London Fashion Week kicks off in just over a week, five days filled with
designers showcasing their spring/summer 2016 collections, and this season
also marks a change in venue, with the British Fashion Council swapping the
tent space at Somerset House for a car park on in the middle of Soho – so what
can we expect from the new home of LFW?
When the announcement was made earlier this year, the car park, even
with its Art Deco detailing it wasn’t received well. Somerset House had the
heritage, the glamour and the space, a car park on the other hand, even
with its proximity to the shops on Regent and Oxford Street, was still at
the end of the day a car park.
Well the BFC has hired David Collins Studio, the guys behind many of the
Alexander McQueen and Jimmy Choo retail stores to create a design that
reflects the urban nature of the building and works with the concrete
structure of the 1,600 square foot space at Brewer Street Car Park to
create a functional and contemporary open layout space.
So what can we expect? Well, for a start a 70 metre long mirrored
ceiling catwalk, which will see models strutting designer’s SS16
collections down the full length of the space. According to the BFC, the
space plays with “volume, light and reflection,” while imposing “symmetry
on the space”.
Catwalk goers will also be able to view exhibitors from the central
runway space, which the BFC hopes will encourage movement and exploration
within the space. Meaning people might not be jetting straight off after
shows but instead looking around the designer showrooms, which this season
will feature more than 150 womenswear designers.
David Collins Studio design director, Lewis Taylor explains:
“Collaborating with the British Fashion Council, we wanted to embrace the
urban nature of London Fashion Week’s new home at the Brewer Street Car
Park whilst playing with the rigidity and form of traditional exhibition
design to create a functional show space which appears to be very simple,
but in fact performs as a mini-department store.”
What to expect from LFW’s new home at Brewer Street car park
I think we can all admit even though we loved the catwalk tents at
Somerset House the designer showrooms inside Somerset House were a bit of a
maze to navigate, well this season the open space showroom floor has been
divided into product categories: ready-to-wear, emerging ready-to-wear,
shoes, bags, accessories and multi-label showrooms, to make it easier to
see the relevant designers.
It has also had a classy makeover, with David Collins Studio using
semi-transparent dividers to allow designers to exhibit within spaces that
are private and yet have a connection with the wider showroom, with
floating shelves and showcase plinths being used to bring a subtle
uniformity to the space.
The showroom line-up is also pretty impressive with this season adding
John Smedley, Rejina Pyo, Self-Portrait and Zandra Rhodes for the first
time, along with on-schedule designers Fyodor Golan, Holly Fulton, and
Jean-Pierre Braganza. There will also be a pop-up showroom for the NewGen
sponsored designers within which 1205, Ashley Williams, Claire Barrow,
Danielle Romeril, Faustine Steinmetz, Marta Jakubowski, Molly Goddard,
Sadie Williams and Ryan Lo will present their collections to buyers and
press.
Other areas include the BFC’s millinery initiative, , which will present Emma Yeo, Harvy
Santos, Keely Hunter and Sophie Beale in a space co-curated by Stephen
Jones OBE, while fine jewellery designers Beth Gilmour, CompletedWorks,
Jacqueline Cullen, Lily Kamper, Ornella Iannuzzi, Rachel Boston, Ruifier,
Shimell & Madden, The House of Ana de Costa and Yunus & Eliza will showcase
in the Rock Vault area co-curated by Stephen Webster.
While the second floor will play host to pop-ups open to accredited
guests of LFW, including a press and buyers lounge sponsored by the
Sunglass Hut, a concierge service, the Amex Insiders offering guest tips
and directors, as well as a make-up space by Maybelline New York and a hair
studio by Toni & Guy.
There will also be a pop-up restaurant, the Hix Café by Mark His, which
will serve a unique menu designed exclusively for London Fashion Week with
deli classics, healthy salads and snacks with a Hix twist, alongside LFW
sponsors including Alpro soy, almond and coconut yogurts, Lavazza coffee
and Scavi and Ray Prosecco.
London Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 runs from September 18-22.
Image: LFW Brewer Street Car Park
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