London Fashion Week Finally Has Its Own Shop

That the British Fashion Council should open a retail space dedicated to supporting its homegrown designers is an idea so simple you question why it hasn’t been done before. But in a period of unprecedented hardship, in which brands are navigating raw material shortages, inflation and a cost of living crisis, all in the face of a decimated e-commerce landscape, it feels all the more obvious. And so: from the Saturday (22 February) to Monday (24 February) of the autumn/winter 2025 edition of London Fashion Week, 20 designers – among them 16Arlington, Conner Ives, Knwls, Bianca Saunders, Ahluwalia, Saul Nash, Johanna Parv, Tolu Coker, Di Petsa and Ancuta Sarca – will find a temporary home right at the top of Regent Street. “The ambition is simple: to showcase these businesses and help them generate some cash,” says the BFC’s outgoing CEO Caroline Rush. “It’s going to be a real focal point this season.”

“When Caroline and the team come knocking I can never say no,” adds retail titan Ida Petersson, who was quickly mobilised to curate the pop-up alongside menswear consultant Lewis Bloyce, with whom she worked at Browns. “I have always loved, loved, loved these young designers and to be able to do something like this when the retail climate is as challenging as it is, well, it shines a light.” The rails will include a mix of archive, current season and custom-made pieces across men’s and women’s categories, though genders will be merchandised as one to encourage a sense of exploration among the high street shoppers. It has taken a village – a capital, even – to bring the whole thing to life: All Saints and The Retail Academy have provided sales assistants; 1664 Blanc the free drinks. “It’s like a treasure trove,” Petersson says. “There’s a roughness to the space which I think really speaks to London, too. It has that same rawness that lures people to London Fashion Week in the first place.”

With more than 56,000 members of the public passing through Regent Street on the weekends, the team hopes this space will serve as a forum for those without first-hand experience of the shows. (Broader programming includes sustainability workshops, customisation bars, and a series of talks themed around the future of retail, menswear and the ever slippery notion of community – just a handful of the one hundred activations taking place around the UK this season.) “It takes me back to my student days,” says Bloyce. “When I was desperate to be in the mix, anywhere, anyhow.” The sense of discovery goes both ways: consumers can interact with brands they’ve not seen before, while designers get to meet with an audience of fashion lovers outside the industry bubble. “And of course we have all the international buyers coming to London, too,” says Rush. “We’re hoping to attract them into store, so they can see how great the product looks at retail, and bring the heat of London to the rest of the world.”