London Fashion Week moves base, looks East

Julien MacDonald. File Picture / Reuters

Flashy Welsh designer Julien MacDonald kicked off London Fashion Week on Sunday as the twice-yearly event moves to a fresh venue with a new brief to attract buyers from emerging European markets like Russia.

The London week is known for its originality and has launched the careers of the biggest stars in British fashion including Stella McCartney, John Galliano and Alexander McQueen.

"There are four major fashion weeks in the world - New York, Milan, Paris and London - London may well be the fourth but that doesn't worry us at all," said John Wilson, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC).

British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman sees London as an original stop on the international fashion circuit.

"London, to use a rather cliched term, is probably more edgy, it's probably more adventurous in terms of the clothes on the catwalk," she said.

"In the Milanese shows you see a lot of nice camel jackets going down the catwalk and in London you are more likely to see some incredibly printed dress. "

But it's not all "edgy".

Radical work of up and coming designers Basso & Brooke is counterbalanced by the more commercial styles of London Fashion Week stalwarts Paul Smith, Betty Jackson and Jasper Conran.

Hot tickets for the rest of the week include Giles as well as print magician Jonathan Saunders, both of who are being touted as Britain's next big thing.

Wilson said London Fashion Week, which for the first time has left its home in fashionable Chelsea and gone south of the River Thames to Battersea Park, continues to blossom.

In the past 15 years, the event has grown from 15 catwalk shows to 47 and the turnover of designers has jumped from £75 million ($200 million) to £750 million.

But the event also continues to bleed its top stars, which are forced into showing their collections in New York and Paris, where international buyers and magazine editors are more likely to be in the front row.

Josephine Collins, editor of Drapers, a UK fashion business weekly, said it was a vicious circle.

"The international buyers won't come unless there are big names but when the designers become big, the London stage isn't big enough for them. "

This season, top design duo Boudicca opted for New York and Pringle of Scotland is heading for Milan.

Last season, Sophia Kokosalaki, the darling of the British fashion world, who designed the costumes for the 2004 Greek Olympics, moved her show to Paris.

With the issue constantly snapping at London Fashion Week, Wilson said this season the BFC has attempted to attract buyers from emerging European markets including Russia, Latvia and Greece.

"The Russian economy is probably growing as fast as many in the world and there are lots of people that are very interested in designer fashion there. "

But he also believes the bigger issue is helping successful designers make the next leap into running a healthy business, with greater help needed from the government and investment from entrepreneurs.

"In a nutshell, we have the creativity and the ideas in a stronger way than they do in the other fashion capitals, but we don't have the business strength and financial backing.

- REUTERS