London Fashion Week

   Once a poor cousin to the Paris/Milan/New York shows, London Fashion Week has become a prestigious international event and not just an outing for minor talents at venues across the capital. There are now scouts out looking for the new John Galliano, Stella McCartney or Alexander McQueen, plus major celebrities seeking tickets for shows from the slightly less well-known such as Pearce Fionda, Bella Freud, Owen Gaster, Amanda Wakeley, Sonja Nuttall and Michiko Koshino. The 1998 catwalks showcased the latest new designers such as Tristan Webber, Deborah Milner, Julien MacDonald and Matthew Williamson, the star of the 1997 show. Additionally, the week provides opportunities for new models to develop a reputation, such as Cordelia, a sixteen-year-old Dorset schoolgirl tipped by Vogue in 1998 to become one of the top twenty models. The attempt to initiate a new Men’s London Fashion Week in July 1998 met with only small success, as most of the top names such as Paul Smith and Katherine Hamnett elected to show abroad instead.

   PETER CHILDS