A recent British Fashion Council report confirms the fashion industry’s significant contribution to the UK economy. In 2021, the estimated £28.9 billion gross value added contribution to the economy was similar in size to that made by the car industry. And the driving force behind the industry has been London Fashion Week, the semi-annual event that just celebrated its 40th anniversary this month. London Fashion Week is a great supporter of new talent, both through its NewGen program and with the help of excellent organisations like Fashion Scout and Global Fashion Collective. The anniversary edition of LFW showed 67 designers, with collections by many emerging designers, including several debuts this season. Here are 17 highlights, including new and more established brands.

Tolu Coker

British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker’s runway show was a joyful spectacle, filled with tires, food carts with brightly colored umbrellas and live music. Her designs for this show were equally eclectic: leather coats, both long and cropped, hoodies under long wool coats, and gowns worn over trousers. This is a young designer who is passionate to use fashion for social change. Teaming up with Vlisco and The City of Joy, Coker journeyed to the Democratic Republic of Congo where she designed a collection in honor of the lives of women survivors of rape through war violence. And in 2020, she worked with the charity Choose Love for London Fashion Week, to create a special T-shirt in honor of the communities she connected with during her time in Rwanda.

Saul Nash

British designer Saul Nash’s genderless sportswear goes from strength to strength, both with his dance-inspired designs and through clever collaborations with Gucci, Adidas and Mercedes-Benz. In this season’s collection, some of his designs use the iconic “smiley face.” Saul Nash worked with Smiley, founded by former French journalist Franklin Loufrani who created and trademarked a smiley face in 1972 to highlight good news. Today, one of the the company’s initiatives is the Future Positive Creators Fund, a £500k fund and mentorship support scheme designed to help game-changing designers at global fashion weeks.

Sabirah

Stylist and Creative Director, Deborah Latouche’s new collection draws inspiration from a ground-breaking leading lady and 1980s icon: powerful, glamorous, independent businesswoman Dominique Devereux of the hit 1980s’ TV show Dynasty. The color palette is peaches and creams juxtaposed with hues of tobacco, silver and gold. Antique jewels add accents to the impeccably cut silhouettes, powdery pink-feathered hats and delicate lace eyepieces by Piers Atkinson complete the vintage glamor. With sustainability always in mind, the collection uses luxury, end-of-life fabrics sourced in Italy and tailored and made in London.

Robyn Lynch

Another brilliant collection from Irish designer Robyn Lynch, this time including a collaboration with C.P. Company, as the designer upcycles outerwear pieces from the Italian sportswear brand’s past collections into a capsule of one-off designs. She says “it was really fascinating to take apart the garments and learn about their impressive construction, the detailing, the finishings – all of these elements definitely influenced the way I design myself. I considered the purpose of each item of clothing and its various part.” A perfect example is the C.P. Company Goggle Jacket, the signature outerwear design that was initially created for the legendary Mille Miglia car race back in 1988. The original C.P. Company pieces are remixed and the classic Goggles are also newly embossed with the Robyn Lynch logo.

Denzilpatrick

New British menswear brand, Denzilpatrick is led by Creative Director Daniel Gayle, former studio and design director at Philip Lim, Kenzo and Victoria Beckham. The London-based brand captures the spirit and stories of the city, its urban identity and the autumn/winter 2024 collection was inspired by dance venues and former music halls. Crisp logo-print jackets, shirt and tie combos, and sportswear pieces are given evening-dress appeal with smocked nylon, tails and ruffles. Bomber jackets are adorned with antique buttons. Sports-infused outwear is cut from theatrical interior fabrics and cropped blousons and trousers appear to be salvaged from the remnants of velvet seating.

Edeline Lee

Known for her beautiful, creative presentations, for this season, British Canadian designer Edeline Lee showed her newest collection Mothers and Daughters in a gorgeous townhouse restaurant surrounded by artwork owned by the gallery Hauser & Wirth. Featuring 33 portraits of mothers and daughters wearing her timeless designs, the women are from the worlds of art, culture, fashion and academia and include Professor Mary Beard, actor Olivia Williams, and Vogue’s global director of talent and casting, Rosie Vogel-Eades, along with their daughters. The brand’s signature pebbled Flou Bubble Jacquard is here in a number of beautiful dresses, in a palette of navy, black, burgundy, ivory and lilac, along with gorgeous trouser suits in black or white.

Mithridate

Watched by a front row that included actor Andrew Scott (Fleabag’s “hot priest”), this season Mithridate wowed runway guests with a range of mysterious, ethereal looks. The brand teamed up with British footwear brand, Roker to introduce a line of custom shoe designs inspired by the concepts of fate and existence through an astrological lens. Keeping with Mithridrate’s original hand-painted zodiac designs, the collaboration blends Mithridate’s intricate style with expert craftsmanship and showcases the constellation patterns of free spirited Sagittarius and fearless Scorpio, using crystal embellishments and innovative hot drilling techniques.

