40 years of London Fashion Week: A look back at its legacy

As the youngest of the ‘big four’ fashion weeks, London is certainly not meek, showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience and having produced a cornucopia of legendary fashion moments.

As it celebrates its 40th year, we hear from leading fashion historians and iconic voices of the industry about London Fashion Week’s beginnings and legacy.

London Fashion Week’s inception

Held in a Kensington car park in 1984, the first London Fashion Week certainly looked different to the glitz and glam of today.

“LFW was the brainchild of the combined talents of Annette Worsley-Taylor, Lynne Franks and London City council, with the support of the British Labour government at the time,” says international fashion business lecturer, Ena Brown.

“At that time, London had a really young and exciting fashion scene, but it didn’t have the same financial backing or sales as New York, Paris and Milan,” notes fashion historian at the London College of Fashion, Caroline Stevenson. “Franks saw the potential in the London fashion scene and managed to secure £20,000 from businessman Mohan Murjani to produce the first London Fashion Week, in collaboration with the newly established British Fashion Council.”

Despite following on the heels of Paris, Milan and New York – London Fashion Week had a young, daring and rebellious edge to it – as most of its designers were recent art school graduates and their designs were political, radical and wildly creative.

“It forged the media machine into action, helping to create the excitement and momentum of fashion shows we now take for granted, it was the beginning of fashion PR as we now know it,” says Brown.

Historic moments

The first London Fashion Week was so successful that the British establishment immediately offered their support. “Margaret Thatcher invited all of the young designers to 10 Downing Street for a reception. This is where Katharine Hamnett famously wore her t-shirt with its bold anti-nuclear missile statement: ‘58% Don’t Want Pershing’,” says Stevenson

Katharine Hamnett and Vivienne Westwood’s first London Fashion Week collections launched with Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss both walking their first runways there. “Lynne Franks was seminal in the creation of the Cool Britannia period, which established the perception of Britain as a centre of innovation,” says Brown.

In 1998, Alexander McQueen famously closed his show ‘No. 13 Finale’ with Shalom Harlow standing on a rotating platform in a strapless white dress while robotic arms sprayed her and the dress in different shades of paint.

“It was equally as beautiful as it was disturbing and transformed the catwalk show into performance art,” says Stevenson.

LFW was the platform whereby many British labels established their brand.

“Burberry’s autumn/winter 1999 show launched the first Burberry trench with the checked lining on the outer gabardine cloth of the raincoat,” says the Fashion Retail Academy’s Morgan Bailas. “This combined with Kate Moss being photographed by paparazzi wearing the raincoat launched it as an icon for the brand that is still relevant today.”

Pop culture and Fashion Week

“The most famous connection London Fashion Week has with popular culture is through the character Edina Monsoon, played by Jennifer Saunders in Absolutely Fabulous,” says Stevenson. “Although both Saunders and Franks have denied it, Edina Monsoon’s life and career tightly resembles Franks’s. The series and the film both feature many iconic characters from the London fashion scene.”

Fashion often gets vilified in popular culture for being frivolous or simply about shopping. “It’s not taken seriously as an art or design form,” states Stevenson, “however, it should be taken very seriously. Not just because it contributes so much to the British economy, but because everyone engages in some way with fashion on a daily basis. We all make decisions about what we will wear, and whether we like it or not, we make sense of other people through what they are wearing.”

Its relevance today

Year after year, critics continue to question the relevance of fashion weeks around the globe.

However, experts still believe its relevance is just as potent today as when it first began. “London Fashion Week captures the British spirit of rebellion, playfulness and defying established norms,” says Bailas, “this has allowed it to stand out from other Fashion Week events across the globe.”

Crucially, LFW still has a critical impact on the UK economy. “UK fashion contributes 3% of the GDP and billions of pounds in sales annually, so London Fashion Week is a critical feature,” says Stevenson.

“However, it will need to shift its emphasis to fashion’s damaging impact on the environment and its exploitative workforce,” states Stevenson.

“For the fashion industry to survive, it will need to focus less on seasonal throwaway trends and more on lasting investment pieces.

“This isn’t just necessary for the future of our planet; it’s what fashion’s new generation of consumers want.”