“People are telling me that they’re feeling a new energy,” British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir told me from the front row on Sunday. “There’s a feeling of revitalization in the city — from dawn until dusk, there’s so much happening. It’s a new era for British fashion.”

Indeed, the Spring 2026 shows concluded in London on Monday with more vitality and dynamism than ever. Burberry is finding its footing under Daniel Lee, while Erdem, Roksanda and Simone Rocha each held dazzling anniversary shows. But perhaps most importantly, the city was energized by fledgling labels who asserted their identities with thrilling creative propositions. From Aaron Esh to Jawara Alleyne, Talia Byre to Pauline Dujancourt and newcomer Rory William Docherty, the London shows telegraphed a confident and clear message about the art of dressing today.

This particular London Fashion Week coincided with Weir’s appointment as BFC CEO earlier this year. As part of an ambitious plan to reinstate a pre-Brexit and pre-pandemic vitality to British fashion, her initial maneuver was to waive fees for participating designers. Weir’s strategy also includes introducing the BFC Fashion Assembly (which takes designers back to their old schools across the U.K. as role models), doubling the BFC investment in the International Guest Program to attract more foreign press and buyers and securing three additional years of funding for the NewGen program supporting young designers.

It was an auspicious opening chapter.

Fashion East

^{Above L to R: Mayhew, Jacek Gleba and Nuba}

On Friday afternoon, emerging designer incubator Fashion East celebrated its 25th anniversary. The runway featured newcomers Jacek Gleba and Mayhew alongside Nuba, which returned for a third season. Presented at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, each designer’s collection was unique, but what united them was the ferociously creative spirit for which London is renowned. Gleba’s sporty silhouettes are juxtaposed nicely with drapery; Louis Mayhew’s painter and decorator background was illuminated in his resourceful play on upcycling; Nuba’s Cameron Williams offered a casual take on eveningwear through deconstruction and draping.

“They’re refined, radical and real,” Fashion East founder Lulu Kennedy said bout this season’s line-up. “This new wave of talent is truly something special.”

The nonprofit organization accelerated the careers of Jonathan Anderson, Simone Rocha and Craig Green, amongst others, who have risen to meteoric heights. In its 25th year, it was as vital as ever. The calendar was still punctuated with Fashion East alumni like Aaron Esh and Jawara Alleyne.

Aaron Esh

Speaking of which, Esh lured the fashion set to an old nightclub in East London. There, he served up a club kid attitude with a soupçon of Savile Row, where skinny jeans, frayed knitwear and baseball caps meet slim tailoring and bias-cut dresses. His Mackintosh coats look as dashing as his Harris tweed tailoring, done in collaboration with tailor Charlie Allen.

Esh’s aesthetic is intimately acquainted with how young people dress today with brash self-confidence that borrows and disrupts the sartorial codes of erudite aesthetes. The show was styled by Katy England, acclaimed for collaborating with Riccardo Tisci and the late Alexander McQueen, giving Esh an industry kudos and the offering a sexy verve.

Jawara Alleyne

Rihanna-favorite Alleyne’s show riffed on Caribbean couture, imparting a sense of his Caymanian-Jamaican heritage. His starting point was the Notting Hill Carnival (an annual Caribbean Carnival event), and how one’s appearance slowly dishevels throughout the celebration. A simplified silhouette allowed Alleyne to playfully deconstruct pragmatic shapes; the collection is fringed, frayed and layered with an overarching ambivalence to gender. Each look is brimming with intrigue and an outpouring of vivid color. Deadstock T-shirts stamped with maritime snapshots by Jamaican artist and conservationist Guy Harvey grounded proceedings, as did collaborations with Japanese rock band Bo Ningen (on tees) and Converse (footwear).

Talia Byre

Talia Byre, who infuses corporate attire with British eccentricity and sportswear, studied playful contradictions in everyday dressing for Spring 2026. She proposed apron dresses in bridal silk, an ivory sweatsuit in paisley print with an attenuated waistline and outsize rugby shirts in her signature diagonal stripe. She arrived at something that possessed wit and charm.

Designer Talia Lipkin-Connor, who assembled a group of 38 for an intimate salon-style runway debut, described the collection as “the clothes I want to wear.”  She added that she hopes that they are “lived in, worn down, softened over years, carried forward.” With a burgeoning direct-to-consumer business and an UGG collaboration, Byre’s star is on the rise.

Pauline Dujancourt

Fellow rising stars Pauline Dujancourt (above, right) and Rory Williams Docherty (below, right), meanwhile, iterated on modern craftsmanship in their respective collections.

“Despite the hardest times, expressing creativity is a joy and strength,” said Dujancourt, who dedicated her show to her best friend who tragically passed away while the designer was making the collection. She transposed her grief into a poetic elegy framed of ethereal knitwear creations, like Argyle sweaters and crocheted granny squares. In a refined palette of ivory and ink, she articulated musings on joy and pain through lacework, references to mourning dress and undulating layers of tulle adorned with feathers and smocked flowers.

Rory William Docherty

This season marked New Zealand-based Docherty’s debut on the official schedule. He disregards seasons, age and gender norms, with an inclusive offering rooted in craftsmanship, based on his original artworks. Everything from denim to tailoring and draped dresses is rendered in a relaxed silhouette. His painterly prowess shines through in the collection’s abstract prints.

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This all comes at a pivotal time for London Fashion Week. The wider luxury downturn, increased operational costs and tariffs from Brexit have painted a bleak picture for talent — especially emerging labels.

The city that midwifed the careers of Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Vivienne Westwood is losing design talent to other European fashion weeks: Victoria Beckham, Stella McCartney and Grace Wales Bonner have decamped to Paris, even if their origin stories and quirks might be entangled in their London roots. Torishéju shows at the French capital as well, while buzzy upstart KNWLS will experiment with showing during Milan Fashion Week this season.

Still, Weir is optimistic that the British Fashion Council’s strategic overhaul will positively impact the £68 billion U.K. fashion industry. “The British Fashion Council is driving forward the message that fashion matters, not just to our economy, but to our creative capital as a country,” she said.

In addition to the anniversary shows from Roksanda and Erdem, Weir cited Yaku, who tells ancestral stories through performance and has an excellent use of color, and Patrick McDowell, who has an eye for construction and craftsmanship and a commitment to domestic manufacturing, as high points from her first fashion week as CEO.

Patrick McDowell

“Eclecticism is what London does best,” said Weir. “It’s this rich variety of disciplines on show, both through the creative and the experimental collections that are designed to platform points of view, to the refined and the elegant and collections that are designed to give people an opportunity to dress in a new way or become someone different.” 

Brigitte Chartrand, Chief Merchandising Officer at Net-a-Porter (which stocks emerging London labels like Tove, Conner Ives and Clio Peppiatt), echoed that sentiment from a retail perspective: “The individuality in how London designers develop their creative process and shape their design language results in collections that feel both original and authentic,” she said. “Overall, our customers respond incredibly well to our London based designers.”

“London has always been the ‘coolest’ big international city,” said New Zealand-based Doherty, of his choice to move his show there. “The impact of new talent coming from there cannot be overstated on the global fashion scene.”

“It’s inspiring to see so many new and interesting talents emerging from here, London really is a hub for creativity,” added Chartrand, who recently relocated to the British capital.

The future of London Fashion Week is writ large in this season’s line-up. From anniversary collections to debuts, the range of talent in London knows no bounds.

“Considering the headwinds, British fashion is incredibly resilient,” concluded Weir. “Our designers will create come hell or high water and that’s what motivates me as a CEO to platform them. We will build an environment domestically that supports creative talent and supports designers, from seed to scale.”

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