There was a lot of hype around Alexander McQueen returning to London and Christopher Kane taking the reins at Mulberry this season. Understandably so; one of Britain’s most famous fashion houses came home after 25 years, while one of the country’s most beloved brands returned to the schedule after nearly a decade away with a major new appointment. But after all the build-up, I found myself much more interested in what was happening further down the schedule. Because if there was one thing SS27 proved, it’s that London’s fashion future isn’t going to be found by endlessly reviving its past or returning to the archives; it’s being built by the young designers pushing the industry somewhere new.
This season saw 16 new names make their LFW debuts, bringing with them everything from couture and queer history to Jamaican dress, childhood nostalgia and clothes designed to be worn in countless different ways. It feels especially important to show up for these designers while they are still figuring things out. Seeing the clothes in person, paying attention to the ideas behind them, and understanding that a first runway collection is exactly that: a first, and (hopefully) the start of a much longer journey. It’s easy to forget just how much it takes to get a label to this point, too. Putting on a physical fashion show is brutally expensive, particularly for independent designers already juggling production, sampling, manufacturing and the cost of simply keeping a brand afloat.
But with McQueen, Mulberry and a host of other major names bringing an onslaught of international press into London this season, it provided a rare opportunity for discovery, too. The big names might bring people to town, but the new ones are what make London Fashion Week worth watching.
With that in mind, here are the 16 new names that made their LFW debut this SS27 season.
JOYCE BAO
In a quietly unassuming studio in Central London (the same space Petra Fagerstrom debuted her magnificent AW26 skate-inspired collection), Joyce Bao offered the first glimpse into her world. Entitled Imprint, the collection started with Joan Miró effortlessly simplistic painting of a blue dot on a white canvas, and curtains her mum thrifted in Florida. Bao says it was the dot’s “displacement” that got her mind racing, with the white canvas appearing “empty and unfamiliar”.
In the collection, the dot’s striking cobalt hue translated to structured, tabard-style shift dress, while lace prints, stiff pleats and dramatic drapes, borrowed from the curtains, create an impressive effortlessness. “We cut up, scanned and reconstructed the lace motifs digitally. Everything was enlarged on screen, and we tried to reconstruct the print as if the motifs came from a real, continuous piece of lace. If you look closely and zoom into each print, you can see how we made the motifs connect,” Bao explains. “I also love the contrast between the crispness of the pleating, the softness of the velvet, and the quilting of the top. It’s look that’s simple, but striking to me, with lots of tactile details.”
MÉ MÉ
Debuting as part of talent incubator Fashion East’s SS27 cohort, designer Mé Mé Yin staged a smoke show, inspired by the casual allure of busy women in the streets of Hong Kong. Net veils protected from pesky flies, while cigarette smoke-inspired organza and plate fascinators added character and humour to the looks, and suggests Yin doesn’t take glamour too seriously. Sheer layers bursting out of ruby shirts, combined with playful hues of turquoise and aubergine, rounded out a collection that made a notable impact in the room – all the more impressive when debuting alongside already acclaimed designers Jacek Gleba and Goyagoma.
GEORDIE CAMPBELL
Geordie Campbell has fast built a reputation as the go-to guy for proper British Style. His “British Boy” and “Good Boy” t-shirts had already been worn by leading men Sebastian Croft, Leo Woodall and Josh O’Connor before ever setting foot into fashion week. For his eagerly awaited arrival on the runway, the Oxfordshire-born designer showcased an impressive array of menswear and womenswear (a debut within a debut!), inspired by queer history and cruising culture.
George Michael became the “foundation” of Campbell’s SS27 collection, 15 Steps, honouring the singer’s infamous arrest and the ‘Summer of ‘G2’ in Mansfield Ohio, where police arrested 79 gay men for “indecent acts” over three weeks. Meanwhile, James Bidgood’s Pink Narcissus provided the inspiration for a series of future sell-out handbags, emblazoned with cheeky slogans lifted from the film’s signage. Campbell’s genius is in making queer history feel instantly relevant, translating references that might be unfamiliar to a Gen-Z audience into colourful, clever pieces they’ll actually want to wear.
FRANCESCA LAKE
Part-presentation, part-runway show, multi-disciplinary artist Francesca Lake staged ‘Wake The Town’, an exhibition that encompassed three years’ worth of work since she graduated from her Central Saint Martins MA in 2023. Exploring the relationship between clothing, identity and cultural memory, the collection drew on the nuanced forms of dress found across Jamaica, from church and funeral rituals to Rastafarian dress and Dancehall culture. Through procession, masquerade and wake, Lake considered clothing as an act of resistance, self-expression and reclamation, exploring how Black identity is continually reshaped and reimagined through dress.
R&M LEATHERS
I was first introduced to R&M Leathers thanks to Lily Allen, who sported a custom pink heart-shaped “cuck” apron on her West End Girl tour. The day before London Fashion Week kicked off, designer Ruby Mariani staged an off-schedule spectacle in collaboration with Pornhub inspired by the disappearing world of peep shows, porn theatres and leather bars. On the runway, this translated to beauty pageant bathing suits (styled with a grommeted ‘Miss Leathers’ sash and black tiara), Western-inspired cut-out dresses and a barely-there belted bikini.
