Due to the Covid-19 emergency, all events at London Fashion Week Men’s are going digital.
The British Fashion Council announced that, from June 12 to 14, a digital, gender-neutral platform will be launched both for professionals and end consumers. While the participating brands are yet to be revealed, the BFC is considering to involve both emerging and well-established labels, eager to unveil their menswear and womenswear collections.
The program is meant to give brands full flexibility in choosing their presentation formats, which will include interviews, digital showrooms and podcasts. Buyers will be able to purchase the new collections as well as stocks from the current season. With social distancing still in place, there is no way to tell whether an out-and-out Fashion Week may be held in September, so meanwhile, the online platform will provide British labels with an unprecedented solution to present their lines.
It is essential to look at the future and the opportunity to change, collaborate and innovate. Many of our businesses have always embraced London Fashion Week as a platform for not just fashion but for its influence on society, identity and culture. By creating a cultural fashion week platform, we are adapting digital innovation to best fit our needs today and something to build on as a global showcase for the future. Designers will be able to share their stories, and for those that have them, their collections, with a wider global community; we hope that as well as personal perspectives on this difficult time, there will be inspiration in bucketloads. It is what British fashion is known for
stated Caroline Rush, CEO of BFC.
Shanghai and Tokyo recently held their own Fashion Weeks online. At the latest edition of Milano Moda Donna, which ended one day earlier than expected due to the Coronavirus alarm, the “China, we are with you” initiative promoted by the National Chamber of Italian Fashion reached over 16 million Chinese users who were following the fashion shows via online streaming on Tencent.
However, London’s show will be the first experimental digital platform to host the whole schedule of one the major fashion capitals. A challenge launched to Milan, Paris and New York.
