WIDELY heralded as a cutting-edge showcase for the most talented young designers in the country, London’s annual Fashion Week took on a more familiar slant at its launch last night when the culture of celebrity once again permeated the clothes scene.
This time it was actress Sadie Frost who drew the crowds - including two ex-husbands, Gary Kemp and Jude Law, and her current lover, Jackson Scott - as she unveiled a glittering array of clothes from her Frost French Fashion House collection.
Law
, 31, to whom she was married for six years, was accompanied in the audience by his girlfriend, 22-year-old Sienna Miller.
Ms Frost was also supported by her friends, model Kate Moss, actress Samantha Morton and Meg Matthews, former wife of Noel Gallagher. Damon Dash also had a front row seat.
The opening of the extravaganza was dominated by high-profile catwalks amid promises by the British Fashion Council, which runs the event, that it would be going back to basics and focusing on raw talent.
In the next week, 45 designers, including Julien Macdonald, Paul Smith and Jasper Conran, will battle to attract only the most high-profile "A-list" celebrities to view their collections as they present catwalk shows across London.
This year, in addition to the official base for the event on fashionable King’s Road in Chelsea, shows will be held at other venues including the Royal Academy of Arts.
But while the event attracts its share of well-known names, it has never been a natural platform for the big-hitting, international lifestyle brands. Instead, it is seen by the organisers as a shop window for nurturing emerging talent.
The opening day provided the critics with a good balance of creative and commercial flair, including pretty frocks, fresh colours and feminine decoration by Ronit Zilkha and Ben de Lisi, and delicate vintage hippy-style chiffon dresses over 1980s Spandex leotards shown by newcomer Sophia Malig.
But the star of the show was undoubtedly teenage cover girl Lily Cole, who reinforced the youthful image of the event.
The British Fashion Council’s chairman Stuart Rose, who is juggling Fashion Week with his day job as boss of Marks & Spencer, said last night that the focus on new talent made London Fashion Week unique.
"British fashion needs a shake-up and rethink because it has to be more commercial and professional if it is to compete with Milan and Paris," he said.
"We need to decide what we want to be and aim to get there in five years. Home-grown designers who leave and show in other countries is natural, like children leaving home."
Among the expected stars of this year’s Fashion Week will be talented Glasgow-born print designer Jonathan Saunders, who will present his third major show at the event.
The full article contains 512 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
