Fashion · Shows
London Fashion Week: The Shows and the New Generation
McQueen’s homecoming, Mulberry’s new chapter and the NEWGEN names of London Fashion Week.
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Image courtesy of © Himiller · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Image courtesy of © Christopher Macsurak · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Image courtesy of © Christopher Macsurak · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Image courtesy of © Christopher Macsurak · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Image courtesy of © Alexander McQueen
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Image courtesy of © Kwh1050 · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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Image courtesy of © Alexander McQueen
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Image courtesy of © Alexander McQueen
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Image courtesy of © Vivienne Westwood1 / 9
Each season the collections travel from New York to London, Milan and Paris. This series of four follows the shows city by city: the week itself, the big shows and what was written about them, and the new designers each capital is backing.
Five days in September
London Fashion Week shows twice a year, in February and September, on a schedule set by the British Fashion Council. The September 2026 week ran from 17 to 21 September: 47 catwalk shows, 23 presentations, ten digital activations and 53 evening events.
It was a season of homecomings, and the buyers came with it: the British Fashion Council counted accredited buyers up 19% on the year before, and international buyers up 41%.
The big shows
McQueen returned to the official London schedule for the first time since 2001, under its creative director Seán McGirr, bringing the house back to the city at the heart of its story.
Christopher Kane showed his first collection for Mulberry, and with it his own return to the London schedule; The Guardian called it a “swaggering joint comeback”.
Daniel Lee showed Burberry, whose trench coat the V&A recently celebrated in its exhibition The Burberry Trench: Crafting an Icon. And Marks & Spencer made its London Fashion Week debut.
The new generation
London’s reputation is renewed each season by its newcomers. The British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN programme backs emerging designers for up to three years, with a bursary, mentoring and a place on the official schedule; for those showing in its hub, the support is valued at about £80,000 in kind each.
It was a season of homecomings.
In September its show space was at 180 Strand. The newcomers Francesca Lake, Gui Rosa and Petra Fagerström joined the returning designers, and Fashion East came back to the official schedule.
Sarah Mower MBE, chair of the NEWGEN panel, singled out Francesca Lake’s debut, a collection titled Wake the Town. Other current NEWGEN names include Charlie Constantinou, Karoline Vitto, Pauline Dujancourt, Oscar Ouyang and Steve O Smith.
The Fashion Awards
The season ends at the Royal Albert Hall, where The Fashion Awards 2026 take place on Monday 30 November. The Vanguard nominees, for designers at the front of a new wave in British fashion, are Conner Ives, Ellie Misner, Steve O Smith and Tolu Coker.
The names travel: Conner Ives joined New York’s official schedule for the first time this September, and Pauline Dujancourt is among ANDAM’s 2026 winners in Paris.
Seeing it
The catwalk shows are for the trade, but parts of the week open to the public, from pop-up shops to talks; the British Fashion Council lists each season’s events on its London Fashion Week pages.
Our advice: the V&A on Cromwell Road holds one of the world’s great dress collections; in September, add an afternoon on the King’s Road, where Worlds End still keeps its clock.
Location
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