Signals

UK – Post-Brexit Britain has been battling to find its new identity, but London Fashion Week showcased its greatest strength: the flourishing creativity brought by its diverse immigrant community.

British-Nigerian designer Tolu Coker's set design transported Ghana’s vibrant street hawkers to the runway, with colourful stands framing the background. The collection featured hoodies under lapels of wool coats, denim patchwork dresses, vibrant corsets, baby blue gowns over pants, and models adorned with multiple crossbody raffia bags. The inspiration came from a trip to Ghana and none other than Coker's own mother, who used to street hawk in Lagos, Nigeria.

At the Erdem show, British-Turkish designer Erdem Moralıoğlu paid homage to the Greek opera star Maria Callas at the historic British Museum, while Fashion East alumni Jawara Alleyne referenced his childhood and the hurricane season he experienced growing up in the Cayman Islands.

Priya Ahluwalia, whose namesake brand has skyrocketed after being shortlisted for the LVMH Prize in 2020, showcased her AW24 collection Reverie at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. Ahluwalia turned to her Indian-Nigerian heritage, weaving in folklore from both cultures embodied by dresses with elaborate hoods and tops reminiscent of Indian sarees.

UK – This year’s fashion week edition wasn’t all a celebration, with some designers showcasing collections with darker undertones, a theme we explored previously in our microtrend report Doom Dressing.

'This is a manifesto for a world order born of an unrelenting vortex of femme energy, a way of being and feeling that transcends the parochial structures of conventional masculinity,' read Dilara Findikoglu's show notes. At the St Michael & All Angels’ Church in Shoreditch, East London, the Turkish-British designer invited guests to sit in the dark, while models adorning corsets, latex and large structural bows walked down to the sound of dark electro music.

For his namesake brand, 2022 Central Saint Martin graduate Aaron Esh designed a wardrobe for indie sleaze lovers. The Chaos and Control collection featured menswear and womenswear with skinny jeans, longline waistcoats, a bouclé jacket, balloon-hem miniskirt, gunmetal heels and black smokey eyes – the creator's take on 'the 1950s Parisian woman' in his own words. Guests were even greeted with a bowl of cigarettes, perhaps as a cheeky reminder that the 2020s clean girl aesthetic has no place in his fashion fantasy.