Fashion

BRICKS Alternative Guide to Fashion Week 

As LFW Digital commences, BRICKS breaks down its favourite events on the Fashion Week Calendar.

Sophie Coldicott·

IMAGE Courtesy of Burberry

There’s plenty alternative about this year’s September London Fashion Week.  

September 2020 will follow in the footsteps of the fully digital and gender-neutral June London Fashion week with a mixture of digital and physical shows, as the majority of designers opt for a digital ‘activation’ – 71 of the 80 designers featured this year will have some digital element to their showcase.   

Whilst any praises of accessibility would be rather too much too soon, it has never been easier to get free front-row access to fashion shows through the London Fashion Week digital platform – gone are the days of waiting for an exclusive Louis Vuitton clock to arrive in the post.  

With so much choice, it can be hard to discern what is worth your time and what is not. But fear not, for BRICKS is breaking down our favourite events on the official Fashion Week Calendar – and some that aren’t – so you can get the full fashion week experience from the comfort of your home. 

Thursday 17th September

Nothing quite encapsulates the spirit of London Fashion Week 2020 like Burberry’s Instagram AR filter show invite. Think ‘alternative’ and Burberry, a fashion house that prides itself on its traditional British aesthetic, probably doesn’t register. However, there is nothing traditional about its embrace of a digitised fashion week. Burberry streamed its SS21 show live on twitch – comments section and all – kicking off the fashion week line up.

Models walked around a quintessentially British autumnal woodland, reminiscent of Jacquemus’ SS21 sunny wheat field runway. Inspired by the British outdoors and in collaboration with acclaimed visual artist Anne Imhof, it’s not one to miss.  

Friday 18th September 

Digitisation of London’s June Fashion week sparked debate about the sustainability of the fashion industry, and in particular, the sustainability of fashion week. A February 2020 report by fashion tech company ORDRE found that fashion week alone was responsible for a yearly emission of 241,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, produced predominantly by travel to New York, Paris, London and Milan.  

In September’s calendar, there are a host of panels discussing the topics of sustainability and ethical fashion – such as the Guardian’s ‘Ethical Consumerism: Oxymoron or Opportunity?’, and Project Earth’s ‘Re-imagining our Material World’ webinar on Sunday 20th September. Creative collective Colèchi is also running a ‘Clean Fashion’ series, including a talk on ‘The Image of sustainability – The changing Expectations of influencers, media, and marketing’. 

Collections by Halpern, Marrknull, Matty Bovan, and 80N8 promise to be highlights of Friday 18th. Halpern, known for its glittering party wear, will showcase eight women working across the public sector in its film presentation, making for both interesting and important viewing.  

  • Halpern, The Heroines of the Front Line When: 11:15 – 11:30  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform (Free) 
  • 80N8 Gala in the Pond!, When: 12:15 – 12:30  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform (Free) 
  • Marrknull, When: 13:45 – 14:00  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform (Free) 

Saturday 19th September 

Bethany Williams’ design has a strong ethical heart to it. Williams only produces clothing from recycled and organic materials, involving social projects in manufacture such as Adelaide House, a women’s shelter for ex-prisoners, and The Magpie Trust, a charity housing women and young children. Williams’ clothes not only do good, but they look good too – Williams’ primary palette and graphic prints make for a striking combination.  

Molly Goddard also gets a very favourable mention on merit of being one of the most important young British designers and for creating the pink tulle dress Villanelle wears in Killing Eve. Equally prestigious achievements in our eyes. 

  • Bethany Williams When: 12 – 12:15  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform Livestream (Free) 
  • Marques’Almeida When: 15:30 – 15:45  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform Livestream (Free) 
  • Molly Goddard When: 17:15 – 17:30  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform Livestream (Free) 

Sunday 20th  September 

Fashion East has a reputation as a launchpad for some of the biggest contemporary names in British fashion – keep an eye on it now for bragging rights when Nensi Dojaka, Saul Nash, Goom Heo, and Maximilian Davis, Fashion East’s 2020 cohort, become astronomically famous in a few years time. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CB6fSDUAAXy/

Monday 21st September 

Monday is packed full of interesting design. Both Daniel w. Fletcher and Kaushik Velendra utilise structure in fascinating ways in their menswear collections – look out for the interaction of clothes with the body in of their shows.  

  • Osman When: 11:30 – 11:45  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform Livestream (Free) 
  • Kaushik Velendra When: 12:30 – 13:00 Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform Livestream (Free) 

Tuesday 22nd September 

Bianca Saunders is the definition of “One-to-Watch”, having made waves with her menswear collections exploring topics such as masculinity and her Black-Caribbean heritage. The biography for “The Ideal Man”, her SS21 collection film, explains Saunders’ concept as “[dividing] her “ideal man” into five categories, using the language of ballroom culture: Man Going to his First Ball in Heels; Gangsta Pretending to be Corporate; Super Nerd at Dancehall Concert; College Grad with a Diploma and Gully Queen at his Engagement Party.” Saunders’ impeccable design and concepts make for fascinating viewing – we can’t recommend “The Ideal Man” enough. 

Xander Zhou is another designer whose work is heavily influenced by his cultural background. Instead of Saunders’ homage to contemporary Caribbean culture, Zhou projects a “techno-orientalism”, imagining Asia’s future in his SS16 collection “Far East”. Zhou’s last collection, “Homo Multiversalis”, built on his futurism, imagining multiverses containing a plurality of selves – here meaning models with split dye buzzcuts, duo-chrome suits and fabulously surreal presentation. Whatever Zhou has in store this year, it is guaranteed to wow.  

  • Xander Zhou When: 13:00 – 13:15  Where: London Fashion Week Digital Platform Livestream (Free) 

Enjoyed this article? Help keep independent queer-led publishing alive by becoming a BRICKS community member for early bird access to our cover stories and exclusive content for as little as £2.50 per month.