Who better than a Contributing Editor at British VOGUE to ask about the joy that London Fashion Week can bring? Over to you, Harriet Quick…
What it is that you love about Fashion Week? Who/what gets you excited about it each season?
I'm always excited for fashion season. The sheer endeavour of putting on thousands of shows, each fighting to project a distinct point of view, a grab on your memory, is mind-blowing. Even if fashion looks the same, or trends repeat, it never really is quite the same. Fashion in that way is fantastically fluid and stimulating. I have the utmost respect for those designers that manage to continually seduce, surprise and delight.
How would you like to see Fashion Week change? What is its future?
The role of the catwalk show is now to provide a performative experience, jettisoning the brand and its values to a vast audience viewing on YouTube or Instagram. The stakes are continually raised. Where the clothes were becoming almost like 'props', I think we are now starting to see a reaffirmation of real clothes on the catwalk and true originality. At the same time, brands and the show circuit need to be environmentally friendly and not promote or create waste and excess. It's a tricky balancing act. In the not too distant future, I can see a revival of the small, very special trunk shows in a home or atelier – not unlike the events that took place in 100 years ago in Paris.