Known for its innovators and boundary-pushers, London Fashion Week reaffirmed itself as a crucial cog in the fashion month wheel, featuring blockbuster moments and thought-provoking designs. A significant shift from the monochromatic, slender silhouettes of New York Fashion Week, London showed how best to work the room with an eye-opening concept.
The week at a glance
H&M (and dozens of high-profile models and celebrities) landed to kick off London Fashion Week, returning to the runway for the first time in seven years. The showcase presented the mega-brand’s Fall 2025 Studio collection in a see-now, buy-now format, as well as a selection of pieces across its various lines. The ability to instantly buy items seen on Alex Consani, Gabriette, or Romeo Beckham was all part of H&M’s plan to recapture its position in a crowded market by focusing on product.
Quite a different story for the rest of the brands, whose long lead times require them to make their shows just as memorable. However, this is exactly what the British Fashion Council (BFC) sought to overcome: developing a more robust schedule that was financially viable for emerging designers and filling the seats with international guests. As BFC CEO Laura Weir told Vogue Business, “We have waived membership fees to make the platform more accessible to designers, we have curated a schedule that speaks to London’s cultural relevance, and we have doubled our investment in the International Guest Programme.”
The BFC also collaborated with content creator Lyas, known for hosting a watch party for Jonathan Anderson’s debut at Dior, to do the same for the much-talked-about Dilara Fındıkoğlu show. With fashion already one of the internet’s favourite spectator sports, this is one avenue brands should consider to further immerse fans in the experience.
Overall, London Fashion Week tapped into the fashion-informed consumer who looks for something more from their clothes; silhouettes and fabrics grounded in reality, yet elevated through subtle innovations. Clothes that are unique enough to appeal to individual style, with a wink and nod to subcultures, or offer deliberate aversions to the male gaze, for example. The consumer wants to feel as though they were considered in the process — and London sure delivered on the community front.
Runway highlights
This boldness and thoughtfulness manifested in off-body silhouettes, ultra-feminine volume, and everyday items as accessories. Ideas of clothes being more than clothes were explored in Susan Fang’s 3D printed dresses, the club-rocker archetypes dressed by Aaron Esh, or the transgender rights message filtering through casting and sensorial colour at Connor Ives. Erdem wove the Martian alphabet into antique fabrics, and Chopova Lowena subverted the common cheerleader in all the brand's punk glory. The week’s big hit, Dilara Fındıkoğlu, captured the ‘caged’ woman, interpreting centuries-old corsetry, panniers, and emblematic metal pieces into a haunting representation of sensuality, freedom, and restriction.
Fashion’s relationship with music set a strong tone throughout the week, notably at Burberry, whose turnaround has been built on the back of imagery referencing iconic British musical festivals like Glastonbury, and Leeds and Reading. Daniel Lee looked to skinny suits and skinny scarves, with crochet dresses, denim, and leather trenches to present a well-received return of the indie frontman. Speaking of which, a thread of neon green, yellow, and pink worked its way through big names like Emilia Wickstead, Connor Ives, Burberry, and Erdem… a sign of 2010s, or 80s throwbacks to come?
The trends
All in the hips
Panniers, crinolines, puffy skirts, small waists, and bubble hems: the hip returned for another season as a playful and poetic focal point from Dilara Fındıkoğlu’s exposed undergarment structures to Chopova Lowena, who offered football shoulder pads as a pannier. Some were reminiscent of Jonathan Anderson’s last collections for JW Anderson and Loewe — Simone Rocha skewed hooped skirts for girlish awkwardness, Erdem referenced Marie Antoinette-influenced crinoline shapes, and Richard Quinn stunned with his mastery of ultra-feminine, regal elegance in floor-length ball gowns.
Another dimension
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Big on thought, bigger on movement. The runways experimented with textural dimensions and tactile layers that took on a life of their own. Known for her technological fabric experiments, Susan Fang developed a code-generated, pixelated floral print that resulted in crystal numbers and letters as embellishments on a miniskirt, a jacket, and a dress, and beaded onto a cardigan. Elsewhere, Simone Rocha tucked real lilies or pressed flowers in organza, or layered within floral-print plastic, and Roksanda explored 3D volume with ballooning skirts, dresses, and trousers.
Vintage florals
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Music isn’t the only way the British designers reflect their heritage; vintage floral and rose motifs, from ditsy sizes to large digital prints, were once again a fixture on London’s runways. Emilia Wickstead referenced Robert Mapplethorpe's paintings, Simone Rocha’s faint floral prints were a playful take on femininity, and Yuhan Wang’s ‘Army of Roses’ show featured a range of iterations, including the show-closing upholstered pieces in a winsome rose print.
Nearly neon
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As a shake-up to the subdued colour palettes seen over the last few seasons, neon-ish pieces seemed to crop up all over the week. A throw-back feeling for eveningwear and partywear, the colours didn’t just come from the avant-garde designers like Jawara Alleyne or Ahluwalia — Burberry took on hot pinks and acid greens with a devil-may-care attitude, and Erdem took its references from Indian saris to create beautiful silk colour-blocking.
Planning your next assortment? Catch up on FW25's top trends from New York, London, Milan and Paris.
Image credits: Vogue, Tagwalk
