The British Fashion Council has announced plans to support designers wishing to showcase their pre-collections with a dedicated event happening this June in London. Running from 15 – 17 of the month, the new addition to the capital’s fashion calendar will happen immediately after the London Collections: Men shows.
“The designer fashion sector has responded to the demand for collections that fall outside the traditional spring/summer and autumn/winter period with collections that in some cases now account for up to 70% of sales for some fashion brands. It’s important that we celebrate the designers that are selling pre collections in London and make it a date in the diary for press and buyers from all over the world,” explained Caroline Rush, Chief Executive of The British Fashion Council. Hoping to capitalise on the momentum and interest generated around the preceding men’s shows, the council will be helping to support British fashion even further by hosting such an event.
The program in June will kick off with the launch of The Hoxton Collective—a new showroom in The Apartment at The Hoxton, Holborn, where a curated collection of ready-to-wear designs from the likes of Alexander Lewis, Huishan Zhang, Marques’Almeida, Phoebe English and Zoë Jordan will be on display. The Hoxton is particularly well-known in the capital for nurturing new talent and this collaboration on the Pre-Collections event is set to be particularly poignant for emerging local talent looking for a place to shine.
The latter part of the event will see more established designers such as Jonathan Saunders, Roland Mouret and Peter Pilotto host showrooms, presentations and salon shows as part of the council’s plans to stimulate more fashion business in London. “This is something that I have felt strongly and passionately about addressing within the fashion calendar. These collections often represent possibly the most commercially successful section of a designer’s collection. I really feel that trying to find a way to help showcase this effectively is the future of our fashion landscape, a new chapter of understanding how to build a commercially successful brand without compromising everything London fashion stands for: innovation and creativity uncompromised,” said Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou, Chair of the BFC Press Committee and Editor-in-Chief of 10 Magazine.
