FASHION WEEK: London Fashion Week Opens With Helena Christensen And Alice Temperley

Fashionistas, fear not. London’s Fashion Week began Friday, picking up where New York left off with more big wig designers, flashy celebrities and, most importantly, the best fashion has to offer. The prolific occasion was marked by the twenty-fifth anniversary of Antoni Burakowski and Alison Roberts of Antoni & Alison, who celebrated with 38 festive dresses adorned with giant bows and trompe l’oeil belts — and a bonafide brass band on the catwalk. But Antoni & Alison aren’t the only ones that have made it a long way. “You wouldn’t recognize it,” Burakowski told The Guardian of London Fashion Week now in comparison to 1987, when the duo were just beginning. “Everyone back then was looking at the older designers, not the newer ones. But that has completely reversed now.” Supermodel Helena Christensen, who launched her Triumph lingerie today, agreed, and extolled trailblazing designers like Alice Temperley (pictured) and Matthew Williamson for bringing prestige to the British fashion industry. “They started out around the same time as I did and have built their labels into mini-empires,” Christensen said, adding that “London is a great fashion week city, full of great talent.”

Another contributing element may be British designers’ shift towards a customer-oriented approach, opined Tom Chapman of top end retailer Matches, whose support of local figures is essential to London Fashion Week’s success. “British designers have moved the plate so much to what they were doing five or ten years ago,” Chapman said. “Rather than doing an ego trip, designers are making sure what they put on the runway is actually wearable,” added business partner Ruth Chapman, who noted an improvement in the fit and quality of current designs. Alexander McQueen, for his part, showed his support for London Fashion Week by opening the first McQ boutique on Dover Street and announcing plans to show menswear at January’s London Collections Men — another style event that is quickly adding to London’s fashion capital credentials.