For many fashion observers, London is still the home of the wickedly zany, the wilfully bonkers and the decidedly incendiary, but Erdem — along with Jonathan Anderson, Mary Katrantzou and Christopher Kane — was one of those designers who decided early doors he wanted to compete with Milan and Paris, rather than waving a flag for British idiosyncrasy.
Once Burberry moved back to London it helped focus the international fashion community, and the British Fashion Council has been great in its support of foreign press, but it’s sometimes tough.”.
When I ask him what he thinks of the Labour government’s first six months, he says he wants them to look at the VAT issue (colloquially known as the Tourist Tax), something The London Standard has campaigned for since the rules were changed by Rishi Sunak when he was chancellor in 2020.
London Fashion Week has its challenges, and its support from the international community is intermittent, but it’s really, really important.
The Government has been under pressure to reinstate duty free shopping, which has had an impact on London Fashion Week, making purchases 20 per cent more expensive for international shoppers.
