London Fashion Week Controversy: What's The Matter With London?

Unless you read local London newspapers, you may not be aware of the brewing London Fashion Week controversy that currently has the fashion industry atwitter. The controversy pits the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) headed by executive director Steven Kolb and current president Diane von Furstenberg against British Fashion Council (BFC) president Hilary Riva. The controversy erupted over plans by the CFDA to start their shows on the second Friday of February and September, a week later than their current slots. The result of this decision leaves London designers with just four days wedged between New York and Milan to present their collections. The fear (well-founded, I believe) is that given requisite travel time between New York and Europe and the packed schedules, buyers and journalists will simply bypass London altogether and go directly to Milan resulting in a loss of prestige and status for London Fashion Week and the British fashion industry as a whole. A meeting is scheduled later today between Riva, von Furstenberg, Mario Boselli, president of Milan's Camera Nazionale Della Moda and Didier Grumbach, president of the Federation Francaise de la Couture et du Pret-a-Porter, to try and find a solution.

I first learned of the controversy late Friday afternoon when I was contacted by the Evening Standard and asked to comment on the dispute. The Standard ran a piece placing the dispute in a larger context which pits London against New York in a battle for dominance as a world financial and cultural center. Respected fashion commentator and historian Colin McDowell adopted a more subtle approach in the Sunday Times choosing instead to taut London's many contributions to global fashion. The Guardian also ran a piece on the topic on Monday in which Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue, accuses the American fashion establishment of a "deliberate attempt to drain the lifeblood from London fashion week." Ouch!

Emotions are running high among members of the British fashion industry and it's perfectly understandable. After all, London counts among the world's most prestigious fashion schools (Central Saint Martins, Royal College of Art, London College of Fashion which includes the prestigious Cordwainers College that has turned out some of the world's best shoe designers including Jimmy Choo, Patrick Cox, Rupert Sanderson and Beatrice Ong). London also does a tremendous amount of work to seek out and nurture young fashion design talent once they've graduated. The Fashion Fringe competition founded by Colin McDowell is an excellent example of this. Unlike Project Runway that has more to do with reality television drama than fashion per se, Fashion Fringe is a serious contest that is both well thought out and well supported by various members of the industry including the press and retail communities. It's always struck me as particularly odd therefore that despite London's considerable fashion "mojo", it can't seem to hang on to its most successful designers. It would seem, from London's perspective, that the minute a talented young designer gets a bit of critical acclaim and media exposure, they quickly decamp for Paris or New York. It has to hurt.

The conditions underpinning the current controversy have been evolving for some time. In December 2007, upon learning that yet another talented young British designer, Jonathan Saunders, would be showing his collections in New York for the foreseeable future, I published a post entitled What's The Matter With London? in which I asked why it was that London's most successful and most promising designers were increasingly choosing to show in cities other than London? To be honest, I've yet to get a satisfactory answer to that question. What is clear however is that there is something obviously amiss when you have not only the doyens of British fashion such as Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen who show their main collections in Paris but also well-on-their-way designers such as Mathew Williamson and talented up-and-comers like Jonathan Saunders and Gareth Pugh decamping for New York and Paris respectively.

While I conceed that this is undoubtedly a complicated issue, picking a fight with New York is certainly not the answer. New York is looking after its own interests and I suspect that if the tables were turned, London would not be acting any differently. Rather than making this an 'us versus them' type dispute, it would help if the British fashion industry could stop and take a long, hard look at the reasons underlying the controversy. Why are designers leaving in the first place? What is the lure of cities like Paris and New York? Most importantly, how does London get them back? Luring back the heavy hitters to London (many of whom continue to live and work in London despite showing their collections elsewhere) is absolutely key to shoring up London's bargaining position. Bring back the big names like Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood and get them to show their primary collections in London. Buyers, journalists and the rest will follow.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[Dahlia]

Could it be that the economy could play a role affecting London Fashion Week? In general, American buyers are refraining from making large orders from European brands, which I'm assuming includes the UK. So they won't travel to London. Perhaps designers feel they can reach the Americans overseas with New York, and find prestige in Paris? Is the fashion market in London down? Are local designers successful or are they struggling?

It's a little odd that London is being left behind tough, and it's so true that the top talents emerging on the scene all came from the top fashion schools in London. I've had several students from London email me questions about the fashion industry (whom I envy, I would love to study Fashion Journalism in London). With the likes of top quality education, the best tailors in the bespoke industry (Savile Row), and talent to boot, perhaps the missing ingredient is money. If designers can make a killing overseas and receive loads of press (for which NY and Paris are notoriously known for), buyers may come flocking.

Anyway, it's very interesting news, and I'm curious to know how London will cope with the consequences. Great post Helene!