MARKING MEN’S: “It’s an incredible achievement for the BFC,” boasted London Fashion Week Men’s ambassador David Gandy at a reception hosted by the British Fashion Council to mark the fifth anniversary of London Fashion Week Men’s on Sunday. Held at the Designer Showrooms at Store Studios, the event also honored the design talent that has taken up space at the Designer Showrooms to showcase their collections. Guests included Gandy, Caroline Rush and Daniel Fletcher.
“I’ve been here since Day One,” said Gandy of London Fashion Week Men’s. “There have been changes in format for the shows and seasons. Everyone has been affected in Paris and Milan. We have to see how it spans over few years. Just having a platform and show space like this for emerging designers is brilliant anyway. Whatever happens, this has to continue because it is such an important role. We have the best fashion schools here. To have a platform for the younger generation during fashion week — which isn’t the easiest thing — it’s very important.”
“I think a lot of brands are waiting to see how it goes,” he added. “We might end up merging the men’s and women’s together and streaming it to the public — which I’m a big fan of. I think everyone should be involved. Not just the fashion elite. It should be absolutely everyone, because we want to sell to everyone outside of the fashion industry. They should be involved and be able to sit in the front row. It can be done on digital and streaming. There’s virtual reality, Google and streaming that has a big part of play in what we are going to do in future.”
It was Fletcher’s first time to showcase his range in the showrooms, allowing him to show his range to those that could not make it to his presentation held in East London the day prior. Stationed near Fletcher are his fellow designers Edward Crutchely and Charles Jeffrey, who have their spring 2018 collections on display.
“One of the nicest things about it for me is that I’m able to be sat alongside so many other designers and we’re all friends,” said Fletcher. “Charles [Jeffrey] has been there today. We are all friends but we never get to go to each other’s shows because we’re all doing them.”
Fletcher said he was “pretty disappointed” with the results of the U.K. election.
“I thought it was positive that the Conservatives got [fewer] seats. However, now that they have sided with the DUP. I think that it’s an absolute joke. The DUP is repressive, antigay, antiabortion. They don’t believe in climate change. So some of the things that they’ve said is disgusting. It’s really repressive, I think. We can’t just accept that.”
“It’s so unstable now,” he added. “I think by siding with DUP they’ve proved that so I hope that there is change. I think there could be another election this year. It wouldn’t surprise me because we have a really unstable government and it’s not good for our country.”
For more on the men’s spring/summer 2018 season, watch this: