AW16 London Fashion Week: Lessons Not Learned
The AW16 London Fashion Week is in a full swing and Ikon London Magazine team is working around the clock to report from the frontline of fashion. With so much effort being put in by fashion designers, buyers and media, it is a shame that British Fashion Council didn’t learn their lessons from SS16 London Fashion Week.
Back in August, the British Fashion Council (BFC) has announced a new venue for Designers’ Showrooms – the inconveniently sited in the very heart of overcrowded Soho Brewer Street Car Park. Alas, the diesel-fumed car park is the house of ‘trendy’ Vinyl Factory. Located off the Brewer Street.
London Fashion Week: Designer Showrooms at the car park
Situated on the meeting point of Brewer Street, Great Windmill Street and Lexington Street, the venue is attended by thousands of people daily. Must I say that embedded with one-way streets and diversions, Soho and local council are struggling with traffic jams caused by London Fashion Week AW16 visitors.
Due to the size of the venue -that has never been created to accommodate so many people- the Designers’ Showrooms are most likely to be closed for visitors at peak hours – operating on a one-in-one-out basis. The lack of sufficient path walks results in crowds of people blocking the entire surrounding area… and don’t get me started on the carbon footprint and direct and indirect health hazards to the public and locals.
The London Fashion Week has always been the youngest malnourished sister of major Fashion Weeks –Paris, Milan, New York- and sadly the British Fashion Council are not helping the matter. One of the bluntest architectural achievements – a car park – will never top the iconic Somerset House that used to add that luxurious decadent touch to London Fashion Week in previous years.
Delays at the London Fashion Week mean editors are missing the shows
There are of course other venues such as St Andrew’s church in Holborn that provides an epic backdrop to fashion shows. Another worth mentioning is the Freemasons Hall – an iconic achievement of British architecture that is a host to all Fashion Scout shows nicely scheduled one after another.
Sadly, not everything has gone without hiccups there either. One can –and does- spend up to an hour waiting in a queue and the designers are missing out on a great coverage simply due to the enormous queues and delays that can put off even the most devoted ones if they have to rush to the next scheduled show.
As a result, out of those who have time to diligently queue well before the show, the first-row priority is often given to people with medium/large Instagram following and very often with zero experience within the fashion industry or media whatsoever.
With all that being said, I really hope there will be some big improvements coming our way. And if British Fashion Council is struggling – there is always a crowdfunding opportunity available – just saying.
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).
