No one better summed up the mood of Britain’s great, but struggling, independent labels this London Fashion Week than Conner Ives, who described the experience in his show notes: “Your world is falling apart while you’re just trying to put on a musical.”.
Indeed, on the autumn-winter 2025 circuit countless designers made reference to the trying times British fashion is facing, with many reeling from the collapse of retailers, decreased luxury spending and a sense of instability worldwide. Yet it was hope, resilience and a dash of creative thinking that shaped a set of collections where homegrown stars took centre stage. Sponsors from Converse to KFC, 1664 Blanc to Mercedes-Benz helped. The music played on.
As ever, new ideas streamed out of designers well known — Burberry, Simone Rocha, Erdem and Emilia Wickstead — and new. From SS Daley and Paolo Carzana to Talia Byre and Tolu Coker, it was another bumper season for the next generation. Here are the seven key takeaways that you can adopt in your wardrobe today.
Emilia Wickstead presented at the Saatchi Gallery on Sunday, where show guests mixed with visitors queuing for the Flowers exhibition. Rather than the label’s usual florals, Wickstead found a prompt elsewhere in the garden: peas. Shocks of green came as tempting double-breasted, balloon-sleeved overcoats, ribbed polo necks and high-waisted, knee-length skirts. At Mithridate, the Chinese label reimagined by new creative director Daniel W Fletcher, similar shade sweaters were tied as scarves for his preppy offering. Simon Longland, fashion buying director at Harrods, says “green in its many shades — mint, apple, grass — emerged as a key theme”. Consider adding to wardrobes as a pop-shade cardigan.
Last week The London Standard published a special report claiming fur — fake and real — had crept back into high fashion: this show season proved it to be correct. At Conner Ives, real vintage fur sourced from Furs of Mayfair was used to trim the coat of the opening look, while mink was crafted into a gilet and used to trim a black dress. The British Fashion Council has technically banned the use of fur in collections since 2023 — others went big on faux.
Simone Rocha sent Alexa Chung down the catwalk in a brown, faux-fur bralette — one of the 33 looks from a 56-outfit collection which included some variety of realistic-looking faux fur. It came as knicker shorts, floor-sweeping stoles, fluffy flats and hare teddy bear scarves, “used to punctuate the feminine looks by bringing something animalistic to them,” she says. Toga, the 1997 Tokyo founded label who splashed back onto the schedule this season, also showed three statement fur coats, while Feben crafted fake fur into a tempting poncho.
Burberry designer Daniel Lee presented his most assured collection yet, striving for Saltburn-esque English eccentricity. Aside from famous faces taking to the catwalk (Saltburn’s own Richard E Grant, alongside Lesley Manville, Elizabeth McGovern and Naomi Campbell) key takeaways included jewel-toned velvet dressing — the citrine, ruby and emerald jacquard tailoring were standout — and quilted jackets in the style of the late Queen. The floral coat and skirt modelled by Lila Moss would have slotted nicely into her Sandringham wardrobe (she being fan on Burberry, with a penchant for their silk scarves).
Fishing has been in the spotlight of late, with the Angling Trust saying thousands of young practitioners have gained rod licences as they turn to the sport for anxiety relief. Where youth goes, fashion follows. So much was true at the Central Saint Martins MA graduate show, where William Palmer sent out a chocolate wool iteration of a classic fisherman’s vest — part of a collection which won him the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award. Chung launched her second range for Barbour in line with fashion week, where a highlight was the Rebecca gilet, billed as “a modern fishing-style waistcoat”.
Ties in a half Windsor knot have become a staple of the womenswear catwalks in recent seasons, but the sense this hyper-masculine trope might finally break through to the mainstream has never felt stronger. Bella Freud urged everyday ladies to tap into a look immortalised by Modigliani’s 1917 Portrait of a Woman in a Black Tie with her M&S collection last year, and the street-style pack clearly took note. Two of the city’s most promising female designers were into it, too; CSM graduate Talia Byre paired hers with burgundy tracksuits and yellow hoodies, while Tolu Coker, who also studied at CSM, cut ties in mocha and orange stripes. Elsewhere, Huishan Zhang layered them under Capote Swan silk ballgowns and Kent & Curwen had theirs with cricket jumpers. Head to M&S or Moss Bros for affordable styles to try.
“The morning after” proved popular on moodboards; both Ashish Gupta, the Indian-born, London-based designer known for his exceptional use of sequins, and Sinead Gorey, a grungy partywear label, lent in. As such, beleaguered-looking models wearing miniskirts with baggy hoodies were de rigueur. Elsewhere, hoodies came haute. Jawara Alleyne, another of London’s rising stars, had deconstructed hooded pullovers in his line-up, which had more gowns than the safety-pin T-shirts he is known for, and Rihanna loves. Stefan Cooke added striped hoods under inky, cinched wool jackets — while Simone Rocha’s hoodies came zipped, navy blue, and embellished with splashes of crystal.
-062-Hi-Res.jpeg?trim=82,0,1,0&quality=100&auto=webp&width=1920)