References to 42nd Street and the now-shuttered Show World Center (NYC’s largest sex emporium) ran throughout, with its iconic brass admission tokens reimagined as an oversized belt buckle. Showgirls, brides and Bavarian maids became playful archetypes, while feathers, crystals and oversized leather roses added to the fantasy.
SARAH REGENSBURGER
When at their best, designers don’t just use the runway to show off their latest looks; they create an opportunity to bring you into their world. Or, in Sarah Regensburger’s case, invite you in for tea. For her SS27 collection, Diaspora: The Art of Belonging, the designer laid Persian carpets for a Sufi dance, played a soundtrack by DJ Kiki featuring the voices of young women from Baluchistan, and welcomed a performance from Swiss-Indian singer BombayMami. The collection explored the Iranian-German designer’s dual heritage, bringing the two together through tartan suits hand-stitched with Iranian coins, Baluchi needlework, Bandari masks and garments inspired by Persian poetry. As ever for Regensburger, everything was vegan and cruelty-free, with banana leather and other animal-free materials used alongside traditional craft.
“Every piece holds a part of me. It’s a story about growing up between different cultures – my Persian heritage and the Western culture I grew up in – and trying to understand what belonging means when you are constantly navigating between worlds,” Regensburger told BRICKS. “The needlework used in the Baluchistan jacket was handmade by young women in Baluchistan, Iran, and took three months to complete and was handed over to me by an amazing charity Loug Chokan. In many ways, that is exactly how I have experienced life as a child of the diaspora: carrying something deeply rooted in where you come from, while constantly moving through a modern world. The jacket represents that balance for me.”
A LETTER
Matt Empringham and Freddy Coomes had been teasing what to expect from their new label, A Letter, for weeks ahead of their runway debut via cryptic Instagram posts showing a yellow satin rose placed over models’ faces; some in real life, others via an iPad screen. The reveal was a collection of archetypal British clothes made just slightly strange: donkey jackets, vintage men’s chinos, Ben Sherman gingham and St Michael’s underwear were reworked with raw edges, zigzag stitching and unexpected fabric combinations.
There was something deliberately awkward about it all (even the official runway imagery was shot on iPhone), embracing the clumsiness of getting dressed up at home rather than the polished perfection of the runway. A Letter’s clothes feel familiar at first glance, but look a little longer, and things start to feel slightly off – which, judging by those roses, seems to be exactly the point.
GUI ROSA
Gui Rosa’s recognisable crochet technique has been filling up my Instagram ‘saved’ folder for months now, so it’s safe to say I was excited to see the clothes in person and up close. For their SS27, Rosa staged their own “deranged cotillion”, humorously introduced with audio from Gossip Girl‘s infamous Kiss on the Lips Party episode. “I think I have a doctorate in both Gossip Girl and Fashion TV,” they joke.
At the presentation, models stomped around the ballroom at the A Taj Hotel in outfits that gave desheveled debutante with a touch of kink, combining delicate knit, chiffon and lace with leather, grommets and plenty of skin. Rosa’s girl feels like Jenny Humphrey after she’s discovered herself: cool, slightly undone, and a wannabe it-girl with just enough delusion to pull it off. “I have a soft spot for the legging pant boots, because it was nice to be able to make a shoe from scratch and be able to turn it into a garment in its own right,” the designer explained of her now-signature netted garments.
LIZA KEANE
I love whatever is wrong with Liza Keane. The gothic princess staged her SS27 collection at the British Fashion Council’s NewGen showspace, which offers up-and-coming designers a blank concrete box to transform. And transform she did; before Keane’s models walked the runway, a gang of scantily clad men, wearing nothing but pants and body make-up, stepped onto concrete blocks to become the set themselves, holding a large screen ‘ceiling’ that prevented models from getting soaked by the downpour of water coming from the roof. They sloshed through water and dirt, some in shoes and others in bare feet (I know who I would prefer to be), leaving a trail of muddied footsteps in their wake.
A fallen angel opened the show, her tattered wings cut from strips of the same grey jersey as her hoodie dress. To battle through the elements, Keane’s models wore protective skin-tight leather dresses, trousers and jackets, some perforated and gashed as though the clothes had become part of their bodies. Leather was spliced with tender-looking sheer fabrics and left deliberately raw, while seams, wounds and exposed sections became part of the construction. It was survival dressing, but make it fashion.
LOVEBIRDS
Indian label Lovebirds arrived in London for SS27, bringing a decade of work rooted in Indian craft, minimalism and modern design to the British capital. Founded by Gursi Singh and Amrita Khanna in India around a decade ago, the label reworked familiar chintz through block printing and hand-painted brushwork, disrupting its traditional repeats to create something distinctly contemporary. Handwoven silks, tussar, dupion and brocade were developed with weavers in Banaras and Kutch, then frayed and deconstructed to loosen their structured origins. Despite the label’s restrained approach, the clothes were anything but boring, with playful colour, lively prints and clever construction details bringing a sense of movement to its polished silhouettes. “It is not the India we are introducing to the world; it’s the India we already know. We are just looking at it through the contemporary fashion lens,” said Khanna.
