Fashion week month is in full swing and this Friday it’s heading from New York to London. The British Fashion Council has confirmed that London Fashion Week (LFW) Autumn/Winter 2022 will feature 86 physical activities.
The five-day event features a mix of emerging designers from incubator Fashion East to Conner Ives, as well as international luxury brands such as Erdem, Roksanda and Rejina Pyo, and the return of LFW favorites such as Eudon Choi, Richard Quinn, Molly Goddard, Bora Aksu and Simone Rocha. However, big names like Burberry, Victoria Beckham and Mulberry are missing this season.
There are also a number of new names on the official programme, including Banshee of Savile Row, Johan Ku, Kwk by Kay Kwok, Mainline:RUS/Fr.CA/DE, a London based collective founded by Alexandra Vincent, Karl Felix and Zarina Bekerova, OqLiq , Poster Girl, Seokwoon Yoon, Sohuman and U.Mi-1.
London continues to focus on up-and-coming designers
LFW has always been known for supporting and nurturing emerging designers, and this season is no different. Highlights include Conner Ives, who uses leftovers and vintage materials in his collection, 2021 LVMH Prize winner Nensi Dojaka and Matty Bovan, who won last year’s International Woolmark Prize and has become known for his exceptional knitwear.
Other up-and-coming names attending LFW as part of NewGen include Eftychia, Helen Kirkum, Per Götesson, Roker, Supriya Lee and Yuhan Wang.
Menswear designers to watch out for
In recent years there has been a revival of menswear in London and the FW22 program has five designers to watch out for: Saul Nash, Labrum London, SS Daley, Robyn Lynch and Stefan Cooke, all of whom have their FW22 – Show collections in the NewGen showroom at the Old Selfridges Hotel.
Other designers presenting menswear include Edward Crutchley, Mark Fast, Nicholas Daley, Richard Quinn, Ahluwalia, Ingrid Kraftchenko, Erdem, Feng Chen Wang, Feben and Bethany Williams.
DiscoveryLab will present 15 designers digitally
Again this year, London Fashion Week will be a digital-physical hybrid event. The BFC’s DiscoveryLab provides online support to up-and-coming designers who do not yet meet the criteria of the main program. This season, 15 designers are participating in the digital DiscoveryLab, including 6 women’s, 4 men’s, 3 men’s and women’s fashion and 2 accessory brands. Confirmed designers include Abigail Ajobi, Anciela, Christophe Ritter Studio, Djokic, Dreaming Eli by Elisa, Ester Kubisz, Ex-A-Studio, Florentina Leitner, JE Cai, Margn, Saskia, Sól Hansdóttir, Strongthe, VeniceW and Westernaffair .
Roksanda will launch exclusive NFT
Roksanda is partnering with London Fashion Week official sponsor Clearpay to enable “digitisation, accessibility and innovation for fashionistas everywhere”. The designer will bring to life a demi-couture look from her FW22 collection in the form of an exclusive NFT developed by the Institute of Digital Fashion, the first of its kind to give consumers access to haute fashion via Web 3.0 .
The NFTs are available for purchase on roksanda.com and can be paid in four interest-free installments via Clearpay. The final physical look will make its runway debut at Roksanda’s LFW presentation on Monday February 21st.
On|Off celebrates its 20th year
Talent development program On|Off, which has supported designers such as Gareth Pugh, Christopher Raeburn, JW Anderson and Robert Wun, celebrates its 20th anniversary with a return to London Fashion Week. On|Off introduces young designer Jack Irving, who will present his clothing collection both digitally via the Metaverse and physically with a catwalk show on Friday February 18th.
Irving, who started out as a set and costume designer, has garnered celebrity fans including Lady Gaga and Paris Hilton, and was commissioned by hi-fi speaker brand Rubyoung to create a one-of-a-kind design that will hit Selfridges’ showrooms in the fall. A series of NFTs will accompany the Jack Irving x On|Off x Rubyoung interactive art, sound and technology and will be released during and after the show.
London Fashion Week takes place from February 18th to 22nd.
This translated article originally appeared on FashionUnited.uk.