“I’m here to support up-and-coming British talent,” Khan told the FT after the show. “Fashion is who we are, it’s in our DNA. We should be proud of the fact that our fashion exports are growing, that we have a pipeline of talent coming through. There’s a new generation of people involved in fashion, whether it’s the new editor of Vogue or some of the designers you are seeing over the week.”
New media and “influencers” are jostling for position on the front row with the traditional press. Vogue is on the brink of an eagerly awaited refresh, with Edward Enninful at the helm and a revamped team installed (although whether or not editors-at-large Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell are strictly new is debatable).
Of course this is all taking place under the looming storm cloud of Brexit. Almost everyone in the British fashion industry was opposed to the idea of leaving the EU, given the potential complications of trade tariffs, unfavourable exchange rates, and restrictions on hiring talent from abroad. Meanwhile, on the first day of London Fashion Week, a terrorist bomb partially exploded on the Tube, and the security level was raised to critical.
