The biggest moments of London Fashion Week

We take a look back at this season's London Fashion Week and pick out our most iconic moments
Burberry autumn/ winter 2020
Getty Images
Rachael Dove21 February 2020

From the front rows to behind the scenes, London Fashion Week is never short of iconic moments.

This season proved to be no different. Our fashion features director rounds up the hottest trends and most snap-worthy scenes from the week.

ECO AGENDA

The hottest trend at London Fashion Week? Sustainability. The designer behind Mother of Pearl Amy Powney launched the social media campaign ‘Fashion Our Future’, which aims to raise awareness about the clothes industry’s impact on climate change and has been backed by Adwoa Aboah and Amber Valletta (read more about how to make a pledge here).

Meanwhile, Mulberry brought a slice of its carbon neutral Somerset factory to its Bond Street store, opening the doors to the public in a bid to demonstrate its commitment to slow fashion. Shoppers were encouraged to bring in their old handbags to exchange in a new second hand programme.

Anya Hindmarch was also green thinking. To both celebrate the launch of her new handbag line made of recycled plastics and to underline the environmental cost of our reliance on single-use plastic, the designer closed her London stores and filled them with over 90,000 discarded plastic bottles. Meanwhile, Burberry’s show was carbon neutral and Halpern and Preen by Thornton Bregazzi both reused old fabric for their new designs.

LENA DUNHAM WALKS FOR 16 ARLINGTON

Dunham’s final look
16Arlington

‘It’s hard for me to imagine that I’m going to get a ton of job offers off the back of it, but it was a delight,’ Lena Dunham told Vogue after walking the catwalk for 16 Arlington, the London-based brand founded by Marco Capaldo and Kikka Cavenati. With wet-look hair, she modelled a swinging, one sleeved mini dress made of jacquard silk and black tights, a typical example of the fun party dresses the brand has become known for. It’s not the first time she’s worn one of their frocks.

Last year for the premiere of Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, in which she stars, the actor donned an eye-catching sequin and asymmetric dress trimmed with marabou feathers. ‘What I love about Marco and Kikka is that they make something that fits your body beautifully, but also has a sense of humor,’ she said.

ZAWE ASHTON ON THE FRONT ROW

Dave Benett

Radiant in red ruffles at Roksanda, head-to-toe in lemon at Emilia Wickstead and wearing a beautiful sorbet pink satin dress at Christopher Kane, Zawe Ashton wins our best dressed award hands down for her colourful and playful wardrobe.

A ROYAL FLUSH

Princess Anne made an appearance at London Fashion Week to present the jeweller Rosh Mahtani of label Alighieri with the Queen Elizabeth II award for British Design.

Mahtani’s gold coin pendants and earrings cast in wax have fast become a firm favourite among the fashion crowd, and in 2018 her business made a turnover of £3.2million. ‘It’s entirely appropriate that we should not forget that jewellery is a key part of fashion,’ said the Princess Royal.

MODEL BEHAVIOUR

Holly Fischer at JW Anderson
Monica Feudi

A ‘who’s that girl’ moment came courtesy of Holly Fischer, a rising tennis player who opened JW Anderson’s show. The fresh faced teenager was first to walk in her debut catwalk show, wearing a black balloon-hem dress and sparkly sleeves in a line-up that also included Kaia Gerber.

HAVE YOU MET MR MALONE?

The Irish-born designer Richard Malone’s show on Friday was not only a lesson in masterful tailoring and creative thinking, but also underlined his sustainable credentials with show notes that stated his mission for transparency, including the hourly rates (£25 per hour, minimum) of the tailors he employs.

But the best was yet to come. On Monday he won the International Woolmark Prize for his work with wool that employs farms in Tamil Nadu, India and regenerative techniques, pipping talented designers such as Ludovic de Saint Sernin and Feng Chen Wang to the winnings of AUD $200,000.

TOMMY TAKES LONDON

The Hilfiger catwalk (Getty Images )
Getty Images

The Tate Modern was the latest stop on Tommy Hilfiger’s global catwalk tour, where the designer presented a collection designed in collaboration with Lewis Hamilton and the signer HER.

Enter the supermodels: Naomi Campbell, Yasmin Le Bon, Jodie Kidd and Jourdan Dunn walked wearing a collection that mixed Hilfiger’s preppy staples with streetwear. Also on the runway was a clutch of A-list offspring, including Noel Gallagher’s son Lennon and Helena Christensen’s son Mingus Reed, while Jeff Brazier and Jade Goody’s 16-year-old son Bobb