The great return of designers to London Fashion Week

The pandemic had hit London fashion and its fashion week harder than other fashion capitals. Indeed, in the face of an increasingly young and exciting creative scene, a series of London Fashion Week editions with meager programming, combined with the furious protests of activists such as those of Extinction Rebellion and the absence of the big names in traditional luxury, foremost among them Burberry, which had decided to follow its own personal calendar, concern about the health of London Fashion Week was alive. A status that was overturned upon the publication of the calendar for the upcoming fashion week for the SS23 season, which, among the 110 brands on the list, sees not only the return of Riccardo Tisci and his Burberry, but also that of JW Anderson who returns to his hometown after two seasons in Milan and, surprisingly, that of Raf Simons who will show in the English capital instead of Paris.

The most interesting part of the whole affair, however, is that the return of these great designers to London comes at a historic moment when independent British designers are enjoying tremendous success in fashion circles-Daniel W. Fletcher, Simone Rocha, S.S. Daley, Nensi Dojaka, Chet Lo, Di Petsa, Paolo Carzana, Stefan Cooke, and David Koma are just a few names that belong to the new guard that has established itself in recent years and that in the coming years seems destined to see their careers soar to new heights. In the relative silence of abbreviated or phygital editions, in fact, the British designer community has created an increasingly solid reputation with both critics and the insider public, becoming in fact the true and most solid alternative to the Italian and French commercial brands that still dominate the luxury ranks.