“The New Surge of Young Designers About to Take London Fashion Week.”

As London Fashion Week has begun and -almost- concluded at the time of this article's conception, this article attempts to give readers a quick overview of who to really pay attention to. By delving deep into who these designers are, as well as what makes them so interesting, they pay tribute to some of the new, up-and-coming, and zeitgeist contributing fashion experts that are helping to keep London Fashion Week what it has always been known to be; fresh, exciting, and undeniably artistic. Each designer gets their own section of the article, detailing the fabrics they feel themselves drawn to, the story behind their artwork, and the reasoning behind why fashion is the outlet they have found themselves expressing it with. Notably, Ellen Poppy Hill, a London native, says she purposefully uses recycled and verging on disintegrating old fabrics to show her mental state. Likewise, Bobawicz emphasizes the melting pot that makes up much of English culture and its population, with Nuba and Tolu Coker, all pulling from their diasporic pasts and heritage, and how that influences the fashion they put out today.

The article focuses heavily on the storytelling device that seems especially prominent among both young designers as well as English designers as a whole. The significance placed on African and Caribbean displacement many English people still are troubled with sheds light on a subject that, even with many American designers using similar narratives, isn't as commonly nor openly discussed in American publications. Bobawicz expertly utilizes these themes, as well as the repetition of tailoring, streetwear, and personal style, to connect these designers through the use of fashion to represent us and our lives. Even designers who don't discuss a specific familial or personal trauma still emphasize the means of their designs and how they shed light on themselves, with Derrick using tailoring to focus on object permanence and Loutre employing skater and surfer streetwear trends that tie into her cross-continental upbringing.

What makes this article so profoundly interesting to me as a reader is the focus Bobawicz gives each designer in a relevant and significant way. Whereas many articles I've read detail designer lists in upcoming or current shows as a way to show the reader whose who and what to expect, Bobawicz gives each designer a chance to tell readers the “why” behind their craft, which is sometimes seemingly lacking in a lot of American or American exposed shows. It also struck me how many of these designers wanted to utilize deadstock and recycled fabrics, not only because of my own personal desire to do the same but because it was prevalent in almost every designer the article discussed, giving me hope for young designers to come. London Fashion Week seems to place a special kind of emphasis on storytelling, and Im glad to see that years after the passing of Alexander MacQueen, and Vivienne Westwood, those themes continue to be some of the most prevalent within the aspirations of this generation’s fashion designers. 

References

AnOther. “The New Surge of Young Designers about to Take London Fashion Week.” AnOther, 12 Sept. 2024, www.anothermag.com/fashion-beauty/15862/london-fashion-week-lfw-september-2024-ss25-new-emerging-designers-brands. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.