly. Some of them overcame big challenges to stage physical presentations this month.

Alicia Robinson, creative director and founder of knit specialist AGR, decided to show in June because it works better for her brand.

“It’s been really hard in terms of getting sponsors to come on board. Nobody really wants to do anything this season, and everybody wants to do something in September. But our business model is that we show in June and January, and then we have our production delivery dates around that.

“We always try and deliver early so that we have the longest possible sell-through as a new brand. I’m standing by the choice,” she said.

Her spring 2023 show at Fabric, the famous London nightclub, offered an explosion of color with signature size-inclusive knitwear. It was perfect for the Pride Month parade, which takes place in London on July 2.

She also demonstrated some exciting new elements for the brand, such as patchwork jackets and trousers made with recycled denim, and dresses in metallic foiling crochet.

Robyn Lynch, meanwhile, offered a joyful take on summer holiday dressing during a show at east London’s Old Truman Brewery followed by an after party with Labrum London.

Lynch said she was happy to stage a show, despite the week being low-key.

She wanted to produce “something that I’m happy with, and just have fun while doing it. And I think we have achieved that,” Lynch said during a preview.

She added that since there was no official BFC venue, she had to “completely guerrilla-production the whole thing,” and hope the collection would speak for itself.

She didn’t disappoint.

Lynch managed to intersperse elements of her fun, witty personality into her signature technical sportswear-inspired pieces and luxurious knits.

Her collection featured motifs and slogans including “I caught crabs,” reworked from a T-shirt belonging to her mother Susan Lynch, who complained that her previous collection had been all about her father.

Lynch was also inspired by “the ugliest, funniest, most charming souvenir ” vintage T-shirts that she bought on eBay during research.

She was thinking, “How can I take these trashy, cheap, tacky T-shirts and make them really elevated? So we got these beautiful cotton yarns from Italy and we knitted the pattern of the graphics into the shirt. They’re all jacquard knit and woven. They have a super-soft feel to them, but they’re still quite joyful and playful,” she said.

A few designers searched for answers about the future, and explored their respective heritage.

Foday Dumbuya, founder and creative director of Labrum London, was born in Sierra Leone and grew up in London. His background inspired the collection, which included slouchy pajama-style tailoring and a blend of colors he borrowed from the artist Mark Rothko.

“We always talk about freedom of movement, people should move freely,” said Dumbuya from backstage, where his friends Idris Elba and Tinie Tempah joined him.

“We can bring our culture and merge it with another culture, and then bring that explosion,” he said.

The show came with subtle political messages, too. The designer collaborated with the U.K. charity Choose Love on T-shirts that read “Designed by an Immigrant.”

Hoor Al Qasimi, creative director of Qasimi, is looking to move forward with the brand that her late twin brother Khalid founded.

“Legacy is not just about what you leave behind. It’s also what you do going forward,” said the Emirati designer.

Indigo-blue dominated the collection as an homage to the Tuareg people of the Saharan desert who wear turbans and veils in the rich color to protect them from desert sands and evil spirits.

There were embellished pieces inspired by pearl diving in the Gulf; Arabic calligraphy which translated as “Desert Freedom” and “Foreigner,” and traditional basket weaves on military trousers and jackets.

The designer Priya Ahluwalia looked to the 54 countries in Africa for her “Africa Is Limitless” collection.

The venue was seeded with the tapestry rugs often found in South Asian and African homes, a personal nod to her own dual Indian Nigerian heritage that continued into the collection.

The collection featured knitted track jackets with sports paneling; denim twin sets printed with designs found on Ankara wax print fabric, and a T-shirt vest reading “Freedom to Indulge.”

Newcomer Carlota Barrera found freedom in the great outdoors. She made her runway debut at BaySixty6 Skate Park in Westbourne Park, and aimed to emulate the busy streets of Cuba.

“You walk through a street, and you’re always hearing music and listening to someone singing around the corner — and that gets mixed with the sound of domino tiles and kids screaming. All of those things are the sounds that remind me of Cuba,” Barrera said during a preview.

She played with fabrics that are often worn in Cuba — cotton, lyocell and linen — and combined them with unprocessed silk, and cotton. The fabrics were lightweight and the silhouettes had a relaxed feel, echoing the more laid-back way that people are dressing today.

Meanwhile, the handbag label Yuzefi, which has 100 stockists worldwide, showcased a small selection of ready-to-wear, and introduced knitwear to its roster of sustainable satins, cotton and linen.

Standout presentations on the digital schedule included Brandon Choi, whose humble couture collection featured grand dresses and 18th-century styles made from cardboard, tulle and sheer fabrics.

Lea Nyland Studio was another star of the schedule offering a lineup of breezy, lacy and crochet dresses and fabrics with raw edges. Perte d’ego’s boxy, whimsical shirts were pure joy: some were embellished with 3D fabric leaves, while others had colored kite strings dangling from them, and others still showcased little beach scenes.

A handful of buyers from Italy, Germany and the U.K. and from stores including Nordstrom, Ssense and Bergdorf Goodman attended the three-day showcase.

Harry Fisher, founder of showroom Htown, which represents the sales of AGR, Ahluwalia and Saul Nash, said the turnout was better-than-expected, and the designers did well to show their menswear in early June, when buyers have bigger budgets, and brands have more lead time to produce orders.

Thibaud Guyonnet, creative director and head of buying at the Berlin-based retailer Voo Store, said he would never skip London, no matter how short the schedule.

“London is always fresh, fun and young. I love the vibe around the show,” Guyonnet said.

“It kickstarts the men’s fashion month, and everyone is full of energy,” he said, adding that particularly strong designs came from brands including AGR, Martine Rose and Ahluwalia and he’d be buying them for the spring 2023 season.

Bruce Pask, men’s fashion director at Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, said this edition of London Fashion Week proved that “London continues to be an important and inspiring city for menswear both for its rich history in tailoring, knitwear, and British manufacturing as well as for its exciting breadth of new, inventive talent and fashion schools that are sources of incredible creativity and visions for the future of the genre.”

“I also took the opportunity to make quite a few studio visits to meet with some recent award-winning young designers and to view their work. London is such a vital source for new voices in fashion and I want to ensure that we are here supporting, encouraging, and mentoring when desired, and also being inspired by them and their work,” he added.