It’s a wrap. London Vogue Week had one in all its strongest seasons in years. In pure British fashion, the 5-day world-wind (Feb 17 – 21) mixed a funeral, an awards present, the ‘popping out’ of Kate and William, designer debuts and a few actually nice style reveals. Held twice a yr, London Vogue Week (LFW) is among the most prestigious occasions within the style business, showcasing the newest creations of among the world’s most proficient designers. LFW has been a serious a part of the worldwide style calendar for over three a long time and this yr it grew to become a British lollapalooza!

However first some historical past: London Vogue Week was first established in 1984, organized by the British Vogue Council (BFC) as a response to the dominance of Paris and Milan within the style world. The occasion was initially held in a West London automobile park, and featured only a handful of British designers, similar to Jasper Conran and Betty Jackson. Through the years, London Vogue Week grew in recognition and stature, attracting a wider vary of designers and worldwide consideration. Within the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, it grew to become a platform for rising expertise, with designers like Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney making their debuts. In 2009, London Vogue Week was merged with the London Vogue Weekender, a consumer-focused occasion that allowed members of the general public to see style reveals and purchase garments straight from designers. This transfer aimed to make style extra accessible and inclusive to a wider viewers.

Lately, London Vogue Week has continued to evolve and innovate. It has embraced new applied sciences, similar to live-streaming and social media, to succeed in a worldwide viewers (which was extraordinarily helpful throughout COVID-19 lockdowns). It has additionally turn out to be a serious platform for sustainable and moral style, with many designers utilizing environmentally-friendly supplies and manufacturing processes.

LFW now attracts hundreds of tourists from around the globe, together with business professionals, journalists, celebrities, and style lovers. It stays an necessary occasion within the world style calendar, showcasing the creativity and variety of British style.

A FUNERAL

Left To Proper: Kate Moss, Helen Bonham Carter, Victoria Beckham, and Will Younger all attended the late Vivienne Westwood’s memorial service. (Picture Credit score: Getty Photos)London Vogue Week kicked off in a somber temper as distinguished visitors within the style world gathered to pay their last respects on the funeral of the late Dame Vivienne Westwood which occurred on Thursday 16 February at Southwark Cathedral in London. The funeral was a star-studded occasion the place actress Helena Bonham Carter delivered the eulogy and Chrissie Hynde carried out. The Cathedral was full of Westwood’s household and pals in addition to loads of style business visitors included Marc Jacobs, Kate Moss, Tracey Emin, Victoria Beckham, Paul Smith, Zandra Rhodes, Bella Freud, Stephen Jones, Matty Bovan, and Ellen von Unwerth. Many visitors paid tribute to the late Westwood as they adopted one in all Westwood’s many mottos, “When unsure, costume up!” And dressed up they have been, as they streamed into the Gothic cathedral of their finery to pay their last respects to the pioneering designer and activist, who died Dec. 29 at age 81.

AN AWARDS SHOW & A ROYAL PDA MOMENT 

The Prince and Princess of Wales had a uncommon PDA Second (public show of affection) on the BAFTAs (British Academy of Movie & Tv Award), which occurred on Sunday, February 19^th. The royals made positive to carry palms whereas strolling down the crimson carpet and at one level the Princess playfully tapped William’s decrease again because the paparazzi went wild. Princess Kate, who’s a grasp at high-low dressing, seemed beautiful in a reworked Grecian Alexander McQueen robe (which she first debuted on the 2019 BAFTAs), paired with black gloves, and a pair of Zara earrings.

DESIGNER DEBUTS & HIGH BROW FASHION SHOWS 

Daniel Lee debuted his Burberry assortment by crusing into uncharted territory with extra terrific colour (living proof, cobalt blue) and fake fur than the heritage model has seen in its 167-year historical past. Lee’s new imaginative and prescient for the enduring British home got here laced with an appropriately cheeky duck motif. “The geese I simply discovered very British,” he defined backstage after the present to Vogue Journal. “It made me consider the outside, and Burberry is an outside model. It jogged my memory of rain, and safety.” In spite of everything, raincoats are within the model’s DNA.

S.S. Daley’s assortment for Steven Stokey-Daley was pure theatre. For Daley’s menswear present, he enlisted British actor Sir Ian McKellen (Shakespeare, in style fantasy and science fiction), who opened the present studying a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (of Ulysses and The Cost of the Mild Brigade fame), a wildly sudden shock. AND OH SO HIGH-BROW!

Impressed by Lughnasadh, an Irish harvest competition with pagan origins, designer Simone Rocha turned her presentation right into a ritual. The designer created lovely lace robes and crinolines that have been filled with raffia.

Turkish designer Dilara Findikoglu staged a style present entitled “Not a Man’s Territory,” which she acknowledged got here collectively after the arrest and dying of Mahsa Amini in Iran late final yr. The finale creation was Joan of Arc reincarnated, she advised Vogue in an interview, “She’s coming again for revenge, attire as she needs. And he or she has her knives.”

This season Jonathan Anderson was impressed by the Scottish dancer/choreographer Michael Clark. Wanting via Clark’s archive, Anderson determined he wanted to look via his personal archives as properly. The end result, a group that brings collectively costume particulars from Clark’s performances blended with particulars from early JW Anderson collections. Total, it was a cosmic dancer delight.

Christopher Kane despatched out a collection of slinky jersey attire, printed with hyperrealistic photographs of piglets, rats, and chicks – speak about animal magnetism.

Florence Pugh is aware of easy methods to make an entrance. So, who higher than the bona fide crimson carpet star herself to open Harris Reed’s theatrical Fall 2023 present? The actress wore a harlequin sequin skirt with a thigh-high slit, a black corset prime and a large halo headpiece. Pugh set the tone for the occasion with a speech written by Reed concerning the transformative energy of garments. “In a typically judgmental world, our costumes can change who we need to be seen as, and who we’re destined to be,” she mentioned. “I invite you to embrace the lamé and sequins of life, as a result of all of the world’s a stage.” Reed supplied ten fantastically detailed appears to be like dripping in sartorial theatrics.

So inform us, what was your favourite second from London Vogue Week?