An organiser of London Fashion Week has said it feels appropriate to go forward with the event in a scaled-back manner following the Queen’s death, as she was a “very big supporter of young creative talent”.
Caroline Rush, chief executive of the British Fashion Council (BFC), told Sky News the LFW event will continue to run from September 16-20 in order to support local creative businesses and designers.
However, she confirmed the annual parties and “celebration of creativity” will be delayed until October as a mark of respect for the late monarch.
Ms Rush told Sky News: “So what we’re doing is really focusing on the business-to-business part of London Fashion Week, which is essentially the shows, the presentations, the part of London Fashion Week that international press and buyers come to London for, this is about generating orders, it’s about business.
“And of course London Fashion Week is a platform for many emerging designers and independent businesses, many of which have had a really challenging few years and have committed significant spend already and so everything is taking place but with obviously a different tone and scaled back.
“But of course, we want to make sure that we are supporting local creative businesses. The Queen herself was a very big supporter of young creative talent and so we feel it’s appropriate to do that.
“But, of course, the parties have been postponed and the city-wide celebration that we normally do, it’s normally a real celebration of creativity in our city, we’re moving out to October when we’ll have an opportunity to reflect on the creativity that’s shown over the next few days and really celebrate it and support retail at that point.”
The BFC chief executive said the postponed celebrations will probably take place from October 6 to 13.
She added that they will provide “an opportunity to really focus on celebrating our young designers, our independent businesses and our brands at retail” and the “brilliant creativity that London is known for”.
Organisers previously said London Fashion Week will be observing “royal protocol” and would be dedicated to the late monarch.
A statement shared online added: “Having spoken to designers and industry members, we as an industry want to unite as a creative and business community to celebrate Her Majesty’s legacy and commitment to creativity and design.
“The British Fashion Council would like to thank our partners, designers, creative teams, brands, media, retailers, patrons and broader stakeholder community.”
All Union flags will fly at half-mast during the event and a minute’s silence will be held at 8pm on Sunday.
There will be no shows or events on Monday September 19, the day of the Queen’s state funeral at Westminster Hall in central London.
The Newgen venue at Selfridges Hotel will also have a space for industry members to write tributes.
A number of high-fashion brands including Burberry and Raf Simons have announced they are cancelling their shows at LFW following the news of the Queen’s death and others are expected to pay tribute to the monarch’s fashion within their collections.
An updated events schedule was also posted to the LFW website.
The Queen was known to be a long-time supporter of British fashion, launching the QEII Award for British Design at LFW in 2018 and presenting Richard Quinn with the inaugural award.
Following the news of her death, LFW said in a statement that her reign would be marked as “one of empathy, strength and grace”.
“Her Majesty’s effortless style, charm and sense of fun was evident and her passion in supporting young creatives will continue to inspire the next generation,” the statement read.
