British GQ - 09.2019

Photographs

Getty Images

L

ondon, after all, has long been cel-

ebrated for being the European

incubator for the world’s most

searing fashion talents. Vivienne

Westwood, Alexander McQueen,

John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Kim Jones

and Sir Paul Smith all started their careers in

this hallowed spot-on-Thames and they’ve all

since gone on to implant sizeable footprints

on the equally expansive landscape of inter-

national fashion.

At the Spring/Summer 2020 London

Fashion Week Men’s weekend in June, the

aforementioned rumble of creative energy

was palpable at the BFC’s new men’s Show

Space at The Old Truman Brewery off Brick

Lane. A veritable feast of high-octane shows,

presentations and parties, it was an all-out

celebration of the best that London has to

offer – an all-singing, all-dancing, all-pouting

paean to the bold, brash eclecticism that the

world first fell in love with when The Beatles

and Mr Fish ruled Carnaby Street and Brixton-

born David Bowie made gender fluidity

a thing.

From the wistful workwear of Craig

Green to the cross-dressing cosplay of Art

School and from the haute sportswear

of Samuel Ross at A-Cold-Wall* to the impos-

sibly elegant tailoring of Alexander McQueen,

there was something for everyone and, as a

consequence, this 14th edition of LFWM felt

more energised than ever before.

“What London has over the other fashion

capitals is a genuine sense of eccentricity,”

says Dylan Jones, Editor-In-Chief of GQ and

BFC Menswear chair. “What sustains it?

There must be something in the water, as the

creative industries in London keep regenerat-

ing themselves week in, week out, season in,

season out. London Fashion Week Men’s

always benefits from a seemingly constant

supply of new, young talent. All fashion cap-

itals have their pros and cons, but people

visit London because that’s where the talent

is, it’s where the energy is, it’s where you

expect to find transgression.” He continues:

“Traditionally, men’s clothes have been

accused of being less ambitious than

women’s, but if you look at the talent on

display in London you’ll see an extraordinary

amount of creativity. There is probably more

invention now in London than at any time in

the past, as a generation of young designers

starts to build real businesses and create

strong, meaningful brands, with a keen eye

on commercial success.”

But what makes London’s creative output

so unique? So special? For one thing, our

fashion schools are among the best in the

world. From Central Saint Martins – where

the fashion MA course was once presided

over by the late, great Louise Wilson – to

the Royal Academy Of Arts and the

London College Of Fashion, our globally

renowned colleges and universities continue

to produce extraordinary new talents year

after year. “I think what makes London

fashion special is a unique combination of

the incredible access to British arts educa-

tion, which has sadly been seriously eroded

over the past decade, and London’s position

as a melting pot of cultures and cultural

experiences, which is again under threat,

through Brexit and the related reactionary

political morass,” says menswear critic at the

Financial Times Alexander Fury. “I’m hoping

neither of those will stunt the continued

growth of London talents. The designer I was

most excited by showing in London was CSM

alumnus Craig Green – he’s an exceptional

talent on the global stage whose work really

is like no other. And he’s a product of exactly

what I described above, a continuation of a

grand tradition including Westwood,

Galliano and McQueen. I hope he won’t be

the last.”

It’s a point mirrored by Sarah Mower:

Vogue’s fashion critic, the BFC’s ambassador

for emerging talent and chair of the NewGen

committee. “The London fashion scene has

thrived on openness, inclusivity and commu-

nity since long before any of those terms

became buzz phrases. That’s because Britain’s

secret asset is its art schools – where all forms

of expression are encouraged but to be seen

copying what’s already in the market is

regarded as social death,” says Mower. “I

stepped in to raise awareness that these doors

to education should continue to be kept open

wide to all classes and incomes when univer-

sity fees came in... I can tell you that some of

the most exciting creative thinkers and activ-

ists are now in education. I predict they’re

going to help the industry reshape itself –

provided the industry is wise enough to learn

from them.”

Much of London’s creative brilliance,

however, must also be attributed to its

extraordinary diversity. In the 2011 census it

was shown that only 45 per cent of the

capital’s population defined itself as “white

British”, with 37 per cent of residents

born outside of the UK. It’s this unique plu-

rality that makes London so special – and it’s

a plurality we must fight to protect.

London has long been a city within which

people of all races, colours, creeds, genders

and sexualities have been both welcome to

live and safe to express themselves and the

British fashion industry is a microcosm

of that multifaceted diaspora – living proof

that it can succeed and thrive. From the

pan-African influences in Grace Wales

Bonner’s work to the bonkersly brilliant

gender fluidity of Charles Jeffrey Loverboy,

if London is the world’s melting pot, then our

great capital’s fashion industry is surely

the seasoning.

Much of London’s

creative brilliance

must be attributed

to its diversity

It was Paddington Bear – the marmalade-

guzzling, duffle coat-wearing fictional

ursus – who famously said (by way of author

Michael Bond), “In London everyone is different

and that means everyone can fit in.” It’s a

sentiment that applies as much to the fabric

of our capital city’s social and political life as

it does to that of our collective cultural life. In

no other metropolis in the world is unbridled

creativity so universally celebrated and, most

importantly, so readily open to all. And

nowhere is this sense of inclusivity more

obvious than in London’s fashion industry.

09-19LFWM.indd 162 28/06/2019 08:01

170 GQ.CO.UK SEPTEMBER 2019