This season’s London Fashion Week, in the absence of Burberry, put the spotlight emphatically on emerging designers, in truth always a LFW strength. As talents graduate from incubators such as Fashion East or show for the first time after the hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic, the London Fashion Week runway has become a key place to carve out brand identities and build businesses.
Vogue Business spoke with four of the city’s newest names to learn how they are building brand identity with their fashion shows.
Taking a gamble, focusing on details
LVMH Prize runner-up Conner Ives, who showed for the first time at LFW this season, was delighted with his decision to stage a full show. Ives, an American, specialises in intricate, elegant upcycled collections typically made from deadstock or vintage scarves, T-shirts and fabrics. The 25-year-old has been selling collections since before he graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2020 and is stocked at eight retailers including Net-a-Porter, Browns and Bergdorf Goodman. Annual sales are less than £500,000.
Ives, who says he had always dreamed of doing a fashion show, felt a certain level of expectation to take to the stage this season. “It was one of those business risks you take as a business owner. This was my opportunity to do it and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. It’s a gamble that paid off,” he says. Within 48 hours of the show, over half of the collection was already out on loan as stylists and celebrities clamoured for his colourful pieces.
The details matter. Ives’s show notes broke down every single look, explaining fabrication and inspiration, often drawn from characters of American fashion culture. Look 21, for example, was named Devil in a Red Dress, described as “Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil in 101 Dalmations. Up to no good. Enchanting and evil. This dress took five months of hand embroidery, utilising vintage sequin blouses, Swarovski crystals, deadstock ostrich feathers and seed beads.”
Precise, detailed show notes and digital experiences can help brands communicate their sustainable message, designers agree. “I think it’s hard to be like, look at what we’ve done here and what we’ve achieved, without preaching,” Ives says. “I’m still trying to create this relationship with the customer and I love the idea of people that are coming to the label because it’s sustainable. But, for me, the dream scenario would be a person falls in love with a dress and only later realises that it’s made from deadstock.”