ONALAJA
Back in June, Kanyinsola Onalaja faced any designer’s worst nightmare; her studio burned down, and with it, much of her creative archive. Within minutes, years of careful craftsmanship, collections, samples, fabrics and embellishments were destroyed, leaving her dream to debut at London Fashion Week mere months away up in the air. Forgive the predictable phoenix comparisons, but Onalaja truly did rise from the ashes. “We’re aiming for 30 looks, but I’ll be happy with 25,” the designer shares in a new documentary series with Adobe, chronicling her process of recovering the collection. “I’d be happy with 20.” With the help of Adobe Firefly, the Nigerian eveningwear designer rebuilt her intricate beaded gowns just in time for fashion week, transforming the devastation into Re, a collection about destruction, resilience and starting again.
The result unfolded in three movements: The Burn, The Ash and The Rebirth. Ember reds, burnt oranges and terracotta gave way to scorched blacks and smoky greys before bursts of colour, molten gold and iridescence returned. Across sculptural gowns and dresses, thousands of beads, crystals, feathers and reflective threads created surfaces that seemed to move and shimmer with every step, while Yoruba and Edo Bini influences brought another layer of history to the meticulous handwork. More than anything, it was a reminder of what can be made from what remains.
KAI GHATTAURA AND FIN FORSYTH
Though off-schedule, that didn’t stop fashion students from coming out in droves for Kai Ghattaura and Fin Forsyth’s GLISTER, an independent runway experience inspired by dreams, nostalgia and the strange familiarity of childhood. The clothes felt like dressing-up box treasures from a particularly weird dream, with models covered in pink glitter and silver body paint, one sporting a geometric white fox head, and tartan patchwork across frayed silhouettes. Rope belts, makeshift beanies topped with colourful fur pompoms and plenty of DIY detailing kept things playful and scrappy. The set leaned into the childhood fantasy too, with Persian rugs covering the runway, dreamcatchers overhead and a cardboard recreation of Fin’s family home at the end. As the designers put it: “Adults should play too.”
SÓL HANSDÓTTIR
I first came across Sól Hansdóttir’s work in Copenhagen, so it was exciting to see the Icelandic designer bring her wonderfully strange approach to London for SS27. This time, Hansdóttir turned her attention to the stuff that sits between garment and accessory, creating adjustable pieces designed to be wrapped, layered and fastened over clothes you already own. Inspired by aprons, protective covers, hairnets and hairdressing capes found during research at the V&A East Storehouse, the collection played with unusual shapes, deadstock fabrics and instinctive combinations of colour and texture. The result was not really a collection at all, but more like a wardrobe of styling objects that felt distinctly unconventional and designed to let the wearer decide what happens next.
_J.L–A.L_
Esteemed menswear label _J.L–A.L_ returned to their hometown for its ninth season, presenting SS27 in London with a collection titled Möbius. Inspired by topology and the idea of forms that can be stretched, bent and twisted without breaking, the collection brought that concept into intricate tailoring, with belt loops spiralling, buttons redirecting surfaces and finishings twisting into new volumes. Breton stripes were paired with straw hats woven on a restored Victorian sewing machine, while 1940s deadstock Japanese millinery fabric was slashed at the shoulders and finished with trailing tassels. The whole thing was presented under low-pressure sodium light, casting the collection in a strange monochromatic haze.
A.V. VATTEV
After spending most of fashion week running between runway shows, I’m always happy to see a presentation do things a little differently, especially when that comes with a comfy sofa and some popcorn. For SS27, a.v. vattev presented a tightly edited selection of looks underneath the giant viewing screen (a new addition to the British Fashion Council’s space at 180 Strand), showcasing its collection through a fashion film. Titled ENCORE, the collection looked to French New Wave cinema and rock’n’roll for its leading man, with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon meeting the loose, irreverent attitude of Keith Richards. Familiar a.v. vattev signatures in pale grey and muted teal were softened and reworked, from the wing collar blazer and cut-out tanks to the Viper Cardigan and scarf waistbands, creating a menswear collection that felt polished without looking like it had tried too hard.
CLAUDIA SMITH
For her debut, Claudia Smith hosted another first for London Fashion Week: a phone-free fashion show. Guests were asked to place their phones inside custom-made Pinterest x Claudia Smith beaded bags before taking their seats at the British Museum. This left attendees free to actually watch the clothes themselves, rather than view the show through a screen. It felt particularly fitting for BEYOND R.E.G.A.R.D., Smith’s debut couture collection, which took inspiration from the historic ‘Alphabet of Gems’, translating the colour, symbolism and character of gemstones into one-of-a-kind couture looks. Sculptural forms, intricate embroidery, crystal work and hand-beading brought the idea to life, while the ruby-red bags were returned at the finale as keepsakes for future phone-free moments.
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