Eastwood Danso

In his first London show in 2019, fresh out of fashion college, German-born Eastwood Danso collaborated with Converse and Nike. For this new collection he customises Dr Martens footwear. In 2016, while still a high school student, German-born Eastwood Danso launched his eponymous menswear brand. mentored by Samuel Ross, creative director of A-Cold-Wall*. This is clearly another young designer on the rise. His ready-to-wear designs reference family archives from the mid-80s to the early 2000s, as well as historical figures like the first president of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, pictured on a hoodie.

Genaro Rivas

The Genaro Rivas AW24 collection was the first ever collection presented on the official BFC LFW schedule by a Peruvian designer, in its 40 year history. The collection Beautiful James was crafted in East London, using Peruvian materials such as alpaca, and represents a blending of Genaro’s South American roots with those he has laid down in East London. Contemporary silhouettes are combined with more classical shapes. The collection has been created in a very collaborative way, echoing Rivas’s idea that fashion should have a purpose for as many people as possible. Many makers based in both East London and Peru contributed in some unique way or another, helping to build local communities that come together for the purposes of creative expression.

KGL

Innovation and collaboration is key in Indian designer Kanika Goyal’s new collection. Fabrics honor Indian craftsmanship, using expert local artisans in New Delhi for embroidery. Surplus fabrics from mills were repurposed, uniting the old and new in a nod to Kanika’s heritage and upbringing. Jackets and trousers were woven from thin strips of deadstock denim, dresses are patched from unused pieces. Materials honor past collections, sharing resources to reduce environmental footprint. A standout is an upcycled, denim two-piece. Belts, bags, accessories and trims were crafted in surplus leather offcuts, procured from remaining factory stock.

Edward Crutchley

Edward Crutchley explores fashion free from the constraints of gender; exploring themes that move between social, historical and cultural perspective and his new collection references ancient Greece. Historic Ironmongers Hall in east London hosted the runway featuring a wondrous array of animal prints, ruffles, tapestry, crocheted dresses, big shoulders, puffer bombers and a touch of latex,

Samantha Siu

Raised by successful jewelry manufacturers in both New York and China, fashion factories became Samantha Siu’s playground. She trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) where she developed a passion for wax carving, an all but forgotten craft that originated in Asia and the Middle East before 4,000 B.C. She incorporates wax carving techniques into her jewelry making process, and has created a design with impact: the reversible back necklace.

Momonary

Based between Shanghai and London and drawing inspiration from cartography, Zeng Yue and Fu Fanding, founders of Momonary made their London Fashion Week debut in collaboration with Post-it Note, Scotch tape company 3M. Bringing innovation to the catwalk, over 40% of the looks shown on the catwalk incorporated 3M Thinsulate™ innovations for warmth, breathability, and lightness. The dreamy collection includes overcoats, jackets, shirts and dresses in pale pink with tan, and dark brown, sometimes with a pretty applique of petals or jewels.

Sergazi Firenze

Presented by Ones To Watch at Fashion Scout, this new luxury brand from Kazakstan, now based in Florence, creates unique handcrafted pieces. Contemporary silhouettes are created using traditional techniques of textile production, combined with cashmere and luxury textiles produced by established manufacturers in Europe. contemporary silhouettes and materials.

Alex S. Yu

Alex S. Yu ’s collection, showcased in London by fashion producer Global Fashion Collective, features plenty of bright and luminously colored tulle pieces, archived prints and an abundance of ruffles. Always creative, the brand revels in a palette of vibrant colors, dynamic prints, unconventional shapes and varied textures.

Sinead Gorey

The legendary London nightclub Heaven was the ideal location for Sinead Gorey’s lively new collection, inspired by English youth culture around 2000. This season’s collaboration with that era’s defining label, Ed Hardy, offers a fitting throwback to the diamanté-encrusted and tattooed getups Gorey and her girl gang rocked in their youth. Tartan, a Union Jack print prom dress, patchworked taffeta bodices, hair scrunchies, punk badges, micro-skirts. PVC, woollen twinsets, clashing pop socks and evening gloves, all makes for a glorious, riotous collection.

Stoned & Waisted

Luxury womenswear, designed by Rachel Allpress, uses supersoft, lightweight shearling for gorgeous coats, capes, jacket, and waistcoats. Handmade in an artisan workshop in London that also works with brands such a McQueen, Alice Temperley and Raey, the garments are available in neutral shades, jewel tones and leopard print, from natural dyes. A pop-up shop opened during London Fashion Week (until 25 February) on the King’s Road in Chelsea shows off the luxurious brand.