Football has the Euros, politics has the party conferences and the fashion desk has its twice-yearly round of catwalk shows. For four weeks every February and September the Guardian fashion team goes on tour to see the clothes that will appear in shops four months later.
In practice the catwalk shows come around much more often – when you add in haute couture, menswear and the newer resort shows – there is pretty much a selection for the desk to cover every month.
The shows are central to our fashion coverage. They are important because they inform how we will cover the trends for the coming season in our supplements for the Guardian and the Observer, and for the website.
They’re the starting gun for the clothes that will filter down to the high street and are often spectacles that in themselves rival any piece of performance art. The catwalks provide important business stories from an industry that makes a £27bn contribution to the UK economy and one where it is often women rather than men who are central players.
While we know most of our readers might balk at the thought of a £4,000 coat, we are reasonably confident they want to know about cultural shifts, big business and what might end up in Zara and Cos next season.
Each of the four fashion cities has a slightly different identity, although we approach them all in a similar way. First up is always New York, which throws up its own challenges. Not least how to look stylish when reviewing the Victoria Beckham and the Marc Jacobs shows in icy February conditions. (Trade secret: our team relies on layering with thermal tights from M&S and Uniqlo down jackets.)
Next the catwalk tour returns to home ground in London, where it is all hands on deck, as the Guardian and the Observer fashion teams dash around the city covering shows, presentations and parties – producing galleries, news, features and social media posts. Pret a Manger serves as an impromptu office since coffee and plug sockets are central to our 15-hours-a-day coverage.
Third is Milan where the huge brands such as Gucci, Prada and Armani attempt to define the season. On arrival at the hotel the editors riffle through the invitations left at the hotel reception and head off past 600-year-old cathedrals to make the first shows of the day. The Prada invitation is a highlight – often a postmodernist work of art in itself.
Finally comes Paris, the city that arguably has the most high-fashion reputation and is where – thanks to the likes of labels such as Céline, Saint Laurent and Louis Vuitton – the trends of the season really start to consolidate. Then it’s home on the Eurostar to recover from 28 days working without a break and to plan the coverage for the next six months.
London fashion week diary
Thursday 18 February
This season London fashion week unofficially began with a party to launch Archive By Alexa at Marks and Spencer. This capsule collection is based on clothes found in the company’s warehouse that have been updated by Chung. Best was a pie crust blouse and a mac – which at £79 is the most expensive piece in the collection. Alexa woreit to the launch and convinced us we wanted it.
Friday 19 February
The catwalks begin in a souped up multistorey car park in Soho. Meanwhile BFC chair and Net-a-Porter founder Natalie Massenet accepts her damehood for services to retail and the fashion industry. The talk off the catwalk is how much the so-called “see-now-buy-now” approach to designer shopping will affect the shows.
Saturday 20 February
More editors are back from the New York shows by now and LFW really gets going. JW Anderson – named at the British fashion awards as both menswear and womenswear designer of the year – is the highlight on the catwalk. His show is inspired by interior designer David Hicks and features avant garde partywear. Marc Jacobs also makes a special guest appearance on the front row to cheer on young designer AV Robertson, who interned at his label in New York.
Sunday 21 February
On the catwalk it was all handbags at dawn as accessories labels Anya Hindmarch, Hill & Friends and Mulberry went head to head. Hindmarch based her collection on the early gaming era with motifs such as Pac-Man,Tetris and Rubik’s Cube on the catwalk while Hill & Friends also went for the novelty factor. All eyes were on Johnny Coca’s debut at Mulberry after the brand’s three-year hiatus from LFW, and Alexander McQueen’s one-off return to the London schedule. Off the runway we amused ourselves by playing “how many pairs of Vetements jeans can you count” (Vetements is a cult label based in Paris and very much the toast of street style this season).
Monday 22 February
Insiders refer to this as SuperMonday as it is the day when London’s big guns – including Burberry, Erdem and Christopher Kane, all show. Erdem’s catwalk set – a mishmash of dusty theatre props including antique chandeliers and marble fireplaces won the battle to dominate Instagram in the morning, while Christopher Kane’s bid to glamorise the rain bonnet in a show inspired by a TV program about hoarders topped the afternoon coverage. Jake Bugg sang live in the middle of the Burberry show and the brand won the unofficial battle of the front row with guests including Naomi Campbell, Laura Dern and Nicholas Hoult.
Tuesday 23 February
London fashion week drew to a close with shows from younger designers including Marques’Almeida and Ashley Williams. After five days of shows Jess Cartner-Morley summed up the trends as “major coats, governess gowns, polo neck dresses, pieces of silver, pink, venetian blind chic and sequins”. Which pretty much describes the creative eclecticism that London fashion week is famous for.
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