Highlights of London Fashion Week

(London) London Fashion Week, which ends on Tuesday as Milan Fashion Week opens, unveiled classically inspired fall-winter 2024 collections, and marked the return of several brands absent from the September edition. Here are five things to remember.

Return to the podiums

Several big names absent from the event last season have returned, including the highly anticipated Turkish-British designer Dilara Findikoglu. In September, she canceled her fashion show a few days before the deadline due to financial difficulties.

“It’s only about exaltation, dreams, positivity,” she told AFP backstage at her fashion show, which featured female creatures inspired by the world of BDSM ( bondage, domination, submission and sadomasochism), in the gothic atmosphere of a church.

The Irish Robyn Lynch, who had also skipped the previous season, was also present on Saturday to present her collection, in this difficult economic period for young designers.

Some of them, including Lynch, benefit from support from the British Fashion Council’s “NEWGEN” program, intended for young talents in British fashion.

Controversy at the British Museum

On Saturday, designer Erdem Moralioglu (Erdem) paraded his models in the impressive exhibition hall of the friezes of the Parthenon in Athens at the British Museum, arousing the anger of the Greek authorities who have been demanding the return of the famous marbles for years.

By organizing such a parade, inspired by the Greek singer Maria Callas, “the British Museum shows, once again, that it has no respect for the masterpieces of the sculptor Phidias”, reacted the Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni.

Athens has been demanding for decades the restitution of this 75-meter frieze, detached from the Parthenon, arguing that it was the subject of “looting” while the country was under Ottoman domination.

London, for its part, claims that the sculptures were “legally acquired” in 1802 by the British diplomat Lord Elgin, who sold them to the British Museum.

The classic in the spotlight

This season, many brands have summoned nostalgia for the past, with classic pieces, familiar cuts and materials, highlighting British heritage.

JW Anderson’s knitwear recalls the softness of the domestic interior, suggested by the gray wigs similar to grandmother’s hair worn by the models.

For his third collection for the luxury house Burberry, designer Daniel Lee celebrated British elegance, while offering pieces designed for the outdoors, in colors inspired by the English countryside, green, gray and brown.

The timeless trench is in wool, cotton or leather, with touches of tartan – on scarves or maxi scarves – tweed, and equestrian-inspired rubber boots.

Long, flowing dresses and drapes are also available endlessly: all in transparency and lace at Bora Aksu, inspired by ancient Rome at Eudon Choi, similar to twisted sheets or knotted curtains at JW Anderson, or effect wet at Di Petsa.

Skylight on the world

The “Broken English” collection, presented Friday by British and Nigerian designer Tolu Coker, was inspired by street vendors, in a setting reminiscent of West African markets.

The Labrum London brand, by designer Foday Dumbuya, celebrated the diversity and cultural richness brought by immigration.

Some of his models carried suitcases instead of headgear, while another displayed on his back a frame with dozens of flags of countries involved in “important migratory movements throughout history”, including the Palestinian flag. A political message and tolerance, argued the creator.

Return of the supermodels

Big names also walked the catwalks, from the essential Naomi Campbell at Burberry to the star model of the 2000s Agyness Deyn, again for Daniel Lee. Maya Wigram, the daughter of British designer Phoebe Philo, also walked for the designer.

There drag queen British Bimini Bon Boulash, revealed by the show RuPaul’s Drag Race UKalso had a triumph at the closing of Sinead Gorey’s fashion show on the theme of adolescence.