British Fashion Council Cancels January Men’s London Fashion Week

Unique Conditions Lead To New Considerations For The British Fashion Council

London Fashion Week Men’s (LFWM), normally scheduled for January, will be folded into the now all-encompassing London Fashion Week (LFW) still scheduled for February 19th to the 23rd. LFWM was originally conceived in 2012, filling a void that allowed men’s fashion designers all the way from Saville Row tailors to emerging talent to show off what they’ve been working on. But with the Covid-19 pandemic and existing travel and trade restrictions due to Brexit, the British Fashion Council (BFC) has seized this moment to reconsider what fashion week in London can be.

This year’s pandemic made us all rethink the current system in place. We are confident that this move will help designers  reach more people via the digital LFW platform, while still allowing them to do business as early as January without the deadline of a show.

– Dylan Jones, BFC Menswear Chair

It’s no secret that there has been a push towards non-gendered fashion in the last few years, so it makes sense that the BFC would do away with LFWM. The event had already been altered to be not gender exclusive earlier this year. Once that change happened, we might have already asked, what’s the point in separating the two events especially given the few numbers of London men’s designers showing? The BFC plans to still help the normal LFWM fashion designers stating, “The BFC is committed to support British menswear designer businesses to show and sell their collections and will work with them on finding the best solutions to enable them to share sales materials with international buyers ahead of the February shows.”

That brings us to a larger point about digital media’s role. The BFC announced along side the cancelation of LFWM that LFW would have a “digital-first” theme. The in-person activations will be limited, and most of the event will take place online. We can expect to see online showrooms as well as a few physical sales contacts in February. This new digital format is not only Covid-conscious but also environmentally sound–the format limits the need for excessive travel and supporting physical infrastructure. All of these changes demonstrate a progressive movement in British fashion.

Moving LFWM into LFW in February will continue to de-gender LFW, allow designers greater flexibility to consider what collection they show when and minimise travel requirements, taking us one step closer to a more sustainable future.

– Caroline Rush, BFC Chief Executive

The British Fashion Council and London Fashion Week considered the future and the opportunity to change, to collaborate and innovate. These considerations led to the decision that all of London’s Fashion Weeks will be open to all genders and seasons. In 2021 the will be February (19^th – 23^rd), June (11^th – 14^th) and September (17^th – 21^st ).